Kansas State 24, TCU 17: Frogs fall short in Manhattan

Another week, another inconsistent performance from TCU. The Frogs lost to Kansas State 24-17 to drop to 3-3 on the season.

Max Duggan proved his toughness on the day, rushing for over 100 yards and a touchdown, including what was the best play from TCU’s offense on the day.

The passing game was another story, though, as TCU couldn’t figure it out. Duggan’s accuracy was shaky again, and receivers dropped a few passes. Duggan finished just 16-29 for 132 yards.

Kansas State’s first touchdown of the day came after a blocked punt, setting them up from the TCU 20. Wildcat QB Skyler Thompson threw a 20 yard touchdown to a wide open tight end on the second play of the drive.

It was the beginning of a theme for TCU’s defense on the day, of biting hard on play action and leaving the middle of the field wide open. Kansas State had three passing touchdowns through the first five games of the season. Thompson threw for two on the day against TCU, and used the middle of the field to set up a touchdown run with less than three minutes remaining to take the lead.

Wyatt Harris got the start for TCU at linebacker today, and he made several good plays, but also looked like a true freshman at times. There’s no doubt he’s going to be a good one for the Frogs though. He finished the day with five tackles, including two tackles for loss and his first career sack.

As the Frogs desperately tried to drive to tie it late in the fourth quarter Duggan completed three straight passes to Jalen Reagor to move into Kansas State territory. Unfortunately, a sack and a QB hit killed TCU’s drive, as the line couldn’t hold up for Duggan on 4th and 11.

TCU regained the ball with two seconds left on their own 23, but TCU’s lateral play died quickly after another completion to Reagor. Reagor finished the day with 8 receptions for 85 yards to lead TCU receivers.

The ground game did work for the Frogs, but it wasn’t enough. Duggan finished the day with 115 rushing yards, the first TCU QB to run for over 100 yards since Trevone Boykin did it against Kansas State in 2015, while Sewo Olonilua and Darius Anderson both ran for 56 yards, at 4.7 and 4.3 yards/rush respectively.

TCU has to get back up off the mat quickly, as they host Texas next week at 2:30 on FOX.