TCU expected plenty of passing from Stephen F. Austin.
But from the beginning, the Horned Frogs defense tackled, sacked, intercepted and kept applying pressure on the Lumberjacks, as TCU cruised to a 67-7 victory on Saturday night at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Stephen F. Austin had five fewer plays than TCU in the first half, but managed 106 total yards.
After holding New Mexico to nine first downs and 186 total yards in last week’s 26-3 victory, the Horned Frogs held the Lumberjacks to minus-19 yards rushing in the first half and finished the game with three interceptions.
"We applied pressure on them,"
TCU coach Gary Patterson said. "That offense, and the switches they have, that’s a hard offense to apply pressure on."
"We didn’t blitz very much tonight, in fact we really haven’t blitzed very much in the last two ballgames, which is really uncharacteristic of us. I can’t promise that for the rest of the season, but I have been excited about how our guys have progressed."
On the Lumberjacks’ first three possessions, they were forced to punt twice. Rafael Priest’s interception set up TCU’s second touchdown.
Long before the second half, TCU managed to work in second- and third-team players on the defensive line. Along with good tackling, TCU’s secondary covered Lumberjack receivers tightly in the first quarter, and nose tackle Cody Moore broke through for one of TCU’s two sacks.
"When the ball’s coming out so quick, it’s hard to get back there and put pressure on them,"
Moore said. "But when our secondary has good coverage, we need to get back there. That was our whole goal to try to pressure the quarterback and I feel like we did."
A fumble recovery set up another quick score to give TCU a 28-0 lead.
The Lumberjacks’ longest play didn’t come until early in the second quarter on a 29-yard pass.
With TCU up 35-7, safety Steven Coleman made up for an earlier dropped interception, scoring on a 33-yard interception return with 1:01 left in the first half.
"We didn’t take them as a slouch,"
Coleman said.
"We prepared as if they were Stanford or Oklahoma, so we knew what was coming at us."
