New Mexico Bowl Quick Thoughts: TCU 34 – Louisiana 3

Horned Frogs dominate Ragin’ Cajuns to win New Mexico Bowl and 2024 with 9-4 record

Heisenberg Hoover

TCU QB Josh Hoover arrived in ABQ on a mission to deliver the purest passing the New Mexico Bowl had ever seen. Horned Frog fiends could not get enough of the high quality play that Hoover delivered on Saturday in the New Mexico Bowl. Hoover broke the TCU single-season passing record previously set by Trevone Boykin in 2014, throwing for 252 yards on Saturday to finish the season with 3,949 yards. Hoover was brilliant in the first half putting the game well out of reach early, including a heroic 4th & goal effort to escape pressure and find Eric McAlister in the back of the end zone, paired with first half strikes to Drake Dabney & JP Richardson. We’re already itching for what Hoover magic we can pump through our veins in 2025 where he’ll have opportunity to continue to etch his name across the TCU record books.

Black Clouds

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While it was certainly a lopsided affair, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Frogs on Saturday, and there will be plenty of improvement opportunities to take away from the big win. Hoover threw an interception directly to a lurking linebacker that would ultimately give the Cajuns their only points of the day. TCU’s rushing game continued to be stuck in the mud, averaging just 3.3 yards per carry while getting thwarted on three straight goal line carries, forcing the aforementioned 4th down scramble drill from Hoover. Palmer, Payne, and Battle each showed some promising runs, but on the whole the run game was the same inefficient mess it had been all year. The offensive line was shaky in pass protection as well, allowing Hoover to take some tough hits while getting sacked twice and having the Horned Frogs’ QB scrambling around more than you’d like. TCU was hit with 5 penalties for 45 yards, several that erased big plays and killing otherwise promising drives. Perhaps this is picking nits in such a dominant TCU win, but if the Frogs hope to be in a more prestigious post season position in 2025, those little issues along the margins need to be cleaned up.

McAlister Thwarts the Cajun Bandits

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Eric McAlister was frequently left ‘Home Alone’ by the Louisiana defense and didn’t need paint cans or blow torches to get the best of his Ragin’ Cajun adversaries. Instead he simply delivered a terrific performance, and perhaps a glimpse at the connection he and Hoover could bring into 2025, catching eight of his nine targets for 87 yards and a touchdown. McAlister continued to be a chain-moving menace, a sure target with a nose for the first down marker. With TCU’s top pass catching threats Savion Williams and Jack Bech sidelined with injury, McAlister was going to have to pick up the slack while defenses could focus greater attention his way, and the Boise State transfer delivered for the Frogs.

Defensive Lockdown

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The Horned Frogs delivered a vintage defensive performance on Saturday, the kind of showing it was unclear we’d ever see again in the new era of college football and for post-Gary Patterson TCU. Louisiana had one drive that went for more than 38 yards: a seven play garbage-time drive that died inside the TCU 10 as time expired on regulation. The Ragin’ Cajuns only managed to cross midfield one other time during the game: its first drive of the day got to the TCU 37 and resulted in UL’s Lou Groza Award winning kicker missing the 54-yard FG attempt. Louisiana’s only points of the day came in the 4th quarter on a short field after the Hoover interception, and even in that tough spot, the TCU defense kept the Cajuns out of the end zone. The TCU defensive front created three sacks and eight tackles for loss with Kaleb Elarms-Orr and Devean Deal causing havoc all day. The TCU secondary absolutely erased the UL passing game, allowing just 95 yards through the air on 42% completions while snagging a pair of picks. Cam Smith grabbed the first interception after a deflection at the line of scrimmage by a blitzing Abe Camara and Jordan Lester secured the second pick with elite coverage and ball tracking. It was a Lockdown on LaMareon Island as Scud James silenced Louisiana’s top receiver, holding Lance LeGendre to one catch for 12 yards on six targets.

No Complacency

There was a lot of disappointment, complacency, and/or apathy across the TCU fan base throughout the 2024 campaign – the student section left at halftime of the UCF game, Sonny Dykes was placed on the hot seat midway through the season, and even after the season turned around the assignment to the New Mexico Bowl and a showdown with the Sun Belt runner-up was met with derision and blamed on the outgoing Athletic Director. Despite all that noise, the football team remained focused and never lost its drive. While one can look back at the missteps of the 2024 season and wonder what might’ve been, the team went out and delivered a decisive victory, living up to that grand potential and setting the stage for a fully-focused offseason and the opportunity to reach even greater heights in 2025, beginning with a showdown with coaching legend Bill Belichick in his collegiate coaching debut with the North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill on August 30th.