FORT WORTH -- The city of Fort Worth had not seen sun in nine days. The last times the clouds parted was before TCU lost to Texas Tech on Oct. 11.

Early in the second quarter on Saturday, the clouds opened over Amon G. Carter Stadium for the first time in a week and redshirt sophomore quarterback Michael Collins ascended from the heavens.

Okay, that wasn’t exactly what happened. But it sure felt like it for a quarter.

TCU ultimately lost 52-27 in a game that wasn’t close after the third quarter. The Horned Frogs fall to 3-4 for the first time since 2013. But for a brief glimpse, the Horned Frogs showed an alternate timeline, and a promising one at that.

TCU offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie made a call to Collins on the sideline with 8:19 remaining in the second quarter: “You’re going in.”

Starting quarterback Shawn Robinson led three uninspiring offensive drives that led to punts. The only points were on a 99-yard kickoff return from KaVontae Turpin. It was the fourth straight game TCU’s offense struggled to generate points.

As soon as Collins entered the game, a switch flipped. He threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Turpin on his first drive. Three minutes later, Collins found Jalen Reagor on a beautiful throw in the right corner of the end zone.

The defense responded too. TCU forced its first two punts of the afternoon to end the first half.

“Momentum is a crazy thing,” linebacker Ty Summers said. “All it takes is one play. Whether it’s Shawn or Mike or Turpin making crazy plays. I respect Mike for going out there, he’s a great player. Today, it was Mike making the plays out there.”

Right before the half, Collins led another 25-yard drive to set up a field goal. That cut the lead to just 28-24 at the break.

“I thought he came in and managed the ballgame pretty good for how much he had played before,” Patterson said. “I would probably tell you he played well, but I would probably take back that interception.”

Collins led another field goal drive in the third quarter. But on that drive, Collins stiff-armed a defender while running for a first down and skinned his throwing hand. From that point, the magic was over.

Before that play, Collins completed 5-of-6 passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns. After that play, he was 2-of-11 for 43 yards and a bad interception to set up an Oklahoma touchdown. But still, TCU got a peek at what this offense could look like with consistent quarterback play.

On the four drives that Collins was healthy, TCU averaged 7.1 yards per play. On all other plays, the Horned Frogs were down at just 3.8 yards per play. On the year, the Horned Frogs are at just 5.5.

Collins’ hand is expected to be fine. But still, it’s unclear what TCU will do at quarterback heading forward. Robinson has started every game of the season.

“I’m not going to make it about a quarterback controversy,” Patterson said. “You’ll have to write about that yourselves.”

Mounting injury issues

In many ways, Patterson is right. There are far more issues going on than just quarterback play.

The Horned Frogs were already playing without safeties Innis Gaines and Niko Small. Cornerbacks Jeff Gladney and Julius Lewis also got banged up. Linebacker Garret Wallow moved into the strong safety role for stretches, but then he went out too.

The injuries showed up on paper. Oklahoma managed 536 offensive yards, including 323 yards on the ground. The Sooners averaged 6.9 yards per carry against a usually stout TCU run defense.

TCU’s rush offense also hasn’t been consistent enough. The running backs averaged just 3.9 yards per carry and were held without a touchdown. In fact, Collins led the Horned Frogs in rushing with just 36 rushing yards. Gradually losing offensive line starters doesn’t help.

But still, it’s impossible to ignore how inconsistent the quarterback position has been. Only six programs in college football came into Week 7 with more turnovers than TCU’s 15. Twelve of them are on Robinson alone. He’s tied for No. 2 nationally with eight picks.

TCU is one of the best defensive programs in America. Outside of this game, the Horned Frogs give up just 22.8 points per game against FBS opponents. Three of the Horned Frogs’ four losses are against AP top 10 programs.

The Horned Frogs don’t need a quarterback to go out and win them games; they just need someone to manage things. Collins showed flashes of brilliance, but the Horned Frogs still have work to do to earn a bowl trip. TCU has not missed a bowl game since 2013.

“I wouldn’t call [my performance] success because we still lost,” Collins said. “We are 3-4 right now and that is not where we want to be. We still have five games to go, though. We have to focus on getting five more wins and take it one game at a time starting next week at Kansas.”