Quick Thoughts: TCU 3, Kansas State 41

Bullied

TCU got thoroughly owned by the Kansas State offensive line and run game all night. It didn’t matter who was behind center or which RB was in the backfield, the Wildcats were simply dominant offensively, as the TCU defense had no answer for any question sent its way on Saturday in Manhattan. Kansas State rushed for 343 yards, contributing to 587 of total offense for the ‘Cats. K-State scored on all six of its red zone trips and in fact scored on every possession, aside from one turnover on downs and one punt during “bleed the clock and go home” mode. TCU got it’s first sack of the game midway through the fourth quarter and forced zero turnovers. Kansas State was 10-13 on third down, had five drives over 70 yards and owned the time of possession battle with a ludicrous 38:50 to 21:10 advantage.

Bailey or Bust

Emani Bailey was the only thing working for the Horned Frogs offensively on Saturday, so of course he only was given 12 carries, which he took for 100 yards, his fifth game crossing the century mark. Yes that’s 8.3 yards per carry, but TCU did not use him as a feature runner and left him on the bench for the crucial sequence to open the second half, with Trey Sanders on the field taking carries on the drive that would end in another redzone failure with a turnover on downs. The rest of the team took 10 carries for just 13 total yards. He’s been the only reliable player on either side of the ball for TCU, dependable to give 100% effort on each opportunity, while it may be hard to say the same for many of his teammates.

Offensive Offense

TCU was hapless on offense on Saturday. The Horned Frogs entered the game as the 7th-worst team in all of FBS in red zone scoring and again left with zero touchdowns and just one field goal in three trips inside the K-State 20 yard line. TCU could not sustain any drives, converting just two 3rd downs out of 13 attempts, with its only drives longer than eight plays or 2:21 both resulting in failures to score in the red zone. TCU QB Josh Hoover followed up his 439 yard, 4 TD debut with just 187 yards, zero TDs, and an interception while completing just 53% of his 43 pass attempts.

What Now?

TCU got blown off the field from the first plays of the game, as Kansas State had its way on both sides of the ball. TCU had no answers, no adjustments, no one to stand up and take control, and very little appearance of a plan of attack against what the Wildcats would bring to this game. Now essentially eliminated from the Big 12 picture, TCU has just four games remaining to show signs of life, two of which the Horned Frogs will be massive underdogs with Top 10 foes on the other side of the field, meaning the Frogs must win the other two contests to reach bowl eligibility. Entering the Bye Week, this team will have some soul searching, some time to look in the mirror and decide if there’s anything it would like to change about itself or if its satisfied carrying on like this. Here’s hoping Sonny Dykes, his coaching staff, and this Horned Frogs roster comes out of this break and shows up in Lubbock two Thursdays from now with a new fire burning within to go take something from this season.