The Horned Frogs won a nerve-wracking season opener on the road against Stanford on Friday Aug. 30.
Despite two crucial turnovers and seven penalties for 100 yards against TCU, it defeated the Cardinal 34-27 at Stanford Stadium.
“What it comes down to is effort, and we played hard,” said TCU linebacker Johnny Hodges.
That effort was apparent on the offensive side for TCU achieving 23 first downs and 457 total yards.
The main strength was the passing attack, as quarterback Josh Hoover totaled 353 passing yards and two touchdowns. He connected well with wide receiver Jack Bech, with caught six passes for 139 yards and a touchdown.
Wide receiver Savion Williams was another bright spot for the Frogs; he led the team in receptions with 11 and scored TCU’s first touchdown of the season on a powerful goal-line fade.
The use of play action and run-pass option plays from offensive coordinator Kendal Briles gave open looks for Hoover across the middle of the field, where he was extremely accurate.
Two fumbles in the first half limited TCU’s offensive unit to only 10 points, but they responded in the second by avoiding giveaways and scoring 24 points.
Defensively, defensive coordinator Andy Avalos lived up to his reputation of generating pressure for opposing quarterbacks, as the pressure was on for his first game on the Horned Frog coaching staff.
TCU’s defense sacked Stanford quarterback Ashton Daniels four times and forced him to escape the pocket throughout the game. As a result, the Cardinal only threw for 165 yards and converted on 33% of their third down opportunities including three conversions by a defensive penalty.
The biggest third down stop came late in the 4th quarter as edge rusher Marcel Brooks captured his second sack of the day to put the Cardinal offense in 4th and 17.
TCU’s defense struggled early on the ground allowing 99 rush yards in the first half but held Stanford to only 24 rush yards and 10 points in the second half.
The Frogs performance improved in the second half, but improvement is necessary moving forward.
“Obviously there are things we need to clean up but when we needed to make plays, we made plays,” Hoover said.
“We were mentally tough. When we had to get stops, we got stops. When we had to score touchdowns we scored touchdowns,” head coach Sonny Dykes said.
TCU made enough plays to enjoy a 1-0 start to the 2024 season for now, and will host LIU at Amon G. Carter Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. CDT. It will be televised on ESPN+.