TCU throttles Texas early and often, reasserts Lone Star dominance
TCU had enough of that whole heart-stopping, victory-from-the-jaws-of-defeat business last weekend against Texas Tech. This weekend, the Horned Frogs took care of business against Texas right off the bat, scoring three touchdowns in the first nine minutes en route to an eventual 50-7 rout.
It's impossible to overstate how effective TCU looked and how pathetic the Longhorns played in this alleged "game." TCU ran up 602 yards over the course of the game; Texas had 313, the vast majority of that coming long after the Horned Frogs had stopped worrying. Texas had only a single turnover; TCU piled up its points on good ol' changes of possession.
This wasn't a game that scared anybody early on. TCU's Gary Patterson didn't sound particularly concerned about the Texas offense before the game, coining an instant classic quote:
"We've beaten better with less" would make for good bulletin-board material, but this Texas team would put a thumbtack through a finger trying to tack it up to the bulletin board.
On the plus side for Texas, special teams didn't cost the Longhorns another game. They didn't get the chance: after snapping a punt out of their end zone early in the first quarter, the Longhorns couldn't even stay within sight of TCU.
TCU won points with both brute force and style. Check out, for instance, this catch by Josh Docston:
And here's KaVontae Turpin with one of his four (!) touchdowns on the day:
TCU hung 30 points on the Longhorns in the very first quarter, and would go on to amass half a hundred before the Longhorns even got on the board, more than 54 minutes into the game.
How bad was this debacle? So bad that Texas defensive back Kris Boyd was not only on his phone at halftime, but apparently agreeing with those who said he should transfer. And someone in control of the Texas Rangers account tweeted out a "Fire Charlie [Strong]" line. That's not a good look by any stretch.
Texas is now 1-4 and in absolute freefall. TCU was ranked 4th coming into the game, but since this was about as competitive as a no-pads walkthrough, it's tough to give the Horned Frogs a whole lot of credit for this victory. Mark this down as another example of the balance of power shifting in Texas, and move on.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.
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