TCU’s defense is giving the Horned Frogs a chance every week. The offense keeps taking it away.
That split personality showed up again Saturday night, when TCU held No. 10 BYU in check for long stretches but could manage only one touchdown in a 17-10 loss. The Horned Frogs are 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the Big 12, and a game that looked like a real upset opportunity slipped away.
The strange part is that this doesn’t look like a TCU team built around defense. Under Sonny Dykes, the Horned Frogs have usually lived on the other side of the ball. Yet through five games, they’re sitting in the top 15 nationally in scoring defense at 13.4 points allowed per game, and Dykes said the unit did enough to win Saturday.
“We’re playing good [defensively]. I thought we certainly played our best tonight,” Dykes said.
“That’s a good football team, a good offensive team. I thought we played incredibly hard, but we got to be able to score more points.
Defensively I thought we certainly played well enough to have a chance to win the game.”
That’s the uncomfortable truth for TCU right now: the defense keeps showing up, and the offense keeps lagging behind.
Against BYU, the Frogs made life miserable for quarterback Bear Bachmeier. The sophomore finished with just 62 passing yards, his worst throwing game of the season, as TCU’s secondary stayed glued to receivers and the front held up well enough to make the Cougars uncomfortable in the rain. BYU’s injury situation also mattered, with reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year LJ Martin out, but TCU still won enough battles up front to make the Cougars look ordinary.
There’s enough evidence now to say TCU has a defense good enough to matter in the Big 12. The offense is the problem, and not by a little.
The Frogs have talent on that side of the ball. Senior tight end Kari Ashley leads all tight ends nationally with 374 receiving yards.
Junior running back Jeremy Payne has shown he belongs among the better backs in the league. Senior wide receiver Jordan Dwyer is back and gives TCU an NFL-caliber target outside.
Sophomore Ed Small has been productive in the slot, too.
And yet the production still isn’t there.
A big reason is the change at offensive coordinator. Gordon Sammis, hired to replace Kendal Briles, has not sparked the attack the way TCU hoped. Against Power Four opponents, the Horned Frogs are averaging only 11 points per game, and that has already pushed them out of the Big 12 title picture.
“We’ve got to continue to get better offensively. That’s an issue right now,” Dykes said.
“We got to find ways to get the ball in the end zone and first downs. It was disappointing, BYU is a very good defensive football team.
We knew it was gonna be some tough sledding tonight. They have a good team, but we’ve got to find a way to score points if we’re going to win some games.”
The losses aren’t just about failing to score. TCU has also been helping opponents along with turnovers at the worst possible moments.
Against North Carolina, a Jaden Craig fumble in the third quarter led to a field goal that ended up being the difference in a 15-10 loss. Against Central Florida, Small’s fumble on the opening possession gave UCF a short field, and the Knights cashed it in for a touchdown in a 21-13 TCU defeat. Then on Saturday, Craig threw an interception in BYU territory, Faletau Satuala returned it 59 yards to the TCU red zone, and Bachmeier finished the possession with a scramble for a touchdown - BYU’s only TD drive until the final two minutes.
It’s one thing to stall out. It’s another to hand points away.
The offense has also been stubborn in the wrong direction. TCU is last in the Big 12 in rushing offense and 15th in sacks allowed, and Craig has looked increasingly uncertain.
Late in the second half with TCU trailing 10-7, the Frogs had two chances to work from favorable field position, starting drives at their 35 and 45. Neither one turned into points.
On one series, TCU ran Payne on a wide zone to the short side of the field on third-and-7 at the BYU 44, and the play lost yardage. On the next possession, Payne got four straight carries before TCU faced third-and-10 at the BYU 29. Craig’s only throw was a screen to Small that was snuffed out immediately, and the Frogs settled for a missed 46-yard field goal.
Dykes explained the thinking behind those calls.
“We were trying to get it to short yardage. We thought we would see pressure and thought we had a chance to pop it.
We wanted to get it down to fourth-and-3 or 4,” Dykes said. “They got us, they made a good play on us, and that was the thinking there.
Try to set us up for two downs.. I was comfortable with that call.
“And then the same thing on third down, ran a screen, thought we had a chance to pop them. [Thought] we were gonna see pressure, and they rallied to the ball better than we thought they would. Those are two play calls obviously we’d like to have over.”
The explanation fits the moment, but the larger picture is harder to ignore. The offense has looked cautious, the line has been shuffled repeatedly, and Craig hasn’t provided the lift TCU expected. Dykes and Sammis have both been central to the plan, but right now the attack looks like it’s stuck in place.
“We’ll sit down and take a look at everything we’re doing,” Dykes said.
That review feels overdue. TCU’s defense is doing enough to keep games within reach. The offense keeps making sure those chances disappear.
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 🡒]
BYU Just Proved It Can Win Even When Things Get Uncomfortable
The Horned Frogs had the kind of night that can linger for a while in Fort Worth, one where the defense did enough to keep things within reach but the offense never found a steady rhythm. Against No. 10 BYU, TCU hung around into halftime and leaned on a defense that limited the Cougars through the air and held up against the run, but the inability to build sustained drives kept the pressure on every snap.
In a 10-7 loss that dropped TCU to 2-3, the larger concern is not just the result but how hard it was for the Frogs to manufacture momentum when the game tightened up. The defense gave them a chance against a ranked opponent, yet the offenses inconsistency left too little margin for error, and that combination has become a familiar problem for a team trying to steady its season. [Read more 🡒]