Horned Frogs get back on winning track with 20-10 win over Kansas State

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Jaden Craig threw for a touchdown, Kari Ashley ran for a touchdown, and TCU beat Kansas State 20-10 on Saturday afternoon.

“Sometimes you have to win ugly and that’s what we did tonight,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said.

The Horned Frogs got on the board first with a 19-yard rushing touchdown by Ashley as TCU took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

They took a 10-0 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

“It’s been a while I think since our run defense was really good,” Dykes said. “Overall our defense played well and did not give up a bunch of big plays.”

Out of halftime, TCU went on a nine play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Craig to Jacobe Hayes to take a 17-0 lead.

Kansas State got within seven after Dillon Duff found Jaron Tibbs for a 53-yard touchdown pass to make the score 17-10 TCU. He finished the game with 115 receiving yards and TCU was led by Jordan Dwyer who had 85 yards.

“You know, we were sleepwalking on offense in the first half. That is the best way to say it,” Kansas State coach Collin Klein said.

“You’re not going to win football games in this conference in the day of college football. When you turn the ball over. You have penalties that get you in lost yardage plays. You have simple assignment errors and busts that put you behind the sticks in a negative field position. Abysmal start on offense. I thought that the way the defense played, from a mentality standpoint, I thought we took a step forward there, and just how they continued the entirety of the game and how hard they played was evident.”

Duff ended the game with 244 passing yards and a touchdown while Craig had 225 yards and a touchdown pass.

“Just being gritty, we talk about it all the time,” Dwyer said. “He wasn’t going to come out of the game because we play for our brothers. We appreciate him being gritty and playing through stuff.”

TCU coach Sonny Dykes has a 41-22 record and fans are getting impatient with a 5-5 record this season. Last week against Kansas, there were many “fire Sunny” chants from fans after a close win versus the Jayhawks.

Kansas State was affected by the FAA ground stoppage on Friday. The Wildcats departed Manhattan on Saturday morning at 8:30 am CT instead of leaving Friday evening and got to the Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth around 10:30 am for the 1:05 pm kickoff.

Kansas State: After giving up 66 points last week, the defense played much better this week. The offense just can’t seem to get much going without Avery Johnson at quarterback.

TCU: The defense has been stellar this year and hasn’t allowed more than 29 points in a game. They allowed 10 points or less for the fifth time this season.

Kansas State hosts No. 23 Arizona next Saturday. TCU hosts No. 2 Utah on the same day. ___

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