Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
No. 4 TCU gets defensive, tops Texas
Horned Frogs wrap up Big 12 title game berth
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Christian was far from pretty against Texas, yet the Horned Frogs are undefeated and playing for a Big 12 championship. And maybe bigger things to come.
Kendre Miller rushed for 138 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown in the third quarter that broke open a defensive struggle, and No. 4 TCU beat the No. 18 Longhorns 17-10 on Saturday to clinch a Big 12 title game berth.
Horned Frogs quarterback Max Duggan, who was sacked four times in the first half and hounded all game, connected with wide receiver Quentin Johnston for a 31-yard TD over broken coverage in the fourth quarter.
“Nobody expected this kind of game,” first-year TCU coach Sonny Dykes said. “We have tremendous confidence in our ability to take over the game late.”
Defensively, the Horned Frogs (10-0, 7-0) turned in their best game of the season. TCU held touted running back Bijan Robinson to 29 yards and limited quarterback Quinn Ewers
to a 17-for-39 effort for 171 yards and no scores while yielding 199 yards of offense
The Horned Frogs allowed Texas (6-4, 4-3) a single field goal on consecutive drives inside the TCU 10 in the second half.
The win kept the Horned Frogs in the hunt for the College Football Playoff. They are No. 4 in the CFP ranking.
TCU also is 10-0 for the first time since 2010, when it played in the Mountain West, won the Rose Bowl and finished 13-0.
The Longhorns haven’t scored an offensive TD in the second half of each of their past three games. Texas’ lone TD against TCU came on cornerback Jahdae Barron’s 48-yard fumble return with 4:25 left. Barron also had another fumble recovery.
Duggan finished 19 of 29 passing for 124 yards, and Miller ran for 138 yards on 21 carries.
■ No. 24 Washington 37, No. 6 Oregon 34: At Eugene, Ore., Peyton Henry kicked a go-ahead 43-yard field goal with 51 seconds left for the Huskies (8-2, 5-2 Pac-12), who dealt a blow the chances for the Ducks (9-2, 6-1) to make the College Football Playoff.
Michael Penix Jr. threw a 62-yard TD pass to wide receiver Taj Davis for Washington to tie it at 34 with 3:07 left after Oregon QB Bo Nix had limped off the field during the previous series.
Nix returned after Henry’s field goal and got the Ducks to the Huskies’ 38. But Oregon’s final drive fizzled with a penalty, and Washington won at Autzen Stadium for the first time since 2016.
Penix threw for 408 yards and two TDS as the Huskies ended a 13-game skid against ranked Ducks teams. Washington had been
0-7 when the Oregon was ranked in the top 10.
Nix threw for 280 yards and two TDS and ran for 59 yards and a TD as the Ducks’ 23-game home win streak ended one shy of a program record.
Nix fell after a 2-yard run on third-and-5 on the Washington 10, and he limped off the field. Cameron Lewis’ 26-yard field goal finished the drive to make it 34-27 with 3:54 left. Backup Ty Thompson replaced Nix for one series.
Penix went into the night as the national leader in average passing yards per game with 359.1. He had a streak of eight straight games with 300 or more yards passing that ended last week in a victory over Oregon State.