FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU football had another disappointing day.
The Horned Frogs were outplayed in every facet as the unranked Oklahoma Sooners rolled to a 33-14 victory on Saturday afternoon at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
The gap from where TCU wants to be — contending for Big 12 championships and College Football Playoff berths like OU has done in recent years — and is — a 1-3 team with every loss coming at home — seems as wide as ever.
"Bottom line to it is you've got to play a lot better," TCU coach Gary Patterson said. "The biggest thing is finding out who we got and regroup and get ready for Baylor."
TCU (1-3) has lost its first three home games to open a season for the first time under Patterson. The program lost four straight home games to open the 1-10 season in 1997.
OU coach Lincoln Riley, meanwhile, improved to 5-0 against TCU and Patterson.
The Frogs can point to a number of areas for their struggles.
The offense scored just 14 points for the second straight week. They had four three-and-out drives, including three of the first four in the second half. Penalties remain a drive-killer for TCU too.
Asked about the offensive struggles, junior wide receiver Taye Barber said: "It's very frustrating, but I don't think it's nothing really the other team is doing. They played good. They came out and won obviously, but we just keep shooting ourselves in the foot and keep getting dumb penalties. We've just got to clean that stuff up."
TCU's offense had 15-yard personal-foul penalties on the final drive of the first half — a drive that ended with a missed 49-yard field goal — and the second drive of the second half — a drive that ended with a punt with the penalty coming on a play in which TCU moved the ball into OU territory.
Defensively, the Frogs gave up big plays, including two 50-plus-yard TD receptions to Sooners receiver Marvin Mims. They also didn't force a takeaway against a Sooners team that entered leading the Big 12 in turnovers and finished with just one sack.
OU finished with 498 yards of total offense compared to TCU's 351.
"We kinda hear it in games we lost, 85% to 90% of the time the defense is playing really well, we're holding them," TCU junior safety Trevon Moehrig said. "Then it's just those big plays, those four or five big plays that we've got to eliminate. When we go into practice next week and weeks going forward, we've got to work on stopping and eliminating big plays and I think we'll play a lot better."
The Sooners entered the game unranked and seemingly vulnerable with two early-season losses and a young quarterback in Spencer Rattler. But Rattler played well, connecting on the deep balls in finishing 13 of 22 on passes for a total of 332 yards and two touchdowns.
The Sooners put the game out of reach by opening the second half with three straight scoring drives, highlighted by a 61-yard TD from Rattler to Mims sandwiched between two field-goal drives.
TCU didn't get its offense going in the second half until the game was out of reach. The Frogs punted their first four drives of the half before putting together an 82-yard TD drive to pull within 30-14 with 3 minutes, 42 seconds left. TCU QB Max Duggan found Pro Wells for an 11-yard TD.
TCU had a slow start in the opening half too.
OU jumped out to a 17-0 lead, scoring on the first possession of the game. The Sooners marched 73 yards in six plays, capped with a 12-yard scoring run by T.J. Pledger. OU had a TD early in the second quarter when Rattler and Mims connected on a 50-yard play.
Asked about what went wrong on those big pass plays, Patterson quipped: "Yeah, don't fall down. That would help. Don't fall down."
TCU eventually showed life with a 75-yard TD drive after OU scored on the long pass play to pull within 17-7. The defense then forced a three-and-out — the only three-and-out by OU on the day — and the offense moved the ball back into OU territory.
Duggan connected with Blair Conwright on a play that would have been a 35-yard TD, but officials ruled Conwright was out of bounds after bobbling the ball. The ruling was confirmed upon review.
Instead of pulling to within 17-14, TCU was forced to punt. The Frogs never generated momentum after that.
"It's very frustrating cause I thought it was a catch," Barber said. "I didn't see the ball move at all. I feel like if they would've called it on the field as a touchdown, it would've stood. But I don't know.
"It kinda killed everyone's spirit, just on that drive because we had a good drive going and we ended with a touchdown, but it got reversed. We've got to move past that and keep our head up."
That's the message to the entire team after the most lopsided loss of the season.
TCU will look to get back on track at Baylor next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. in Waco.
"We've just got to bounce back and pick our heads up in next week's practice," Moehrig said. "Nobody is holding their heads down. We've got to come into practice with the mindset that we've got to get better every day in every aspect of the game."
