TCU 55, Southern 7: That was fun!

TCU opened its 2018 season with a 55-7 throttling of the Southern Jaguars at Amon G. Carter Stadium Saturday.

The No. 16 Horned Frogs scored on their first six possessions, with quarterback Shawn Robinson dazzling in the first start of his sophomore year. Robinson missed some throws early that could’ve led to touchdowns, but more than made up for it with his legs, scoring the Frogs’ first touchdown on a 36-yard keeper in the first quarter. He only played the first half, but went 17-24 passing for 182 yards and 3 touchdowns, and added 45 yards and two scores on two carries.

Southern played valiantly, but the Jaguars were outmatched by TCU from start to finish. Still, even though the talent disparity was larger than the stir-fry line at the Brown-Lupton University Union, we shouldn’t write off Robinson’s performance — the sophomore looked extremely solid.

Gary Patterson told the Fox Sports sideline reporter at halftime that he felt as though his offense was going through the motions in the first two quarters. Keep in mind, TCU went into the break up 38-7. Patterson was also unhappy with two big plays that Southern had, one of which went for a 55-yard score with 6:34 left in the first half.

The usual suspects turned up for the Frogs. Ben Banogu and Ty Summers each had bruising quarterback sacks, Jalen Reagor caught four passes for 45 yards and a touchdown and Ridwan Issahaku and Innis Gaines each picked off a Southern pass.

Michael Collins came in relief at quarterback to start the second half, and quickly found TreVontae Heights for a 57-yard touchdown. Grayson Muehlstein came in for a few series, and Karson Ringdahl finished out the game behind center for TCU.

But the bright spot in the game was Derius Davis, the true freshman TCU receiver that scored twice in his debut. Davis caught three passes for 49 yards and a score and returned a punt 73 yards for a touchdown in the second half.

Another true freshman, Taye Barber, caught a touchdown pass from Robinson in the first half.

The Frogs didn’t so much take their foot off the gas pedal in the second half as they did put the car in park and go for a walk. With 6 minutes left and TCU facing a 4th and 2 from the Southern 27, Patterson instructed Muehlstein to take a knee and turn the ball back over to the Jaguars.

All in all, it was business as usual for TCU. Robinson showed great promise, but has room to improve. The defense, with the exception of some big plays, was outstanding. The wide receiving corps is as advertised — young, deep, and speedy as hell.

TCU finished with 499 yards of total offense (264 passing, 235 rushing), and held Southern to 185 total yards (101 passing, 84 rushing).

The win moved TCU to 1-0 on the year. The Horned Frogs will travel to Dallas to take on SMU in the Battle for the Iron Skillet on Friday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. CT.

Stay tuned to Frogs O’ War for more analysis and recaps from Saturday’s action.