A (Semi) Statistical Recap of TCU

Upended.

Blown out.

Thumped.

The headlines this week were quite different from last week.

Holy beatdown, Batman. For the second time in three years, Kansas went to Fort Worth and got absolutely demolished. Two years ago was the infamous 21-yards of total offense + the running clock game. This year... wasn’t much better.

The Jayhawks mustered 159 yards of total offense, which is 7.5 times better than the 2017 output. Progress!

Neither team turned the ball over, so you can’t put any blame there. KU just flat out got pounded. Kansas averaged a measly 3.4 yards per play, while TCU had their way with the Kansas defense at 7.1 per play. But those are whole-game numbers. This game was over by halftime, so let’s take a look at that.

In the first half, Kansas had 49 yards on 24 plays, a smidge over 2.0 yards per play. Conversely, TCU had 351 yards on 45 plays, a 7.8 per play average. KU had 3 first downs to TCU’s 17. Kansas was 0-6 on third down; TCU was 10-10. And worst of all, Kansas punted 5 times; TCU zero.

TCU put in their backup quarterback midway through the second quarter. And that’s pretty much all you need to know about what happened on Saturday.

After two weeks of talking about progress, it’s back to reality for Kansas football fans. Out of 12 possessions (not counting the one-play “drive” before halftime), seven went three-and-out for KU.

I don’t really know what else to say. This was ugly all the way around, and I’m guessing this game killed most of the positive vibes generated by the BC game.

The Good

There was no running clock this time. PROGRESS!

Also, freshman RB Velton Gardner had a nifty 45 yard touchdown run, so, good for him.

The Bad

Carter Stanley had a rough afternoon. He took a couple of sacks, probably got lucky a few times throwing into coverage, and completed less than half of his pass attempts for the first time all year.

That said, he still a dawg - the proof is in the picture up top. That play happened in the second half. Kansas didn’t have a chance in hell of a comeback, and Carter is still out there hurdling and fighting for every yard he can get. I love that dude.

The Ugly

I’m gonna look back at the coaching staff on this one. It looked like the defense might be decent - then this game happened. On the other side of the ball, well, the offense just never got going. This toss play is the new tunnel screen. I’m done with it already. Give me Brent Dearmon’s RPO or give me death.

The Stats

Carter Stanley was 12-29 for 84 yards and a TD. Not ideal.

Pooka Williams had just 12 rushing yards on 8 attempts, but added 33 receiving yards on 3 catches with a TD.

Velton Gardner picked up 61 yards on just 4 rushes. He also had one reception for 11 yards.

Andrew Parchment had just 10 yards on 4 catches.

Daylon Charlot had -2 yards on 2 receptions.

Freshman TE Mason Fairchild added 23 yards on one reception.

Liam Jones missed his only field goal attempt, a 49-yarder.

Kyle Thompson hit 9 punts (!!) for a pretty impressive 48.6 average.