Who knows—TCU may very well be experiencing the makings of a dream season. The Horned Frogs remain undefeated after a 38–28 comeback win over Kansas State on Saturday night.
Sometimes things break right for you, and down 28–10 to the Wildcats, they most certainly needed Lady Luck on their side in Week 8. Unfortunately for Kansas State, the injury bug started biting hard as both quarterback Adrian Martinez (who had been playing arguably the best football of his career) and his backup Will Howard were sidelined with injury. Down to QB3, it was certainly a tough ask for Jake Rubley to keep things afloat.
The Frogs then stormed back, going on a 28–0 run in which the Wildcats only ran 13 offensive plays. It was a similar script to last week against Oklahoma State in that TCU started sluggishly and then battled back. In the game against the Cowboys, Sonny Dykes’s team erased a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit.
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The last few weeks in Fort Worth have been about the emergence of receiver Quentin Johnston, but besides a 54-yard TD in which a DB covering him fell down, he was largely held in check on Saturday. But running back Kendre Miller more than stepped up with a bruising 153 yards on 29 carries.
Yes, K-State was down to a backup and then a backup’s backup, but a second-half shutout is still noteworthy here as the Frogs continue to play the complimentary football inherent to winning games. The defense keeps getting stops, allowing the offense to get in gear.
It’s doubtful TCU wants to live in this reality for the rest of the season, as it’s always nice to get up early and cruise to a victory. But the 7–0 Horned Frogs have shown they can fight through some serious adversity to keep gutting out victories, and as long as the loss column still has a zero in it, Dykes and Co. will take it no matter how it comes. Suddenly, the Frogs have a real chance to take a stranglehold over the race to the Big 12 title game—at the very least. The next three weeks feature a West Virginia team that has floundered so far this season, three-loss Texas Tech and then Texas, which just lost on the road to Oklahoma State.
