TCU Football: 3 takeaways from road win against Kansas State

2. Both teams struggled to find room to run on Saturday afternoon

Speaking of defense providing the winning ingredient for the Horned Frogs, TCU’s stout front seven held Kansas State to just 70 yards on the ground all day. Coming into the contest, the Wildcats averaged over 211 rushing yards per game. Their offensive line struggled to open holes against the Horned Frogs, gaining little push at the line of scrimmage.

Kansas State quarterback Alex Delton led the way rushing the ball, tucking and running 19 times for 39 yards. Running backs Justin Silmon and Alex Barnes were held to 21 combined yards on nine carries. It wasn’t much of a surprise from a TCU defense that came into the contest ranked 15th in the nation in rushing defense.

What was a surprise was Kansas State bottling up the Horned Frogs on the ground when TCU had the ball. Kyle Hicks churned out 58 tough yards on 16 handoffs, his longest of the day going for only 14 yards. He supplemented the performance with five catches for 50 yards, but on the ground he finished with a sub-4.0 yards per gain average.

The rest of the Horned Frogs fared even worse running the ball. Darius Anderson only got a couple of carries, and never touched the ball again after fumbling late in the second quarter. Kenny Hill and Sewo Olonilua both had touchdown runs, but neither managed any sustained success on the ground. On a day that seemed tailor-made for hard running, both defenses won the game in the trenches.