TCU Football Postgame Notes
12/28/2024 6:29:00 PM | Football
Horned Frogs improve on the nation's-best bowl record over the last 20 seasons
TCU 34, Louisiana 3
Team Notes
•TCU (9-4) won four in a row and six of its last seven games to close the season.
•The Horned Frogs have won at least nine games for the third time since 2015 with Sonny Dykes on staff for all three occasions. He was an analyst on the 11-win 2017 team and head coach of the 2022 13-victory College Football Playoff squad as well as this year's team.
•Dykes' 27 wins trail only two-time national championship coach Dutch Meyer (29, 1934-36) for most by a TCU head coach in his first three seasons.
•Dykes is one of just six active FBS head coaches to take four different schools (Louisiana Tech, Cal, SMU, TCU) to a bowl game. The others are Hugh Freeze, Butch Jones, Brian Kelly, Lane Kiffin and Rich Rodriguez.
•Over the last 20 seasons, TCU is 12-3 (.800) in bowls for the best record by any team nationally with at least 10 bowl appearances in that stretch.
•TCU won exactly nine games in a season for the first time since going 9-2 under Head Coach Abe Martin in 1955.
•Josh Hoover and Devean Deal were selected as the Most Valuable Offensive and Defensive Players, respectively.
•The Horned Frogs held the Ragin' Cajuns to 209 yards of offense.
•This was the 36th bowl game in TCU's history. The Horned Frogs are 19-16-1 in those contests. Eleven of TCU's previous 12 bowl games and 13 of 15 had been decided by eight points or less.
•TCU's last previous bowl game was a 51-45 victory over Michigan in the 2022 Fiesta Bowl which was also a College Football Playoff Semifinal.
•TCU played at University Stadium in Albuquerque for the first time since the 2010 regular-season finale, when it was in the Mountain West Conference and won 66-17 over New Mexico to clinch its Rose Bowl appearance. The Horned Frogs then defeated Wisconsin, 21-19, in Pasadena to complete a 13-0 season with a No. 2 final Associated Press ranking.
•TCU led 27-0 at halftime and is 22-3 under Dykes when ahead at the break and 24-2 when in front after three quarters.
•TCU and Louisiana met for the first time.
•TCU scored for the 407th consecutive game, the second-longest streak in NCAA history. No. 1 is Florida at 461 games (1988-present). The Horned Frogs haven't been blanked since Nov. 16, 1991, at Texas (32-0).
•TCU wore a silver chrome helmet, anthracite jersey and anthracite pants. The Horned Frogs are 6-1 with that jersey and pants combo.
Individual Notes
Offense
•Josh Hoover passed for 252 yards to give him 3,949 on the year, breaking TCU's season record of 3,901 by Trevone Boykin in 2014. Hoover set the mark on a 20-yard touchdown pass to JP Richardson with 57 seconds left in the first half.
•Hoover tied a career-high with four touchdown passes, set previously on three occasions.
•Hoover's 27 touchdown passes tie Andy Dalton (2010) for fourth on TCU's season list.
•Hoover completed 12 straight passes, tying for TCU's fifth-longest streak in a game.
•Eric McAlister's team-best eight receptions for 87 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown, all came in the first half and were one shy of TCU's bowl record of nine by Shaun Nixon in the 2016 Alamo Bowl against Oregon.
•Six of McAlister's eight receptions went for first downs. For players with at least 20 receptions, he leads the nation with 89.7 percent (35-of-39) of his catches going for first downs.
•JP Richardson had five receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown to extend his streak with a catch to 40 consecutive games, including all 25 of his contests as a Horned Frog. Entering the game, the streak tied for sixth-longest in the nation.
•DJ Rogers 3-yard touchdown reception on the game's opening series was his second receiving score of the season and third of his career. His first two touchdown catches both came against Texas Tech, this season and last year.
•Drake Dabney had a season-best 73 yards receiving on three catches. Included in his total was a season-long 44-yard grab.
•Nate Palmer had 10 carries for 30 yards after entering the game with one attempt for a minus 5 yards on the season.
•Senior wide receiver Blake Nowell made his first career start and had a 20-yard touchdown catch.
•Ryan Hughes started at left guard, becoming just the second TCU true freshman offensive lineman to start since 2012. The other was Ben Taylor-Whitfield last season.
Defense
•Devean Deal had a sack to give him a team-best 5.5 on the season. He totaled 1.5 tackles for loss among his five stops in the game.
•Kaleb Elarms-Orr totaled a team-best eight tackles, including 2.5 for loss and his second sack of the season.
•LaMareon James had three pass breakups to set an Isleta New Mexico Bowl record. It also gave him a team-best and Big 12-leading 14 on the year to tie for TCU's second-highest total over the last 10 seasons, trailing only 2022 Jim Thorpe Award winner Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson's 15.
•NaNa Osafo-Mensah had a tackle for loss and another stop for no gain on the same second quarter series. He finished with 1.5 TFLs.
•Cam Smith made his first start at TCU and had his first interception as a Horned Frog and fourth of his career. He also took part in a tackle for loss.
•Austin Jordan recorded his first collegiate sack.
•Jordan Lester had his first career pick.
Special Teams
•Kyle Lemmermann had field goals of 45 and 22 yards to make him 15-of-22 on the season.
•Ethan Craw placed two of his three punts inside the 20 and averaged 43.7 yards per attempt.
Team Notes
•TCU (9-4) won four in a row and six of its last seven games to close the season.
•The Horned Frogs have won at least nine games for the third time since 2015 with Sonny Dykes on staff for all three occasions. He was an analyst on the 11-win 2017 team and head coach of the 2022 13-victory College Football Playoff squad as well as this year's team.
•Dykes' 27 wins trail only two-time national championship coach Dutch Meyer (29, 1934-36) for most by a TCU head coach in his first three seasons.
•Dykes is one of just six active FBS head coaches to take four different schools (Louisiana Tech, Cal, SMU, TCU) to a bowl game. The others are Hugh Freeze, Butch Jones, Brian Kelly, Lane Kiffin and Rich Rodriguez.
•Over the last 20 seasons, TCU is 12-3 (.800) in bowls for the best record by any team nationally with at least 10 bowl appearances in that stretch.
•TCU won exactly nine games in a season for the first time since going 9-2 under Head Coach Abe Martin in 1955.
•Josh Hoover and Devean Deal were selected as the Most Valuable Offensive and Defensive Players, respectively.
•The Horned Frogs held the Ragin' Cajuns to 209 yards of offense.
•This was the 36th bowl game in TCU's history. The Horned Frogs are 19-16-1 in those contests. Eleven of TCU's previous 12 bowl games and 13 of 15 had been decided by eight points or less.
•TCU's last previous bowl game was a 51-45 victory over Michigan in the 2022 Fiesta Bowl which was also a College Football Playoff Semifinal.
•TCU played at University Stadium in Albuquerque for the first time since the 2010 regular-season finale, when it was in the Mountain West Conference and won 66-17 over New Mexico to clinch its Rose Bowl appearance. The Horned Frogs then defeated Wisconsin, 21-19, in Pasadena to complete a 13-0 season with a No. 2 final Associated Press ranking.
•TCU led 27-0 at halftime and is 22-3 under Dykes when ahead at the break and 24-2 when in front after three quarters.
•TCU and Louisiana met for the first time.
•TCU scored for the 407th consecutive game, the second-longest streak in NCAA history. No. 1 is Florida at 461 games (1988-present). The Horned Frogs haven't been blanked since Nov. 16, 1991, at Texas (32-0).
•TCU wore a silver chrome helmet, anthracite jersey and anthracite pants. The Horned Frogs are 6-1 with that jersey and pants combo.
Individual Notes
Offense
•Josh Hoover passed for 252 yards to give him 3,949 on the year, breaking TCU's season record of 3,901 by Trevone Boykin in 2014. Hoover set the mark on a 20-yard touchdown pass to JP Richardson with 57 seconds left in the first half.
•Hoover tied a career-high with four touchdown passes, set previously on three occasions.
•Hoover's 27 touchdown passes tie Andy Dalton (2010) for fourth on TCU's season list.
•Hoover completed 12 straight passes, tying for TCU's fifth-longest streak in a game.
•Eric McAlister's team-best eight receptions for 87 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown, all came in the first half and were one shy of TCU's bowl record of nine by Shaun Nixon in the 2016 Alamo Bowl against Oregon.
•Six of McAlister's eight receptions went for first downs. For players with at least 20 receptions, he leads the nation with 89.7 percent (35-of-39) of his catches going for first downs.
•JP Richardson had five receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown to extend his streak with a catch to 40 consecutive games, including all 25 of his contests as a Horned Frog. Entering the game, the streak tied for sixth-longest in the nation.
•DJ Rogers 3-yard touchdown reception on the game's opening series was his second receiving score of the season and third of his career. His first two touchdown catches both came against Texas Tech, this season and last year.
•Drake Dabney had a season-best 73 yards receiving on three catches. Included in his total was a season-long 44-yard grab.
•Nate Palmer had 10 carries for 30 yards after entering the game with one attempt for a minus 5 yards on the season.
•Senior wide receiver Blake Nowell made his first career start and had a 20-yard touchdown catch.
•Ryan Hughes started at left guard, becoming just the second TCU true freshman offensive lineman to start since 2012. The other was Ben Taylor-Whitfield last season.
Defense
•Devean Deal had a sack to give him a team-best 5.5 on the season. He totaled 1.5 tackles for loss among his five stops in the game.
•Kaleb Elarms-Orr totaled a team-best eight tackles, including 2.5 for loss and his second sack of the season.
•LaMareon James had three pass breakups to set an Isleta New Mexico Bowl record. It also gave him a team-best and Big 12-leading 14 on the year to tie for TCU's second-highest total over the last 10 seasons, trailing only 2022 Jim Thorpe Award winner Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson's 15.
•NaNa Osafo-Mensah had a tackle for loss and another stop for no gain on the same second quarter series. He finished with 1.5 TFLs.
•Cam Smith made his first start at TCU and had his first interception as a Horned Frog and fourth of his career. He also took part in a tackle for loss.
•Austin Jordan recorded his first collegiate sack.
•Jordan Lester had his first career pick.
Special Teams
•Kyle Lemmermann had field goals of 45 and 22 yards to make him 15-of-22 on the season.
•Ethan Craw placed two of his three punts inside the 20 and averaged 43.7 yards per attempt.
Players Mentioned
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/ FootballHead Coach Sonny Dykes and Players - Weekly Press Conference (Bye Week 1)
Thursday, September 04
Football: Postgame at North Carolina
Tuesday, September 02
Behind the Mic: TCU vs. North Carolina
Monday, September 01
Head Coach Sonny Dykes and Players - Weekly Press Conference (at North Carolina)
Wednesday, August 27
