Welcome to the Extra Points, our weekly college wrap-up at Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. This is your one stop to quickly get up to date with all the most important FBS happenings in the state from Week 3.
ARLINGTON -- TCU deserved to beat Ohio State. It was the better team for most of the night.
Ultimately, the Horned Frogs fell 40-28 to the Buckeyes at AT&T Stadium. But despite the disappointment, TCU is very optimistic about where the program is headed with a very young roster.
“Talking to their coaches coming off the field, we have a really good football team,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said. “I think they play a lot of good people. I trust their judgement. I’m not just talking about assistants either; I’m talking coordinators and head coach.”
TCU really did beat itself. Over a four-minute stretch in the third quarter, the Horned Frogs gave up 21 unanswered points thanks to a missed tackle, pick-six and fumbled punt attempt. Even with them, TCU was within 15 yards of Ohio State in yardage. The defense only gave up 26 points against an offense that scored a combined 129 points the two weeks prior.
More importantly, TCU proved it belonged. After losing quarterback Kenny Hill, three offensive linemen, linebacker Travin Howard and more, it seemed like the Frogs were in the midst of a rebuilding year. Three games into the year, and after facing off against arguably the second most talented team in America, TCU is ahead of schedule.
Now, the real work begins. TCU travels to face Texas next week, and then hosts Iowa State, Texas Tech and No. 5 Oklahoma in consecutive weeks. The Horned Frogs will make their case for the Big 12 title game through that stretch.
Patterson wasn’t a huge fan of playing Ohio State. When given the opportunity, he turned a home-and-home into a one-time neutral site game. But after hanging with the Buckeyes for four quarters, he wants to make sure his program gets deserved credit.
“To me, we just got beaten by the number 3- or 4-ranked team in the nation,” Patterson said. “And so if you could win out, then I think you’d be one of those teams that should give TCU just as much credit for playing a ball game like this as anybody else you should.”
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