BYU heads to Fort Worth on Saturday night for its first road Big 12 game of the season, and the trip comes with a long, ugly memory bank attached. TCU may be sitting at 2-2, but that hasn’t made Amon G. Carter Stadium any friendlier for the Cougars over the years.
The history between these teams in Fort Worth is hard to ignore. BYU and TCU were conference foes in both the WAC and Mountain West eras before landing together again in the Big 12, and the Cougars’ track record there has been rough from the start.
Their first meeting in 1987 ended in a 33-12 BYU loss, and the drought in Fort Worth has stretched all the way back to 2006. Overall, BYU has won in Texas just twice against TCU, going 2-5 in games played there, including the matchup at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
The most painful chapter came in 2008, when BYU arrived in Fort Worth ranked No. 9 in the AP poll and unbeaten at 6-0. Max Hall and the Cougars were chasing a perfect season and hoping to shake up the BCS picture, but TCU turned it into a nightmare.
The Horned Frogs led 23-0 at halftime, BYU turned it over four times, Hall was intercepted twice and didn’t throw a touchdown, and the Cougars didn’t score until late in the third quarter. The perfect season was gone, and the loss went down as one of the most humiliating in program history.
TCU has also been plenty willing to wreck BYU’s plans in Provo. In 2005, the Horned Frogs won a wild 51-50 overtime game at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Four years later, they flattened the No. 16 Cougars 38-7.
That pattern of ugly outcomes has carried into the Big 12 era. In 2023, TCU blasted BYU 44-11 in Fort Worth, with Josh Hoover throwing for 439 yards and four touchdowns. Across the last three games in Fort Worth since 2008, TCU has outscored BYU 107-21.
So the Cougars are walking into a building with plenty of baggage, even if this version of the matchup looks different on paper. BYU has already won on the road this season, taking care of Colorado State in Fort Collins, and the bye week gave Kalani Sitake and his staff extra time to get ready. TCU, meanwhile, is 2-2 after a 21-13 loss to UCF.
Still, this has all the markings of a dangerous test. BYU is facing a place that has repeatedly swallowed up good Cougar teams, and if there is a hostile environment outside of Rice-Eccles Stadium that stands out on the schedule, Fort Worth is the one.
In Other News...
BYU Heads To TCU With New Availability Questions At Key Spots
BYUs first availability report for its trip to TCU brought a few notable absences into focus, and the biggest ones land on the offensive line and in the middle of the defense. Starting right tackle Andrew Gentry and linebacker Siale Esera were both listed as out, giving the Cougars some important lineup decisions to sort through before facing a Horned Frogs team that can make teams pay for any thin spots.
Freshman kicker Brody Laga also showed up on the report as out, an unexpected wrinkle for a BYU team that has been trying to keep stability in its special teams operation. TCUs side of the report was less alarming, with EDGE rusher Zach Chapman listed as questionable even as Sonny Dykes said he expects him to play, so BYU will be watching both the trenches and the kicking game closely as kickoff approaches. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Heads Into TCU With A New Turnover Concern
BYUs offense spent the first half of the season avoiding the kind of mistakes that can flip a game, but that changed in a hurry against Colorado State. In the second half, Bear Bachmeier and Treyson Bourguet each threw interceptions on consecutive drives, marking the Cougars first two turnovers of the year and giving the offense a fresh issue to clean up as the schedule tightens.
Now comes a conference road test at TCU, where ball security figures to be under an even brighter spotlight because of the expected wet conditions. Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick took responsibility for both picks and explained the circumstances behind the plays, but the larger concern for BYU is less about blame than about whether a previously careful offense can stay that way in a tougher environment. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Faces A Dangerous Test Against A Desperate Big 12 Opponent
Kalani Sitakes BYU team is headed into a stretch where the margin for error keeps shrinking, and the Big 12s broader coaching pressure cooker only sharpens the stakes. Around the league, coaches such as Lance Leipold at Kansas, Deion Sanders at Colorado and Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia are all dealing with the kind of late-season scrutiny that turns every matchup into more than just another game, and BYU is not separated from that conversation.
For the Cougars, the next test carries the feel of a measuring stick because the opponent is playing with urgency and the conference race is still shaping the leagues mood week by week. Sitake has built enough credibility to avoid panic talk, but in a league where momentum can swing quickly, a difficult night against a desperate Big 12 team would only add to the pressure that follows every result this time of year. [Read more 🡒]