Killer Frogs

TCU Football Survives Stanford in Season Opener

Despite the self-inflicting penalties and the slow start, the Horned Frogs were able to overcome it with a 34-27 win over the Cardinal.

Zion Trammell

Aug 30, 2024; Stanford, California, USA; The TCU Horned Frogs team celebrates after the game against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 30, 2024; Stanford, California, USA; The TCU Horned Frogs team celebrates after the game against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports / Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports
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Year Three of the Sonny Dykes era began Friday night in Palo Alto, CA, as TCU looked to put behind a disappointing 2023 campaign that saw the Frogs go 5-7. While it wasn't pretty, the Frogs walked away with a road win over Stanford.

It was a rocky start for TCU as they committed three penalties with a pair on third and long. It resulted in a Stanford touchdown from Jackson Harris. An opening drive touchdown for TCU tied the game at seven. However, the offense sputtered the rest of the half. Two fumbles and a turnover on downs put the Frogs in a 17-10 deficit.

Trailing 24-20 with under seven minutes to go, Josh Hoover had to go to work to give his team the lead. He fed Savion Williams with a pair of catches on the drive. It was apparent that the game plan was to find ways to give Williams the ball. He lived up to the preseason hype inhaling 11 catches for 85 yards and a touchdown.

However, it was Jack Bech who gave TCU the 27-24 lead. Bech had a monster game, with six catches for 139 yards and a touchdown. Hoover said Bech was unbelievable tonight and is such a selfless guy.

A big question coming into this season is what a new defensive scheme under Andy Avalos would look like. Lack of pressure was a problem last season but there was no shortage of that on Friday. TCU sacked Ashton Daniels four times and finished with 10 tackles for loss. Dykes said that it was fantastic to see Marcel Brooks making plays. He finished with 1.5 sacks with two tackles for loss. JaTravis Broughton was also terrific at corner and not much was getting by him on his side of the field.

Stanford would get the ball with 3:13 to go trailing by four but the drive ended quickly. A pair of incompletions and a sack gave TCU great field position and they capitalized with a Cam Cook score to effectively put the game on ice.

It wasn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination but sometimes that is simply the way things go in week one. The far travel to the west coast with a two hour time change and a late start could've played a factor but at the end of the day TCU needs to be better moving forward. Luckily, they made enough second half adjustments to start 1-0.

The Frogs will play their home opener on September 7th against LIU at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

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Zion Trammell
ZION TRAMMELL

Zion Trammell is from Northern California and pursuing a major in sports broadcasting and a minor in journalism. He obtained a certificate of achievement in sports broadcasting before transferring to TCU and has experience with play-by-play and color commentary. Zion also enjoys creating sports content on TikTok.

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