FORT WORTH, Texas – Head coach Charlie Strong said Monday that the Longhorns would need to play over their heads to beat No. 4 TCU on the road. It turns out, that may have been an understatement.
The Longhorns were dominated from start to finish in their 50-7 defeat over to the Horned Frogs. TCU has now defeated Texas in back-to-back years for the first time since 1958-59.
“I’m just totally disappointed and frustrated,” Strong said. “After looking at the past two weeks how we battled and competed. [We] came out today, we just didn’t play hard.”
TCU exploded to an early massive lead with a 30-point first quarter. Senior quarterback Trevone Boykin tossed three touchdowns before senior wide receiver Josh Doctson scored on a 29-yard double-pass for the team’s fourth touchdown of the quarter. The Horned Frogs also gained two points when a snap sailed over freshman punter Michael Dickson’s head into the end zone for a safety. TCU outgained the Longhorns by 200 yards in the quarter.
Trying to limit the damage, the Longhorns put together a drive lasting over seven minutes to move it deep into TCU territory in the second quarter. However, Texas failed to capitalize when senior kicker Nick Rose missed a 40-yard attempt, his second missed field goal of the game.
TCU added two more touchdowns and two field goals before Texas junior quarterback Tyrone Swoopes tossed a 21-yard touchdown to sophomore wide receiver Lorenzo Joe for the Longhorns’ only score.
Texas’ offense had its worst scoring performance since its 3-point week one effort at Notre Dame. The Longhorns went three-and-out five different times, while redshirt freshman quarterback Jerrod Heard completed just 40 percent of his passes for 48 yards.
“It was just part of execution,” redshirt freshman Jerrod Heard said. “We just got out-executed and we had a lack of execution in practice preparing for [the game] … we need to start matching points and scoring the ball.”
Defensive coordinator Vance Bedford said Wednesday that Boykin is unstoppable, and the senior didn’t disappoint. Boykin threw five touchdowns and led TCU’s offense to a 604-yard performance. The Horned Frogs also scored four touchdowns of 15-yards or more.
Matched up against Texas’ young defensive backs, Doctson and freshman wide receiver KaVontae Turpin both racked up over 100 receiving yards and combined for six touchdowns. TCU threw for 376 yards on the day.
“It’s frustrating,” senior linebacker Peter Jinkins said. “There’s nobody on this defense who gives up. We just have to play smarter.”
The loss marked the third time that the Longhorns have lost by 30 or more in the last two seasons. Strong preached last season that blowout losses are not the standard at Texas. However, Texas is still struggling to change that standard with two blowout losses in its first five games.
“We have to learn how to compete,” Strong said. “We don’t know how to compete yet. And you have to have pride … someone has to step up, and that’s what we’re not getting right now.”
The Longhorns will have to recover and learn how to compete before facing No. 15 Oklahoma on Saturday. Sitting at 1-4, Texas is digging itself into a deep hole with bowl game hopes on the line. If Texas wants to avoid a 1-5 record heading into its bye week, it will have to regroup quickly and substantially improve.
“We just have to keep encouraging people,” Jinkins said. “The same thing from the past two, three weeks. We have to keep encouraging, keep pushing and just keep driving.”
