TCU got the result it wanted Saturday night, and it got it in emphatic fashion. The Horned Frogs rolled past Grambling State 63-7 in their home opener at Amon G. Carter Stadium, a much-needed response after spending the past two weeks sitting on the Week 0 loss to North Carolina.
The performance wasn’t spotless, but it was one TCU could live with. Senior quarterback Jaden Craig set the tone early and kept the pressure on, piling up 291 total yards in the first half before finishing with 391 passing yards, four touchdowns and a 77% completion rate. By halftime, TCU had built a 28-7 lead and never let Grambling State seriously threaten it again.
Grambling State did make a brief dent in the margin in the second quarter. Reginald Johnson found Byron Eaton Jr. for a 7-yard touchdown with 4:30 left before halftime, trimming the lead to 21-7. TCU answered right away with a 76-yard, seven-play march, and Craig’s connection with sophomore slot receiver Ed Small and junior tight end Kari Ashley helped set up Joe Pitchford’s first career touchdown with 1:48 left in the half.
Craig’s legs were a major part of the story, too. After finishing with -22 rushing yards on four carries against North Carolina, he was far more involved as a runner against Grambling.
He posted a career-high 53 rushing yards, mixing in designed runs and zone reads but doing some of his best work when plays broke down. His biggest scramble came on a fourth-down play in the second quarter, when he slipped multiple tacklers and raced 31 yards to the Grambling 18-yard line.
That run was the longest of his career and set up his 9-yard touchdown pass to senior tight end Ka’Morreun Pimpton with 8:26 left in the second quarter.
Ashley turned in the kind of breakout game TCU has been waiting for. With starting wide receivers Jordan Dwyer and Dozie Ezukanma out for a second straight game, the Horned Frogs leaned on the former junior college standout in all kinds of ways.
He lined up in multiple spots, including out wide, and finished with seven catches for 119 yards and two touchdowns. That made him the first TCU tight end since Jared Wiley in 2023 to top 100 receiving yards in a game.
Ashley’s production came on a variety of plays. He turned a short catch into a 37-yard gain with a sharp move after the reception, then later hauled in a 31-yard grab on a deep crossing route.
His first touchdown came in the third quarter, when he beat his defender and got wide open up the sideline for a 29-yard score that pushed the lead to 35-7 with 9:23 left. He added a 15-yard touchdown from Craig with 12:23 remaining to make it 49-7.
TCU’s defense held Grambling State to seven points, but the game still featured some ugly lapses. Early on, the Horned Frogs gave up a 52-yard gain to Eaton on a simple route out of the backfield. Senior defensive tackle Ansel Din-Mbuh bailed them out by blocking a field goal attempt on that drive.
The secondary then gave up another pair of breakdowns just before halftime. Jordan Bride got loose up the right sideline for a 62-yard gain with no TCU defender near him, and Eaton later found space in the end zone against a linebacker for Grambling State’s only touchdown. TCU was without preseason All-Big 12 safety Jamel Johnson, but there were still too many blown assignments for comfort against an FCS opponent.
There were other standouts in the blowout. Junior wide receiver Jeremy Scott made his presence felt in the second half after a quiet first half, finishing with four catches for 79 yards after halftime, including a 52-yard touchdown on a double move. With Dwyer and Ezukanma sidelined, Scott gave TCU the perimeter playmaking it needed.
Sophomore receiver Ed Small also delivered, despite a few drops. He caught five passes for 101 yards, with four receptions going for at least 12 yards. One of his biggest moments came on the final play of the first half, when he came down just short of the end zone on a 57-yard Hail Mary attempt.
On defense, junior safety Kaden McFadden started in place of Johnson at strong safety and led TCU with six tackles, bringing the same kind of physical edge against the run. And true freshman Ace Theus made his mark on special teams, returning five punts for 90 yards while handling primary punt-return duties for the Horned Frogs.
TCU returns to action against Arkansas State (1-1) at 7 p.m. Sept. 19 at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
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Malik Olajuwon has put himself right in the middle of a crowded late-summer recruiting race, trimming his list to six schools as he heads into his senior season at IMG Academy. The four-star shooting guard, son of Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon, is trying to carve out his own name on the hardwood while weighing a group that includes TCU, SMU, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Virginia Tech and Minnesota.
The tricky part for the Horned Frogs is that five of those programs already have official visits lined up, while TCU is still waiting on a date to be set. In a battle this tight, timing can matter almost as much as interest, and the longer the wait goes on the more important that eventual visit becomes for a program hoping to stay firmly in the mix. [Read more 🡒]
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Paez also has visits lined up to UConn and DePaul, and the Huskies have clearly caught his eye as he follows Danny Hurleys program closely. TCUs challenge will be to use that fall visit to separate itself in a recruitment that is still taking shape, especially with other Class of 2027 guards like Javion Tyndale also drawing attention after a strong summer and a recent stop at St. Bonaventure. [Read more 🡒]