TCU’s trip into a bye week comes with a familiar offensive headache and one encouraging sign on the other side of the ball.
The Horned Frogs dropped a tight one at home to No. 10 BYU, losing 10-7 and slipping to 2-3 after a game that was tied at halftime but never quite found a rhythm for TCU’s offense. The result left the Frogs with another frustrating night of stop-and-start football, while the defense did enough to give them a real shot.
The offense, though, never settled in. TCU pieced together a few decent drives, but they were followed by empty possessions that kept undercutting any momentum. The longest series of the night lasted just eight plays, and that kind of inconsistency hung over the whole game.
One sequence in the third quarter summed it up. After BYU went ahead 10-7 on a field goal, TCU answered with three straight rushing attempts, but Jon Denman was in the backfield instead of Jeremy Payne. That stood out because Payne had been producing before that point, averaging seven yards per carry and going 8 for 56 on the night.
The lack of a real vertical threat also showed up. Before TCU fell behind by 10, it had only taken two shots of 20 yards or more, and one of those ended up being the team’s lone touchdown. By the start of the fourth quarter, the average depth of target sat at 6.5 yards, a number that wasn’t enough to stress the BYU defense.
There were explosive moments, but not nearly enough of them.
If the offense was uneven, the defense was the clear bright spot. Andy Avalos had his unit ready, and BYU’s backfield tandem of Bear Bachmeier and L.J.
Martin never really took over the way the Cougars hoped. Martin left with an injury, but even before that, BYU averaged just 4.4 yards per carry in the first half.
Bachmeier, meanwhile, threw for only 31 yards.
TCU’s secondary played at a high level, and the defensive front turned in what was easily its best showing of the season. Given how up and down that group has been, this was the kind of performance that can change how the rest of the schedule looks if it shows up again.
For now, though, the bye week arrives with the same basic question still hanging over the Frogs: how do they get the offense to match a defense that just proved it can carry its weight?
In Other News...
TCU Let A Winnable Upset Slip Despite Its Best Defensive Effort
Rain and defense set the tone at Amon G. Carter Stadium, where TCU gave No. 10 BYU everything it could handle in a 17-10 loss. The Horned Frogs kept the Cougars uncomfortable for much of the afternoon, with their defense doing enough to turn a ranked opponent into a grind and give TCU a real chance to steal a signature win on a rough day for offenses.
But the Frogs could not cash in often enough, and the missed field goal late loomed especially large once BYU finally found its opening. Bear Bachmeiers late touchdown run delivered the difference for the Cougars, leaving TCU to sort through another reminder that a strong defensive showing still has to be matched by cleaner work on the other side of the ball. [Read more 🡒]
TCUs Offense Is Turning A Big Strength Into An Early Crisis
TCUs defense has been doing plenty to keep the Horned Frogs in games, and on some nights it has been good enough to turn the whole operation into a grind. Under Sonny Dykes, this has quietly become one of the better defensive units in the country, sitting inside the top 15 nationally in scoring defense. Even in the loss to No. 10 BYU, the Frogs made life difficult for Bear Bachmeier and held him to 62 passing yards, the kind of effort that usually gives a team a real chance to steal a win.
The problem is that the offense has not held up its end of the bargain against Power Four competition, where TCU is averaging just 11 points a game. That gap showed up again in the 17-10 loss to the Cougars, a result that left the Frogs with another frustrating reminder that strong defense alone will not be enough. Dykes has said the defense is playing well, but the bigger question hanging over the program now is how quickly the offense can catch up before these narrow games start slipping away for good. [Read more 🡒]