Much like Arkansas, TCU had a problem with jamming up receivers at the line.
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“Just by watching Sunday’s practice, I will tell you if they weren’t listening to me, they’re listening to me now after they got a chance to watch film”, Patterson said. And finally, they walked off with their fifth win over a ranked opponent as an unranked team since 2014.
In his first game as the Horned Frogs starter, Hill threw for 439 yards, two touchdowns and rushed for another three touchdowns against South Dakota State. Arkansas needed a 72-yard drive in the fourth quarter, after a missed field goal by Louisiana Tech, to win 21-20.
“Our guys have been scarred”.
“Time of possession is big every week for us”, offensive line coach Kurt Anderson said.
After tough season-opening victories for both teams, TCU and Arkansas meet Saturday night for the first time since 1991. That was the year before Arkansas started play in the SEC. They didn’t have Gary Patterson coaching on the TCU sideline. They went in tied at halftime at 24-24 and Kenny Hill showed glimpses of brilliance in the second half. Jeremy Sprinkle admitted this week that he didn’t have the proper spacing on his route on Allen’s second-quarter interception against Louisiana Tech, resulting in an extra defender being in the area of Allen’s intended target Drew Morgan.
“We wanted to keep you in your seats for four quarters and some”, Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said with a smile as he greeted reporters. You can findhis historical college football performance here, and you can subscribe to his service here.
Bielema, now in his fourth season at Arkansas, got the up-close view of a Patterson-coached team in Wisconsin’s 21-19 loss in the Rose Bowl, before the Horned Frogs moved to the Big 12 and shared a conference title there two years ago.
With its defense playing at a high level and the offense controlling the line of scrimmage, it seemed like Arkansas was just about ready to put things away.
But the Razorbacks had to kick off to KaVontae Turpin, TCU’s dynamic return man.
Allen’s score came on a third-and-goal.
The 5-foot-9, 153-pound speedster had 295 all-purpose yards, including 126 receiving.
Kenny Hill, TCU’s new quarterback – or, if we’re sticking with basketball terminology, point guard – posted fabulous statistics against the Jackrabbits.
Seeing 59 points on the scoreboard in the opener continued a recent TCU trend of racking up the touchdowns.
Arkansas recruits Texas hard; among the key Razorbacks from Texas are Taiwan Johnson, Deatrich Wise Jr., Devwah Whaley, Zach Rogers, Rawleigh Williams III, D.J. Dean and Jake Raulerson. The touchdown marked the first of the game for the Horned Frogs and got the crowd into the game. Arkansas wasn’t getting any Top 25 votes going in, so a surge into the rankings appears unlikely.
Whichever team succeeds in stamping its preferred pace on today’s 6 p.m. game at Amon G. Carter Stadium should have the upper hand when the Razorbacks take on the Horned Frogs. The per-carry average for the offense was 4.2 yards, significantly higher than the 2.7 from the opener. Arkansas QB Austin Allen had a rough game throwing for 191 yards and 2 interceptions.
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The Hogs dominated the playclock, holding onto the ball for 17 minutes and 30 seconds of the first half. That could be big for the Hogs with their SEC season opener against Texas A&M is the horizon on September 24 in Arlington, Texas, after the Hogs play host to Texas State on September 17 at Fayetteville.
