TCU Athletics
Bud Clark finishes off a 25-yard pick-six in the second quarter with an approving Devean Deal in the background.
TCU went on a national stage on ESPN on Monday night to help tell the story of Bill Belichick’s highly anticipated return to football.
The story turned out to be about the under-the-radar Horned Frogs — unranked and clearly unappreciated — who blistered Belichick’s underwhelming and clearly unprepared North Carolina team in a 48-14 beating so complete in the season opener that the alleged football genius had to be wondering why he got back in the industry.
“We all felt a little disrespected,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said to ESPN afterward. “There was a lot of conversation about this game, and it wasn’t about us.”
The Horned Frogs put themselves on the national radar, so much so there was an expectation the program would make its season debut in the AP Top 25 later this afternoon, though only objective voting sports writers know for sure. Alas, the Frogs did not crack the top 25 in either the AP or Coaches polls.
We all got more than a little uncomfortable watching the opening drive of the game. North Carolina took the opening kickoff and marched 83 yards in much the same easy way Sherman ravaged the South. The Frogs then answered that by delivering a three-and-out on their subsequent turn.
Egads! My Labor Day hotdogs were turning sour. Not Georgia again, please say it ain’t so.
Worry not. North Carolina is not — repeat, not — Georgia's doppelgänger. And the QB1 was in complete control.
The Frogs went on a Georgia-like rampage, however, scoring 41 unanswered points in putting the game away before bedtime.
Yes, about that quarterback. TCU’s Josh Hoover was splendid in just about every way — save for a bad interception in the red zone in the first half — going 27-for-36 for 284 yards and two touchdowns. He was throwing it wherever and whenever he wanted.
Hoover and Jordan Dwyer picked apart poor Marcus Allen — not that Marcus Allen — the UNC cornerback who has a bad hangover today after having no answers for that duo. Dwyer, a transfer from Idaho, had nine catches for 136 yards and a touchdown, a perfectly placed 27-yarder from Hoover that tied the game at 7-all and put Frogs fans at ease. It was the first of a scoring haboob.
Hoover’s onslaught concluded with a 4-yard TD pass to DJ Rogers — the 6-foot-4 junior tight end who's got something out there — that finished the game's scoring.
There is nothing quite like watching a confident quarterback operate.
“[Josh Hoover] may be the most underrated quarterback, or under-the-radar quarterback in the country,” Nick Saban, another football genius, said before the game. “This guy almost threw for 4,000 yards last year and 27 touchdowns. This guy’s a pure passer. He’s very athletic, but he can process and get the ball out of his hand quickly and accurately as well as anybody I’ve seen so far this year.”
TCU outgained the Belichicks 542-222.
The defense was dominant, giving up only 139 total yards after that first drive. It was also opportunistic. Our man Bud Clark, the sixth-year defensive back who has our vote already for the Jim Thorpe Award (we don't have one), bailed out Hoover on his only bad pass — the interception — by picking off Gio Lopez, the beleaguered UNC QB, and taking it back for a touchdown at the end of the first half. Even at 17-7 at that point, it was clear which way the wind was blowing. Devean Deal picked up a Lopez fumble and returned it 37 yards for another touchdown in the middle of the third quarter.
Lopez’s best calls were SOS smoke signals. We haven't seen that kind of distress communication since "Gilligan's Island." According to ESPN, the Tar Heels went two hours between their first pass completion and their second. Moreover, ESPN said TCU's 48 points were the most scored against any Belichick team — ever.
We haven’t even gotten to the running backs. The Frogs have said they must run the ball better this season. Check that off on Game 1. TCU rushed for 262 yards and two touchdowns. The Frogs were running untouched between tackles and linebackers seemingly more make-believe than men. Holograms perhaps.
Kevorian Barnes, a transfer from UT San Antonio, had 113 yards on 11 carries and a 75-yard touchdown run to start the second half. That development had us beginning to actually feel sorry for Belichick.
That feeling didn’t last very long, but we did begin to wonder how long he might last at UNC. That didn’t last very long either.
Who cares?
The Frogs open at home next weekend against Abilene Christian at 7 p.m. on Sept. 13. Can’t sleep on those guys from Abilene. They walk around with giant-sized chips on their shoulders.
Those Frogs, however, could be ranked by then even after being idle this week.
