What to know about TCU’s lopsided win, home opener, over Long Island

The TCU ome opener against Long Island went as expected with the Horned Frogs hammering the Sharks for a 45-0 win Saturday night at Amon G. Carter Stadium.

The gap in talent and physicality was evident from the opening drive as the Horned Frogs bullied Long Island on defense. It took a quarter for the offense to wake up, but when it did, TCU moved down the field with ease.

At one point TCU quarterback Josh Hoover completed 14 straight passes including a five-yard touchdown to JoJo Earle in the second quarter that made it 17-0 with 13:37 remaining in the half.

The game was never in doubt after that point as the Horned Frogs were able to get out of the game with any major injuries and also got valuable reps for younger players on the roster.

After handling its business against Stanford and Long Island, TCU’s schedule will take a significant jump up in difficulty next week with the Big 12 opener vs. Central Florida.

Dominant defense

TCU’s defense under Andy Avalos had another excellent showing against the overmatched Sharks. The Horned Frogs held LIU to just 53 total yards in the first half and the Sharks didn’t pick up a first down until the end of the first quarter. After committing a number of costly penalties against the Cardinal, the Horned Frogs’ defense played a clean game and made sure not to give LIU any momentum.

It was a complete performance with the defensive line, linebackers and secondary all having solid moments. Nana Osafo-Mensah recorded his first sack as a Horned Frog in the first quarter. Johnny Hodges had seven tackles while Namdi Obiazor produced his first career interception when the Sharks were on the verge of scoring.

In the secondary, the defensive backs continued to thrive even without Avery Helm, Bud Clark and Vernon Glover. LIU didn’t take many shots in the passing game, but when they did players like LaMareon James blanketed Sharks receivers for pass breakups.

The Sharks had just nine first downs and only 127 total yards.

The new defense has made a good first impression, but UCF will be the first real test and tell us how much this defense has really improved.

JoJo’s back

The Horned Frogs got good news on the injury front with receiver JoJo Earle returning to the lineup after missing the opener at Stanford last week. Earle also missed big chunks of training camp, but didn’t show signs of rust as he immediately came into the game and was able to make an impact.

Earle’s first catch came off a trick play when TCU ran a reverse pass as Savion Williams threw an accurate pass to Earle on the run and Earle was able to leap up and make an acrobatic catch for 15 yards. On the very next play Hoover found him for a touchdown. Earle helped set up another touchdown late in the second quarter when he nearly shook a defender out of his shoes with a nice juke move for nearly 10 yards. Cam Cook punched it in two plays later to extend TCU’s lead to 31-0.

It was nice to see Earle back and contributing as the Horned Frogs were without Dylan Wright for a second straight game. Eric McAlister also got more touches after playing less than five snaps against Stanford. McAlister had two receptions for 54 yards

Offense comes alive

The Horned Frogs’ offense took about four drives to get revved after a somewhat slow start. TCU had to settle for two long fields in its first three possessions with Kyle Lemmerman making a 48-yarder and missing a 44-yarder. The Horned Frogs’ lone touchdown of the first quarter was set up by a bad snap on a punt by LIU that gave TCU the ball at the Sharks’ 11-yard line.

But once the offense came alive, TCU started rolling behind Hoover and Cam Cook. Hoover was dialed in, completing passes to nine different receivers. His best throw of the night came in the second half, when he launched a beautiful deep pass to Blake Nowell, who reeled it in for a 46-yard gain.

On the next play Cook would add to his touchdown total with a five-yard score that put TCU ahead 38-0. Cook finished the night with three touchdowns in a breakout performance for the sophomore. The run game wasn’t perfect as the offensive line didn’t assert it consistently, but Cook showed off his vision and big play potential with a number of impressive runs as he finished with 58 yards on 13 carries.

Aside from one drive where he had a few high passes, Hoover was excellent as he completed 20 of his 25 attempts for 267 yards and two touchdowns. His second touchdown pass was a nice pass to Chase Curtis up the seam of the LIU defense.

Young Frogs flash

The best part about blowout games like these is they often give fans a glimpse of the future. The Horned Frogs were able to rotate in most of their notable young players with the exception of quarterback Hauss Hejny, who missed the game with an injury. Of the young players that did get an extended run, linebacker Max Carroll was among the most impressive.

The former four-star recruit from Memphis got some early reps with the starting defense in the first half and immediately came in for a tackle for a short gain. In the fourth quarter Carroll was a half step away from nearly having a pick six on defense. A week after being voted the Special Teams Player of the Week, Carroll finished with six tackles in another impressive performance. Redshirt freshman Zach Chapman also chipped in a sack and continues to be a crucial part of TCU’s pass rushing package.

Offensively, the Horned Frogs didn’t rotate as much until the latter part of the second half. True freshman running back Jeremy Payne got a nice share of carries and ran hard, often not going down on first contact. Payne had a nice touchdown wiped off the board by a holding call, but still had a solid outing as he battles Trey Sanders and Domonique Johnson for more touches in the running back room.