DFW Football Follow-up: Local teams go zero for three

by Todd E. Jones of of College Football Top Ten

The weekend was unkind to the DFW college football teams. The TCU Horned Frogs were manhandled by the second ranked Oklahoma Sooners Saturday night by the score of 35-10. The Southern Methodist University Mustangs' rally fell short Thursday night against the Tulane University Green Wave in New Orleans where they lost 34-27, and the University of North Texas Mean Green were routed by the Rice University Owls 77-20.

TCU

On a weekend where the upsets just kept rolling, no such thing would happen in Norman, OK. While the Frogs kept the potent Oklahoma running game in check, quarterback Sam Bradford made a case for being a top level Heisman Trophy contender passing for 411 yards, 199 of those in the first quarter. The Frogs continued their domination against the run holding the Sooners to 25 yards rushing, but they were unable to contain Oklahoma's vertical passing game. On offense, TCU sputtered all night, killing good drives with fumbles and throwing two interceptions. Running back Joseph Turner had 54 yard rushing for the Frogs and receiver Jimmy Young finished the night with 111 yards receiving on six catches. TCU Quarterback Andy Dalton 16 of 39 for 212 yards passing and 32 yards rushing. Running back Aaron Brown was productive for the Frogs in his second game back with 120 all purpose yards including a 75 yard kick off return after the Sooners' opening score. The Frogs also hurt themselves with penalties. They were flagged 12 times for 66 yards. Oklahoma's no-huddle offense seemed to rattle TCU early causing two substitution infractions and a couple of off-sides.

The Frogs were going to have to be almost perfect to upset Oklahoma, and that was far from the case. Still, the Frogs can take away a few positives to build upon. First, they held the Sooner rushing attack to only 25 yards rushing. Second, although Bradford passed for 411 yards, he only completed 56% of his passes. Bradford had completed almost 70% of his passes coming in to the game. Third, TCU held what may be the most potent offenses in the nation to 35 points. Oklahoma was averaging 54.6 points per game coming into Saturday's contest. TCU forced the Sooners to punt the ball nine times. Coming in to the game, Oklahoma averaged three punts a game. The Horned Frogs drop to 4-1 on the year. TCU returns to Fort Worth next Saturday to take on the San Diego State Aztecs at Amon G. Carter Stadium in a Mountain West Conference game.

SMU

Thursday night in New Orleans, SMU fell to the Tulane University Green Wave 34-27 in a game in which the Mustangs trailed 31-7 at halftime. Mustang quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was 21 of 44 for 256 yards passing and three touchdown passes. Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders had 115 yards receiving on nine catches while Aldrick Robinson caught four passes for 106 yards. The Mustang defense gave up 474 total yards of offense to Tulane. Tualne running back Andre Anderson had 219 yards rushing helping the Green Wave control the time of possession. The Mustangs will be on the road again next week as they take on the University of Central Florida who are the defending Conference USA Champions. The loss drops SMU to 1-4 for the year.

UNT

In Houston, the Rice University Owls blew open a 28-20 ball-game in the second quarter by scoring seven straight touchdowns to beat UNT 77-20. Quarterback Chase Clement had seven touchdowns and 367 total yards of offense including 298 yards passing on 22 of 28 passing. Rice receiver Jarett Dillard had 114 yards receiving on eight catches and four touchdown catches. For UNT, quarterback Giovanni Vizza was 25 of 39 for 251 yards passing. Running back Cam Montgomery had 76 yards rushing on 11 carries and two touchdowns. Casy Fitzgerald and Sam Dibrell had 89 and 84 yards receiving respectively on seven catches. The loss puts UNT at 0-4 on the year. The Mean Green return to Denton and Fouts Field next week to play conference rival Florida International.