TCU Football: Teams should stop kicking to Kavontae Turpin

TCU football got their first points of the game against Oklahoma from a familiar face, ace return man Kavontae Turpin. Why do teams kick to him?

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Kavontae Turpin is a senior with 41 games under his belt with the TCU Horned Frogs. He’s always been a dynamic pass catcher, but he’s been equally dangerous on special teams. Entering TCU’s Week 8 game against Oklahoma, Turpin had returned five combined kickoffs and punts for touchdowns in his career. Make that six.

After a TCU punt, Oklahoma took the lead on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Kyler Murray to Lee Morris. 12 seconds later the score was tied, thanks to Oklahoma making a questionable decision: kicking the ball to Kavontae Turpin:

One would think that would be enough of a lesson for Lincoln Riley and his coaching staff. That doesn’t appear to be the case. Oklahoma scored on their first four drives of the game before punting on their fifth. The punt was fielded by Turpin and returned 26 yards to the Oklahoma 33-yard line. TCU scored on the next play.

Eventually, teams are going to learn its safer to avoid the Horned Frogs’ shifty return man. Until then, he’s going to continue to be the best kept secret weapon in the Big 12, and possibly the entire nation.

It’s going to take more than a few big plays from Turpin to knock off a Top 10 team, but he’s definitely done his part to help his team orchestrate the upset. In addition to kickoff return touchdown, Turpin also led the team in receiving with a receiving touchdown midway through the second quarter. Oklahoma knows where the ball is going. They just haven’t figured out how to stop it.