The Bears’ late rally gave the Frogs their first head-to-head loss since 2019. 

TCU had taken four consecutive Revivalry wins coming into Saturday night’s road test.   

A second-half resurgence from the Bears offense, which collected 17 fourth-quarter points, earned Baylor its first win against TCU in the Dave Aranda era via a 37-34 victory.  

Here are five takeaways for the Frogs, who, entering a matchup with last-place Oklahoma State (3-6; 0-6), are one win away from clinching bowl eligibility for the eighth time in 11 years. 

Johnny Hodges (right) has once again been a tackling machine this season. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Here’s Johnny! 

Middle linebacker Johnny Hodges grabbed his first sack of the season, and his first since Sept. 16, 2023, when he chased down a rolling Sawyer Robertson for a third-down sack on the Bears’ opening first-quarter drive.  

Hodges was otherwise all over the field, topping the TCU stat column with eight tackles. It was the junior’s fourth eight-tackle outing in his last five appearances, and he’s added a pair of tackles for loss over that span as well.  

His career-high 87 total tackles, a mark he set during his first year as a Horned Frog in 2022, is within reach; the Big 12’s sixth-leading tackler sits at 66 with three regular-season games to go. 

The unit’s performance was less than stellar down the stretch of last Saturday’s loss, with the Bears scoring 24 on their final four drives.  

Hodges, the team captain, said of the defense’s late-game struggles: “From where we were to where we are now, I’m still proud of our guys. It’s a work in progress. We still have a lot of work to do. But we know if we play the way we’re supposed to and if we do our jobs, good things happen. When we stop doing our jobs, we can give up 24 points.” 

Dormant Rush Defense

TCU held Baylor quarterback Robertson, who had totaled 16 touchdowns in his preceding four games, to no scores and his second-worst completion rate of the season (55.9).  

Devean Deal has four sacks in his past three games. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

But Baylor gashed the Frogs’ defense on the ground, turning 44 team carries into 257 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns. It was the Bears’ third consecutive 250-yard rushing performance. 

Even taking possession with 1:55 remaining in regulation, Baylor leaned heavily on running back Bryson Washington, who carried the ball five times for 30 yards on the game-winning, 11-play drive. 

Up next: Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon, who is the reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, even if he has failed to replicate 2023 production this season. 

The Frogs have proven themselves capable of containing an elite talent at the position, as they did a week earlier in holding Texas Tech’s Tahj Brooks, a 2023 All-Big 12 first-teamer, to 4.0 yards per carry and one touchdown in a 35-34 TCU win.  

The defense will, though, need to bring it again this week when Gordon and the Cowboys come to Fort Worth. 

Josh Hoover’s QBR (82.6) surpassed that of Bears quarterback Sawyer Robertson (80.1) in TCU’s 37-34 loss. Photo by Percise Windom

Turnover-Free Frogs 

For the first time since Week 3, TCU did not commit a turnover. The Frogs had coughed up 16 in their preceding five games. 

Quarterback Josh Hoover was efficient against the Bears, throwing for 333 yards with three total touchdowns and no interceptions, and running back Cam Cook fell on his own third-quarter fumble, the only occasion on which TCU put the ball on the ground over 31:35 of possession time. 

I “went out there, trusted myself, trusted my training, trusted the guys around me, trusted the offense and then just let it rip,” Hoover said after the game. “Good things happen whenever I do that, good things happen when our team does that on offense. And I thought everybody just played free, didn’t play tight or scared and just ran our stuff.” 

Savion Williams (left), a high school quarterback, collected his first collegiate TD pass against the Bears. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Bech Booms in First Trip to Baylor 

Jack Bech bettered an already stellar season, pulling in five passes for a game-high 98 receiving yards and two touchdown catches.  

One of those touchdowns came from the arm of fellow receiver and high school quarterback Savion Williams, who threw his first collegiate touchdown pass and once again led the team with 57 rushing yards while adding 92 receiving yards on eight catches.

For Bech’s part, the Biletnikoff Award watch list addition recorded his first touchdown in three games, while his 98 receiving yards against the Bears were his most in more than a month.  

The senior leads the team in receptions (51), receiving yards (923) and touchdowns (nine) as the Frogs move into the fourth quarter of the regular season. 

Senior receiver Jack Bech is 77 yards shy of 1,000 as the Frogs enter Week 11. Photo by Percise Windom

Bailey’s Play of the Day

Jordyn Bailey came down with a brilliant one-handed touchdown catch midway through the first quarter to cap a 95-yard drive for the Frogs. 

It was the sixth catch of the season for Bailey, whose twirling right-handed snare was reminiscent of Odell Beckham Jr.’s famous 2014 catch as a New York Giants rookie. 

Bailey, the brother of former 1,200-yard Horned Frog rusher, now Kansas City Chiefs practice squad member Emani Bailey, is a fixture of the Frogs’ future skill position group, with the Denton native still having three years of eligibility beyond this season.  

 — Corey Smith