TCU 21, UCLA 17
FORT WORTH, Tex. - It was not a pretty game. It was not particularly exciting for most of it either. However, the TCU Horned Frogs escaped with their first win under new head coach Mike Austin 21-17 at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
UCLA go out to an early 7-0 lead when TCU turned the ball over on the first play of the game. Soon thereafter Craig Lee scored the game's first points on a 15-yard scamper. Each team traded punts and turnovers for the remainder of the first half and the Bruins took their 7-0 lead into the break.
TCU would finally get on the board early in the third quarter when quarterback Tyler Matthews found tight end Buck Jones on a 13-yard pass in the corner of the end zone. The Bruins would answer back just over 3 minutes later on a touchdown pass from TL Milweard to Jalen Ortz to make it 14-7.
The fourth quarter finally produced some fireworks as Matthews and Jones hooked up for the second time on a deep post early in the quarter to tie the game. The two teams traded turnovers again and then UCLA would finally answer with a field goal with only 1:12 left on the clock. Matthews would get injured on the ensuing drive but backup Shaun Smart would engineer a nearly perfect drive which culminated with a 21-yard strike to Kolby Listenbee with just 12 seconds remaining to pull off the dramatic win.
The win not only elated the TCU fans, players and coaching staff but also had a profound effect on the Bruin team. UCLA's coach Sean Rausa proclaimed after the game "I'm done scheduling this team! Quit calling me to schedule us!" Coach Rausa's frustrations actually date back to last season when his Florida International team appeared to have a win over coach Austin's Kent State team firmly in hand before a late comeback sparked the upset there as well.
While it wasn't pretty, the Horned Frogs were excited to pull out the win over their burgeoning rivals despite five turnovers. The Horned Frogs will get a bye week next week and use the time to correct some mistakes from week one. They will then head to Madison to take on coach Matt Rhule, the former head coach at Temple who had a few battles with Austin's Kent State team as well.
