Quick Thoughts: TCU 20 – Cincinnati 13

Horned Frogs fought the Bearcats on the ice to finish the season with an 8-4 record

Craw Daddy

TCU Special Teams has not exactly been the beacon of success in 2024, with little success in the kicking or return games. And rarely do you want to see your punter as a prolific player However in Cincinnati on Saturday, the player of the game for the Horned Frogs was punter Ethan Craw. The Australian in his first year with TCU had his best game of the season in the finale. His first punt of the game could not be handled by the Bearcats returner, resulting in a fumble recovered by the Frogs, which directly led to TCU’s opening touchdown. His second punt of the quarter went 55 yards and was downed at the 5, his next punt required a fair catch at the 16, in the 4th quarter he rocketed one 65 yards down to the six, and his final punt was perfectly pinned at the three yard line. That final punt was with one minute remaining in the game, forcing the Bearcats to go 97 yards in 60 seconds to tie the game, but Cincinnati could only muster 57 yards and the Hail Mary attempt fell short. Craw finished with 5 punts for 237 total punt yards, four of which were downed inside the 10 while the other one was fumbled. It was as impactful a performance as you can get from a punter.

2nd Half Disappearing Act

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The TCU Offense produced zero points and only 87 total yards after halftime, punting three times and throwing an interception. It was the first time the Frogs had been shut out in a half all season; TCU hadn’t even gone scoreless in a single quarter since the 4th quarter vs. Utah in October. While there is certainly credit to the Bearcats defense locking in and shutting down whatever TCU was trying to do, the wintery elements did appear to have an impact as the snow continued coming down through the entire second half. There were only two official drops recorded in the box score, one each for Blake Nowell and Trent Battle, that may have been a generous scorekeeper as Nowell could’ve been credited for at least one more and JP Richardson & Eric McAlister each had targets that would’ve typically been receptions for them. Along with battling the weather, TCU got hit hard with the injury bug, Savion Williams took some big hits and missed some snaps playing a bit hobbled, but the big blow came with the absence of Jack Bech. TCU’s leading receiver left the game late in the first half with an apparent knee injury that is feared to be significant. It’s a devastating set back for a player that has worked so hard to have this incredible season and continue to climb the NFL Draft boards to suffer an injury in his last collegiate regular season game. During the 4th quarter TCU attempted just one pass, a seven-yard completion to Savion Williams, picking up only two first down, going 0-2 on 3rd down and jumping offsides on what would’ve been its only 4th down attempt. TCU found little success with anything, needing a spark to create any offense, the Frogs turned to

Boss Hauss

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While TCU struggled to find any reliable success offensively throughout the game, the run-game package with freshman QB Hauss Hejny proved to be the key to unlocking the offense, especially down the stretch. Hejny finished with 48 yards on 6 yards per carry to lead the Horned Frogs rushing attack on the day. He was given an entire 4th quarter series where he rushed for 35 of those yards, burned four minutes off the clock, cleared the 2-minute warning and forced Cincinnati to burn its final timeout.