Max Duggan threw for 390 yards and five touchdowns, two of which were to Quincy Brown, as TCU strolled to a 59-17 win over Tarleton on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas, in the first-ever game between the two schools.
Duggan began the season as a backup but re-assumed the starting role after a knee injury to starter Chandler Morris in the second half of the Horned Frogs’ season-opening win at Colorado. He made a strong case to keep the job, passing for a career high in less than three quarters of work to lead TCU (2-0) to an easy victory.
Fifteen different receivers caught passes for the Horned Frogs, led by Jordan Hudson’s five receptions for 76 yards. Kendre Miller paced TCU’s running attack with 56 yards on 13 carries, while Emani Bailey added 47 yards, including a 37-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.
Tarleton, which plays in the Western Athletic Conference, was led by Beau Allen’s 210 yards passing. Deangelo Rosemond had a rushing TD and Darius Cooper had 117 yards receiving and hauled in a scoring pass from Allen for the Texans (1-1).
The Horned Frogs scored on their first possession of the game, driving 62 yards in eight plays to Duggan’s 19-yard TD pass to Derius Davis. After an interception by Josh Newton, Duggan hit Jared Wiley from 6 yards away, and Davis ran for the two-point conversion to push TCU’s lead to 14-0 halfway into the first quarter.
Miller ran 1 yard to a score with 3:16 to play in the first quarter before Duggan found Brown for a 2-yard TD pass early in the second as the Horned Frogs went up 28-0.
The Texans finally got on the board with a 21-yard pass from Allen to Cooper at the 10:14 mark of the second quarter. Sam Jackson added a 1-yard run midway through the quarter, and Luke Laminack kicked a 36-yard field goal to give TCU a 38-7 advantage at the break.
Tarleton cut its deficit to 24 points on Rosemond’s 1-yard run to open the third quarter before Duggan produced TD passes to Brown and Hudson of 17 and 29 yards, respectively.
–Field Level Media