TCU Horned Frogs vs LA-Monroe Warhawks Football Recap

TCU 38, Louisiana-Monroe 17

The TCU Horned Frogs didn’t pay the ultimate price this past weekend, but they know full well that if they don’t solve the lingering and persistent problems in their noticeably leaky secondary, they’re not going to make a big-time bowl game, and they’ll definitely get eviscerated by Boise State in the Mountain West game of the year.

After a disconcerting start for its defense, and trailing 17-14 after the first quarter, TCU clamped down and pulled away from Louisiana-Monroe to claim a 38-17 victory on Saturday in Fort Worth.

It wasn’t just any stayed-close-for-awhile scare, as the Warhawks – despite their low-profile Sun Belt Conference identity - piled up 204 yards of offense in the first quarter. After TCU’s Casey Pachall connected on a 68-yard touchdown bomb to Josh Boyce to claim a 7-3 lead for the Horned Frogs, Louisiana-Monroe went right back to work. Quarterback Kolton Browning went 5-for-5 for 38 yards on a subsequent drive, getting the Warhawks on the board again with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Brent Leonard. TCU answered on the ground with Waymon James and Matthew Tucker, who combined for 42 rushing yards, Tucker punching in a 5-yard dash to reclaim a 14-10 lead for the Frogs.

But the Warhawks weren’t done, at least not for the quarter. Browning engineered another quick scoring drive, hitting Tavarese Maye for a 37-yard strike with under a minute left. The wild first quarter ended with Louisiana-Monroe up 17-14. At halftime, TCU was barely able to scratch out a four-point lead, at 21-17. The natives had to be restless; this was supposed to be the kind of game in which backups got a lot of work. Instead, the Frogs couldn’t really rest until the fourth quarter began.

TCU finally managed to establish a sense of order in this game – it all began in the second quarter, as Pachall put together a methodical passing drive that went 73 yards over 5:34. Pachall passed for 40 yards on 6 completions, controlling the drive until Antoine Hicks scored on a two-yard rush. Then, at the start of the second half, speed-burner Greg McCoy took the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown that broke the back of the Warhawks while relieving a lot of tension on the TCU sideline. The Frogs forced a Warhawk fumble just a few snaps after that kick return, and they scored on a Matthew Tucker one-yard run. Five minutes into the third quarter, TCU was in full control at 35-17, but the Frogs still had to be on guard in this game for a longer period of time than they originally hoped.

After the big first quarter, TCU held ULM to just 110 yards over the final three quarters. Pachall ended 15-23 for 204 yards and a touchdown in TCU’s pass game, while James, Tucker, and Aundre Dean combined for 222 rushing yards. TCU moves to 2-1 with the win, but it needs to make a whole host of improvements before it can begin to feel good about itself this season.

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By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer