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TCU 23, Kansas 17: 5 Things We Learned

*sigh*

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Playing Kansas at home shouldn't have been a heart attack. But naturally, it was.

TCU beat Kansas 23-17, and the Frogs are now 9-1 on the season.

Trevone Boykin went down with what appeared to be an ankle injury early in the game. After that, the Frogs were never the same. TCU would rely on Bram Kohlhausen and later Foster Sawyer to do the job.

The first three quarters went by slowly, as TCU relied on special teams for points. KaVontae Turpin opened the game with his first punt return touchdown to put the Frogs up 7-0.

By halftime the teams were tied at 10-10.

Things seem to turn up in the fourth quarter. Sawyer led the Frogs to what looked to be a scoring drive. But rather than (predictably) sending the ball to Josh Doctson for the touchdown, Sawyer attempted a pass to Emanuel Porter. However, the pass was incomplete and the Frogs continued to lead by a slim 13-10.

But later, Sawyer sent a beautiful pass to Shaun Nixon, who brought the ball to the end zone. Frogs went up 20-10.

Ty Summers snatched an interception with about three minutes left in the game, but the Jayhawks' defense stuffed the Frogs and forced them to punt.

Then the Frogs did the same--Terrell Lathan had a BIG sack to foil the Jayhawks' attempt to go for it on fourth down. And like many times before, the Frogs escaped with a win.

1. Foster Sawyer can run!

This kid is a human gazelle. And he runs quite a bit, actually. He wasn't perfect, but he certainly has potential to be everything Boykin was in the coming years.

2. Defense came to PLAY.

Kudos to TCU's second half defense, especially Terrell Lathan's monster sack. Safe to say the defense saved the game today.

3. Maybe we should just settle for the field goal once in a while.

Fourth downs and TCU can work out great...sometimes. But when the score is that close, and the backups are playing, perhaps the team is better off getting points than being risky.

4. TCU should be grounded.

Nah, not for being bad--to put less pressure on our wounded receiving crew. The Frogs run game was fairly good today, and Aaron Green looks to have found his swag again. If this keeps up, TCU will do well to run the ball in the case that Boykin is gone.

5. Norman makes our hearts pound.

TCU's vulnerability level in Norman is way high. With the Frogs' best players on the sideline, it's very possible TCU will struggle big time when they take on Oklahoma next week unless the backups and defense step up. Or a miracle happens.