Texas Christian 40 - 10 W. Virginia (Final)

As we expected, WVU was not able to keep this game close.  Texas Christian's defense tends to show up at home, which makes the Horned Frogs particularly lethal.  Josh Doctson continues to look like Jerry Rice, with 11 catches for 183 yards and two touchdowns.  So far, no one has been able to guard him -- or even slow him down.  According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas Christian QB Trevone Boykin "{t}oyed with the Mountaineers defense, using his feet to leave defenders grasping for air and whipping passes left, right and sidearm."  I didn't see much of the game -- I don't like college football on Thursday Night, and this game was never in doubt -- but that sounds like a good description of a typical Boykin performance.

OK, so West Virginia's record in UCFC play falls to 18-12, while Texas Christian's record improves to 45-19-6.  The Horned Frogs have now defended the title 13 times, which is the longest string of successful defenses since Southern Cal had 24 in a row during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

But now things are going to get tough.  On November 7, the Horned Frogs will take the Big Gold Trophy to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to take on an Oklahoma State team that is currently undefeated.  That will not be an easy game for the Horned Frogs.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/college/big-12/texas-christian-university/article41904384.html#storylink=cpy

Texas Christian 7 - 0 W. Virginia (8:46 left in 1st Quarter)

The Dynamic Duo!  Trevone Boykin (of W. Mesquite H.S. in Dallas) hurls a 10-yard touchdown pass to Josh Doctson of Mansfield, Tex.  Very good start for the Frogs.

I've got some errands to run, so I won't be giving this game the usual detailed coverage.  They shouldn't play on Thursday night.

Texas Christian v. W. Virginia

I don't like watching college football on Thursday night, and I'm annoyed that Texas Christian scheduled two Thursday night games in the same season.  But here we are, as the Horned Frogs prepare to defend the Big Gold Trophy for the 13th time.  It's the first home game for Texas Christian in 26 days, so I expect a big turnout in Fort Worth.

Here's where everything stands in the Big XII (numbers in parentheses represent AP ranking):

(2) Baylor:  4-0, 7-0
(5)  Texas Christian:  4-0, 7-0
(12) Oklahoma St:  4-0, 7-0
(14) Oklahoma:  3-1, 6-1
Texas:  2-2, 3-4
Texas Tech:  2-3, 5-3
Iowa St:  1-3, 2-5
W. Virginia:  0-3, 3-3
Kansas St:  0-4, 3-4
Kansas:  0-4, 0-7

Kudos to the schedule-makers in the Big XII, who are saving all the big games for the end.  After tonight's game with West Virginia, Texas Christian will play three of its last four games against teams ranked in the top 14 -- and two of those games (against the Oklahomas) will be on the road.

So Texas Christian has a lot of work before it can take the Big Gold Trophy to the NCAA Playoffs.  But tonight, they have to beat that they took the title from last year -- West Virginia.  That game was a hum-dinger -- a 31-30 donnybrook in the rain in Morgantown, W. Va.  That WVU team went 7-5 in the regular season, before losing to Texas A & M in the Liberty Bowl.  This year's team got off to a 3-0 start in non-conference play, with easy wins over Georgia Southern, Liberty, and Maryland.  But the Big XII schedule has been brutal for the Mountaineers -- their first four conference games are against four ranked teams, and three of those games are on the road.

WVU, being WVU, has given it the old college try, but the competition has been too tough for them.  Oklahoma beat them 44-24 in Norman, Okla., and then Oklahoma State beat them 33-26 in overtime up in Morgantown.  WVU's last game was a 62-38 loss at Baylor, which is the sort of thing that could happen to almost anyone.  Tonight the Mountaineers will end this obstacle course at Texas Christian, and my guess is that their fans will be happy to see some unranked opponents after that.

The Frogs are favored by 13 1/2 points in a game where the oddsmakers expect 74 points to be scored.  That would work out to something like a 44-30 win for Texas Christian.  I will be surprised and impressed if WVU keeps it that close.

Iowa St. 21 - 45 Texas Christian (Final)

After spotting the Cyclones a 21-14 lead, Texas Christian outscored Iowa State 31-0 the rest of the way.  A very solid performance by the Horned Frogs, at least in the last three quarters.  Iowa State falls to 0-8 in UCFC games -- although 21 points is the most the Cyclones have ever scored in a title bout.  The Horned Frogs move to 44-19-6.  They have now defended the Big Gold Trophy -- and if they can defend it one more time, they will have held it for more than a year.

Iowa St. 21 - 45 Texas Christian (8:45 left in 4th Quarter)

Iowa State finally appears to have been worn down by the Horned Frogs.  After an Iowa State drive stalled at the Texas Christian 26, the Frogs went 74 yards in 6 plays.  The last play was a beautiful catch and run by Josh Doctson, who caught the ball at around the Iowa State 30, and then beat everyone to the end zone.

With Texas Christian now up by 24 points, we will not be updating this game any further unless something extraordinary happens.

Iowa St. 21 - 38 Texas Christian (14:36 left in 4th Quarter)

The Texas Christian defense has not allowed any points since the first quarter.  Meanwhile, after a few punts, Trevone Boykin led the Horned Frogs on another scoring drive -- this time he scored himself from three yards out.  The Frogs are getting closer to taking the Big Gold Trophy back to Fort Worth.

Iowa St. 21 - 31 Texas Christian (11:24 left in 3d Quarter)

Texas Christian takes the kickoff and (as usual) goes the length of the field for a touchdown.  This particular touchdown was scored on a 13-yard run by Kyle Hicks (of Martin H.S. in Arlington, Tex.)

Iowa St. 21 - 24 Texas Christian (Halftime)

Josh Doctson got off the exercise bike and back into the game, catching a few passes and sparking the Frog offense.  (Doctson now has 7 catches for 129 yards and a touchdown.)  Texas Christian drove all the way down to the 1 yard line, where they were stopped on third and goal.  So they took a delay of game penalty and kicked a 23-yard field goal on the last play of the half.  (As usual, the kick was taken by Jaden Oberkrom of Martin H.S. in Arlington, Tex.)

Texas Christian fans will be disappointed that this game is still so close, but the Frogs usually play better in the second half.

Iowa St. 21 - 21 Texas Christian (5:14 left in 2d Quarter)

Suddenly, we've had a flurry of defense out in Ames, Iowa.  Texas Christian forces an Iowa State punt, and the Horned Frogs will start from their own 33.

Iowa St. 21 - 21 Texas Christian (6:22 left in 2d Quarter)

This time the Cyclone defense holds and Texas Christian punts.  The Cyclones will start from their own 30.

Iowa St. 21 - 21 Texas Christian (7:59 left in 2d Quarter)

So Iowa State gets the ball and the Cyclones go on a long drive that involves a fourth-down conversion, multiple penalties, and the ejection of Denzel Johnson, a Texas Christian safety from Gainesville H.S. in Gainesville, Tex.  Finally, the Clones are down to about the Texas Christian 10, when they fumble a pitchout.  Mike Tuaua, a defensive end from Rohnert Park, Calif. scoops up the ball and the Horned Frogs defense gets a rare turnover.

Texas Christian will start from its own 10.

Iowa St. 21 - 21 Texas Christian (14:55 left in 2d Quarter)

The TV shows Doctson riding an exercise bike on the sidelines, but Boykin doesn't need him on this drive.  The Frogs go 69 yards in 7 plays, the last of which is a 14-yard pass from Boykin to a wide-open Charlie Reid (of All Saints' Episcopal School in Fort Worth, Tex.)

Now we'll see if the Frogs are going to play any defense.

Iowa St. 21 - 14 Texas Christian (1:49 left in 1st Quarter)

Can a 2-3 Iowa State team drive 89 yards against the number-3 team in the nation?  Of course it can.  Iowa State goes through the Texas Christian defense like . . . almost everyone goes through the Frogs when they are on the road.  Mike Warren (of Lawton H.S. in Lawton, Okla.) dashes four yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

Iowa St. 14 - 14 Texas Christian (5:13 left in 1st Quarter)

Not a good possession for the Frogs.  First, their all-world wide receiver, Josh Doctson, was shaken up and had to leave the game.  (I don't know how badly he's hurt.)  Then a few plays later, with Texas Christian seemingly on its way to another touchdown, Iowa State stripped the ball from KaVontae Turpin (of Neville H.S. in Monroe, La.)  The Cyclones recover the football, and they will start from their own 11.

Iowa St. 14 - 14 Texas Christian (6:01 left in 1st Quarter)

Back and forth we go.  The Iowa State quarterback, Joel Lanning (of Ankeny H.S. in Ankeny, Iowa) hurls a long pass to Allen Lazard (of Urbandale H.S. in Urbandale, Iowa).  Lazard catches the ball at about the Texas Christian 30, where he appears to be wrapped up by a defender.  But in typical Big XII fashion, he breaks the tackle and dashes untouched the rest of the way for a touchdown.  The play covered 74 yards.

Iowa St. 7 - 14 Texas Christian (6:38 left in 1st Quarter)

It didn't take long for Texas Christian to go 82 yards and score its second touchdown of the game.  This time, the points came on a 21-yard pass from Boykin to Kolby Listenbee of Bowie H.S. in Arlington, Tex.

Iowa St. 7 - 7 Texas Christian (8:25 left in 1st Quarter)

This is better from the Horned Frog defense.  They hold, and force a punt.  Boykin, Doctson, & Co. will start from their own 18.

Iowa St. 7 - 7 Texas Christian (10:13 left in 1st Quarter)

Not surprisingly, it takes less than a minute for the Frogs to re-tie the game.  They score on a 20-yard pass from (who else?) Trevone Boykin of West Mesquite H.S. in Dallas to (who else?) Josh Doctson of Mansfield, Tex.  They are amazing.

Iowa St. 7 - 0 Texas Christian (11:08 left in 1st Quarter)

Well, here we go again.  Texas Christian's defense opens in its usual sieve-like mode, and the Cyclones go down the field to take an early lead.  The touchdown is scored by Joshua Thomas of Buford H.S. in Buford, Ga.  The extra point is made by Cole Netten of Ankeny H.S. in Ankeny, Iowa.  Once again the Frogs will play from behind.

Iowa St. v. Texas Christian

The last time we checked in on this fixture, the Horned Frogs were beating Iowa State 55-3 to wrap up the 2014 regular season.  Since then, Texas Christian has won seven more UCFC match-ups, while the Cyclones have toiled in their usual mediocrity.  So far this year, Iowa State is 2-3, with wins against Northern Iowa and Kansas, but defeats against Iowa (31-17), Toledo (30-23), and Texas Tech (66-31).  Here's where the Horned Frogs and the Cyclones are in the Big XII standings (conference games only, with AP rankings in parentheses):

(3) Texas Christian:  3-0
(16) Oklahoma St:  3-0
(2) Baylor:  2-0
(19) Oklahoma:  1-1
Iowa St:  1-1
Texas Tech:  1-2
Texas:  1-2
Kansas St:  0-2
W. Virginia:  0-2
Kansas:  0-2

(Keep an eye on Oklahoma State, by the way.  The Cowboys' last three home games of the season are against Texas Christian (Nov. 7), Baylor (Nov. 21), and Oklahoma (Nov. 28).  So the path to the championship runs through Stillwater.)

(I'm not saying anything yet about the Texas Christian/Baylor game scheduled for the day after Thanksgiving -- it's way too early for that.)

Iowa State will draw some hope from the fact that Texas Christian's defense has been terrible in its two conference road games -- the Frogs gave up 52 points at Texas Tech, and 45 points at Kansas State.  But Texas Christian survived both of those games -- and they may show up on both sides of the ball this week.  On the other hand, they were terrible at Kansas last year -- just barely surviving a 34-30 slugfest against a very weak team.

Faced with the Horned Frogs' inconsistencies, and trying to split the difference between a 55-3 blowout and a 34-30 nail-biter, Vegas has made Texas Christian a 20 1/2 point favorite in a game where the oddsmakers expect 72 1/2 points to be scored.  That would result in something like a 47-26 win for the Horned Frogs.  But just as I was nervous about the K-State game, I'm feeling more hopeful this week.  I may be wrong, but I have a feeling Texas Christian will do better than the odds indicate.

Kansas St. 45- 52 Texas Christian (Final)

Another week, another great escape for the Fighting Frogs of Texas Christian.  The Horned Frogs have now won twelve UCFC games in a row, and several of those games have been hum-dingers (home teams listed first):

11/01/14:  W. Virginia 30 - 31 Texas Christian
11/15/14:  Kansas 30 - 34 Texas Christian
09/26/15:  Texas Tech 52 - 55 Texas Christian
10/10/15:  Kansas St. 45 - 52 Texas Christian

But close doesn't count in the UCFC -- it's win or go home.  So the Horned Frogs get to keep the trophy.  Their all-time record in UCFC play is now 43-19-6.  That's pretty good.

As for Kansas State, the Wildcats have suffered a heartbreaking defeat.  I think they probably should have gone for the touchdown late in the game, instead of kicking a field goal to tie the game at 45.  At that point in the proceedings, I don't think the Patriots could have stopped the red-hot Texas Christian offense.  But the Wildcats certainly gave it the old college try.  K-State has now lost its last four UCFC games, however, and the Wildcats' record in UCFC play falls to 3-10.  They will have to hope that the Big Gold Trophy stays in the Big XII.

Kansas St. 45 - 52 Texas Christian (51 seconds left in 4th Quarter)

The Texas Christian defense finally makes a play.  Montrel Wilson (of Fossil Ridge H.S. in Keller, Tex.) crushes Joe Hubener, who FUMBLES.  Davion Pierson (of Millwood H.S. in Oklahoma City) falls on the ball at the Kansas State five yard line.  THE HORNED FROGS ARE GOING TO DEFEND THE UCFC FOR THE ELEVENTH TIME IN A ROW!

THE UCFC!  What a tradition!

Kansas St. 45 - 52 Texas Christian (1:10 left in 4th Quarter)

How great is Trevone Boykin?  Here's what Texas Christian did:

1st and 10 (TCU 37):  Boykin runs for 8 yards
2d and 2 (TCU 45):  BOYKIN THROWS A 55-YARD TOUCHDOWN PASS TO JOSH DOCTSON

Boykin:  20-30 for 301 yards, 2 TD's, 2 INT's; 11 carries for 124 yards and 2 TD's
Doctson:  8 catches for 155 yards and 2 TD's

That's six touchdowns for the Dynamic Duo.  Just amazing stuff.

Of course, now the Texas Christian defense has to make one more stand.

Kansas St. 45 - 45 Texas Christian (1:47 left in 4th Quarter)

K-State Coach Bill Snyder decides to go for the field goal, and Jack Cantele boots a 37-yarder to tie the game.

The kickoff is short, and Texas Christian runs it back to the Horned Frog 37.  Now it's up to Boykin and co.

Kansas St. 42 - 45 Texas Christian (1:51 left in 4th Quarter)

K-State's offense faces a 4th and 1 at the Texas Christian 21, and they are calling time to decide what to do.

Kansas St. 42 - 45 Texas Christian (6:07 left in 4th Quarter)

Well, on the second play of Texas Christian's possession, TREVONE BOYKIN SIMPLY TOOK THE BALL HIMSELF AND RAN 69 YARDS FOR A TOUCHDOWN.

Then they decided to go for two -- and made it.  But there was a penalty and they had to try again from the 8.  This time Boykin didn't do that silly corner pass -- he zipped a slant pass to Doctson, which is what they should have done before.

So the Frogs have come all the way back to take the lead.  Unfortunately, they now have to turn the game back over to their defense.

Kansas St. 42 - 37 Texas Christian (7:55 left in 4th Quarter)

The kickoff goes through the end zone and K-State will start from its own 25:

1st and 10 (KSU 25):  Incomplete pass
2d and 10 (KSU 25):  Dominique Heath 7-yd pass from Hubener
3d and 3 (KSU 32):  Deante Burton appeared to catch a 10-yard pass from Hubener for the first down, but on further review Burton did not control the ball, and the pass was incomplete.

K-State has to punt with 6:51 to go, and the Horned Frogs will start from their 25.

Kansas St. 42 - 37 Texas Christian (7:55 left in 4th Quarter)

There are about 50,000 people at Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium in Manhattan, Kan., and they were all screaming their hearts out -- trying to urge their Wildcats to stop Trevone Boykin and the Texas Christian Horned Frogs.  But Boykin is not awed by crowds, or defenses, or much of anything, as far as I can tell.  He leads Texas Christian on a masterful drive -- with some more jhelp from Josh Doctson -- and scampers into the end zone from 14 yards out.

The Horned Frogs then went for two, and for reasons I don't understand, they tried that play where you loft the ball into the back corner of the end zone.  I'm not sure that play has ever worked for anyone other than Brett Favre, and it certainly didn't work here.  So the Frogs trail by 5 with almost 8 minutes to go.  They really need some help from their defense.

Kansas St. 42 - 31 Texas Christian (12:21 left in 4th Quarter)

Joe Hubener runs for his fourth touchdown of the night, sneaking in from one yard out.  K-State goes up by 11 points.

For a whole year, Trevone Boykin and the Texas Christian Horned Frogs have wondered what would have happened if they had made it into the NCAA Football Playoff at the end of the 2014 season.  They know that they blew their chance last year by losing 61-58 at Baylor.  They know they have to go undefeated to be certain of reaching the playoff this year.  If they want to save their season, and the UCFC, they better really get going now.

Kansas St. 35 - 31 Texas Christian (13:05 left in 4th Quarter)

Facing 2d and goal at the Texas Christian 1, Kansas State calls time.  The Wildcats have one timeout left.

Kansas St. 35 - 31 Texas Christian (15 minutes left in 4th Quarter)

The Wildcats' offense is working again, and they have driven down to about the Texas Christian 11.  With one quarter to go, the folks in the Little Apple are getting excited about taking the Big Gold Trophy.

If K-State wins, by the way, we will be in Manhattan, Kan. again next week to watch the Wildcats host Oklahoma.

Kansas St. 35 - 31 Texas Christian (3:07 left in 3d Quarter)

But now the K-State defense forces a 3-and-out, and Texas Christian has to punt.  A nice return gives K-State the ball at the Texas Christian 45.

Kansas St. 35 - 31 Texas Christian (4:43 left in 3d Quarter)

The Horned Frog defense does hold, although there was a pretty obvious example of defensive holding on third down that was not called.  K-State punts, and Boykin and company will start from their own 10.

Kansas St. 35 - 31 Texas Christian (5:37 left in 3d Quarter)

Disaster for Texas Christian!  With a chance to take the lead, Boykin throws his SECOND INTERCEPTION of the night, both of which were picked off by Elijah Lee.  K-State will take over at the Texas Christian 42.

Can the Horned Frog defense hold again?

Kansas St. 35 - 31 Texas Christian (6:14 left in 3d Quarter)

I don't know what Texas Christian Coach Gary Patterson said in that locker room, but it made a difference to the Horned Frog defense.  K-State goes three and out, and has to punt.  Texas Christian will start from its own 35.

Kansas St. 35 - 31 Texas Christian (7:14 left in 3d Quarter)

THE FIGHTING FROGS ARE BACK!  Texas Christian drives 88 yards in about four minutes, with Aaron Green rushing in from 8 yards out for the touchdown.  Boykin is now 14-21 for 203 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT.

Suddenly, Texas Christian is right back in this game.

Kansas St. 35 - 24 Texas Christian (11:23 left in the 3d Quarter)

Suddenly, Texas Christian is playing much better.  The Frogs force K-State to punt, and Texas Christian will start from its own 12.  The Frogs have held the UCFC for a long time, and it's nice to see them trying to keep it.

Kansas St. 35 - 24 Texas Christian (13:16 left in 3d Quarter)

WHOA!  K-State took the opening kickoff, and appeared to be going down the field for a game-clenching score.  But then all of a sudden the K-State quarterback, Joe Hubener, hurled a disastrous INTERCEPTION to Derrick Kindred of Wagner H.S. in San Antonio, Tex.  Kindred then dashed 60 yards for a TEXAS CHRISTIAN TOUCHDOWN.  So instead of the Wildcats going up by 25, the Horned Frogs have cut their lead to 11.

But can the Frogs make another stop?

Kansas St. 35 - 17 Texas Christian (Halftime)

Texas Christian drives down to the K-State 30, but the clock expires before they can get the kicking team in -- just another mistake by the Frogs.

K-State outscored Texas Christian 28-3 in the second quarter.  And the Wildcats get the ball to start the second half.  If they go up 42-17, I don't think the Frogs can save themselves.

Kansas St. 35 - 17 Texas Christian (22 seconds left in 2d Quarter)

Texas Christian's defense looks like it needs a standing-eight count.  Presented with another short field by a bad Texas Christian punt, K-State pounds away and picks up another touchdown on a 1-yard sneak by Hubener.  The K-State quarterback now has 17 carries for 97 yards and three touchdowns.

Texas Christian better figure out something at halftime, because if K-State goes up 42-17, I don't think even Trevone Boykin can save the Frogs.

Kansas St. 28 - 17 Texas Christian (4:02 left in 2d Quarter)

Texas Christian is extremely discombobulated right now.  First, the offense goes three and out.  And then Perry's punt only goes 13 yards.  K-State will take over at the Texas Christian 40.  If the Wildcats can get a touchdown here -- and get another one to start the second half -- they can pretty much ensure that the Big Gold Trophy will stay in Manhattan, Kan.

Kansas St. 28 - 17 Texas Christian (4:56 left in 2d Quarter)

As I expected, it didn't take long for the Wildcats to get the 25 yards they needed for an 11-point lead.  Charles Jones blasts into the end zone from seven yards out for his second rushing touchdown of the last few minutes, and the fourth K-State rushing touchdown of the half.

Texas Christian is now officially in trouble.  K-State will get the ball to start the second half, and the Horned Frog defense is just not able to get off the field.  It is possible, of course, that Boykin will lead the Frogs to a touchdown in all of their remaining possessions -- but even that might not be enough to take the Big Gold Trophy back to Fort Worth.

Kansas St. 21 - 17 Texas Christian (6:40 left in 2d Quarter)

OK, now the Frogs are in more trouble.  Boykin is hit as he throws by Marquel Bryant of Skyline H.S. in Dallas.  The ball flutters out of his hand and is INTERCEPTED by Elijah Lee of Blue Springs H.S. in Blue Springs. Mo.  K-State takes over at about the Texas Christian 25, and it probably won't take them long to score.

Kansas St. 21 - 17 Texas Christian (6:56 left in 2d Quarter)

So Kansas State has had four possessions in this game, and three of them consisted of long touchdown drives.  This was yet another easy stroll down the field, topped off by a 28-yard run by Charles Jones of Mandeville H.S. in Mandeville, La.

I don't understand enough about football to know how it's possible for people to run untouched through the Texas Christian defense, but I know that this sort of thing shouldn't happen if you're the number-2 team in the country.

The other thing that's worrisome from a Texas Christian perspective is that these K-State drives are taking up a lot of time, which makes it harder for Boykin and the Frogs' offense to get into rhythm.

Kansas St. 14 - 17 Texas Christian (11:32 left in 2d Quarter)

Boykin is now 8-12 for 111 yards and a touchdown, while Doctson has 3 catches for 42 yards and a touchdown.  But the K-State defense did hold at its own 33, forcing Oberkrom to kick a 50-yard field goal -- which he made.  The Horned Frogs are back on top, but now the Wildcats can take the lead.

Kansas St. 14 - 14 Texas Christian (12:51 left in 2d Quarter)

Somehow, somewhere, Texas Christian is going to get burned by its poor defense.  It may be tonight, as Kansas State rips off an easy 76-yard drive that ends with QB Hubener trotting into the end zone on one of the easiest 17-yard runs you will ever see.

So once again, the Frogs are planning to count on Boykin and Doctson to pull out a road victory.  They may do it -- because they are that good -- but this is not sound football.

Kansas St. 7 - 14 Texas Christian (3:30 left in 1st Quarter)

Texas Christian's drive is killed by a holding penalty, and Ethan Perry (of Smithson Valley H.S. in Spring Branch, Tex.) punts to the K-State 24.

Kansas St. 7 - 14 Texas Christian (5:41 left in 1st Quarter)

The Horned Frog defense holds, and forces K-State to punt.  The punt, by Nick Walsh of Lyndon H.S. in Lyndon, Kan., rolls all the way to the Texas Christian 3.  I'm not sure, however, that field position makes much of a difference to the Horned Frogs.

Kansas St. 7 - 14 Texas Christian (7:46 left in 1st Quarter)

It has been a long time since college football has seen a more devastating passing combination than Texas Christian's Trevone Boykin (of W. Mesquite H.S. in Dallas) and Josh Doctson (of Mansfield, Tex.)  This Texas Christian possession ends with a 32-yard pass from Boykin to Doctson, who makes a spectacular leaping catch in the end zone for yet another touchdown.  He is amazingly good.

So the Horned Frogs hold serve and restore their lead.

Uniform watch:  The Frogs are wearing white jerseys with black numerals, purple helmets, and purple pants.  Kansas State is wearing silver helmets, purple jerseys, and silver pants.  You don't see that many purple-on-purple match-ups, but we have one tonight.

Media watch:  I'm rolling with FOX and Gus Johnson for this game.  I love over-the-air football -- it feels very democratic.  And Johnson is great.

Kansas St. 7 - 7 Texas Christian (9:39 left in 1st Quarter)

And away we go.  K-State takes the kickoff and goes straight down the field to tie the score.  The touchdown came on a two-yard plunge from QB Joe Hubener, a junior from Cheney H.S. in Cheney, Kan.  The extra point is added by Jack Cantele of Kapuan Mt. Carmel Catholic H.S. in Wichita, Kan.  According to the school web page, the kids at Kapuan Mt. Carmel are performing Twelve Angry Jurors this weekend.  Curtain goes up at 7:30 Central Time.  You'll probably be able to see tonight's play and still get home in time to catch the end of this game.

Kansas St. 0 - 7 Texas Christian (14:42 left in 1st Quarter)

Well, that didn't take long.  On the first play from scrimmage, Aaron Green of San Antonio, Tex. dashed 86 yards for a touchdown.  Jaden Oberkrom of Martin H.S. in Arlington, Tex. added the extra point, and the Frogs are up 7-0.  That's Texas Christian football, and that looks like a national power.

Kansas State v. Texas Christian

Texas Christian has defended the Unofficial College Football Championship ten times in a row, and the Horned Frogs are currently ranked number 2 in the country by the Associated Press.  But the Frogs haven't been all that great on the road.  They only won at Minnesota by six points, they only won by three points two weeks ago at Texas Tech, and last year they struggled in road games with Kansas and West Virginia.

So we should not be surprised if tonight's game at Kansas State turns into a donnybrook.  K-State is usually not good enough to be a national power, but they are often good enough to beat solid teams who visit Manhattan, Kan.  This year, the Wildcats opened with easy wins over South Dakota and Texas-San Antonio.  Then they beat Louisiana Tech 39-33 and lost to Oklahoma State (on the road) 36-34.

There's no way that Kansas State is actually as good as Texas Christian, so this game sets up as an interesting test for the Frogs.  If Texas Christian wants to stake a serious claim to being a national power, the Frogs need to show that they can dominate less talented teams on the road.  The type of poor defense we saw two weeks ago against Texas Tech will not get it done.  Eventually, you will lose one of those games -- and the Frogs can't afford a loss if they want to make the Final Four.

Vegas has the Horned Frogs as a 9 1/2 point favorite in a game where the teams are expected to combine for 63 points.  That would work out to something like a 36-27 victory for the Frogs.  To me, that would be a disappointing result for a team with National Title aspirations.  But I'm sure the Texas Christian coaches would be happy to get out of the Little Apple with any win.

Texas Christian 50 - 7 Texas (Final)

I tuned into this game about 20 minutes after it started, but it was already obvious that the Horned Frogs were on their way to a blowout victory.  The Frogs led 37-0 at the half, and cruised home from there.  Texas Christian is now 42-19-6 in UCFC games, and they have now defended the title 10 times in a row since they took it from West Virginia last November.  Next week, the Frogs will go to Manhattan, Kan. for a game with Kansas State.  I expect that game to represent much more of a challenge.

As for Texas, it's hard to see how things could get much worse for the Longhorns.  As we pointed out, from 1968 to 1991 Texas beat Texas Christian 24 times in a row.  Now in the last two seasons, the Horned Frogs have outscored the Longhorns 98-17.  Even more worrisome, the Longhorns seem to have given up -- they showed absolutely no fight yesterday despite having the chance to turn their season around by upsetting an in-state rival.

I have sympathy for Texas coach Charlie Strong, who did a great job at the University of Louisville, where he went 37-15 and beat Florida in the 2012 Sugar Bowl.  You would think that a coach who won at the University of Louisville would do even better at Texas, and that is certainly what the Longhorns thought.  But some coaches do better in a situation where they can play the role of scrappy underdog.  At Louisville, Strong took less talented players and got them to play over their heads.  But Louisville fans don't expect you to contend for the national championship more often than not.  You can't achieve the type of success they want at Texas by getting your guys to play like scrappy underdogs.  You need great players, and then you need to get those players to do what you say.  Through 18 games at the University of Texas, there is simply no evidence that Coach Strong can do either of those things.

On the other hand, Texas fans should not despair.  The Longhorns' 1-4 start is the worst since Texas went 1-9 in 1956.  But after that 1956 season, Texas went out and got a new coach.  His name was Darrell Royal.  Sometimes an athletic department has to get desperate before it's willing to do what it takes to get a big-time winner.  From that perspective, this loss to Texas Christian -- humiliating though it was -- may be a turning point.

TCU 9 Texas 0

Texas looks poorly coached.

Texas Christian v. Texas

Many years ago, in the 1930's, the legendary sportswriter Dan Jenkins grew up in Fort Worth, Tex. as a fan of the Texas Christian Horned Frogs.  Back then, the Frogs were a great power -- they won the National Championship in 1938, and they beat the University of Texas four years in a row from 1935 to 1938.

But things had changed a lot by the time Jenkins started writing about college football for Sports Illustrated in 1963.  Darrell Royal had built the University of Texas into a great powerhouse -- Jenkins proved his acumen to SI readers by accurately picking Texas to win the 1963 National Championship.  Royal added another title in 1969.  Meanwhile, Texas Christian languished as one of the weakest programs in major conference football.  From 1968 to 1991, Texas beat Texas Christian 24 times in a row.  To give you a sense of what it was like, here are the four games played while I was in high school (home team listed first):

1980:  Texas Christian 26 - 51 Texas
1981:  Texas 31 - 15 Texas Christian
1982:  Texas Christian 21 - 38 Texas
1983:  Texas 20 -14 Texas Christian


In case you think that 1983 score signaled that the tide was about to turn, you should know that in 1984 Texas went to Fort Worth and beat the Horned Frogs 44-23.  In short, Texas-Texas Christian was one of those annual games that no one could take too seriously, like Florida v. Kentucky or Vanderbilt v. almost anyone.  When Texas organized the break-up of the old Southwest Conference in the 1990's, leaving Texas Christian behind, it seemed likely that the teams would never play again.

But history is long and complicated.  Texas Christian's program not only survived the break-up of the Southwest Conference -- the Frogs actually thrived against the easier schedules they were able to play.  By 2007, they were back on UT's schedule -- only to lose 34-13.  Still, that wasn't the end of it -- Texas's new conference, the Big XII, shed so many members heading into the 2012 season that the Longhorns were forced to ask Texas Christian to join their depleted league.  And the Horned Frogs did so with relish, coming to Austin in 2012 and beating Texas 20-13.  Texas won 30-7 the next year, as Texas Christian struggled with the new level of competition.  But by last year, the Frogs had found their feet and they crushed Texas 48-10 in a UCFC game.

Texas still leads the all-time series 62-22-1, but for now Texas Christian has all the momentum.  This year, Texas Christian is 4-0, the Frogs still hold the UCFC, and they are ranked number-4 in the country.  Meanwhile, Texas is 1-3, and many Longhorn fans are already eager to dump Coach Charlie Strong, who is in his second year at Texas with a record of 7-10.  (Darrell Royal had coached more than three full seasons before he suffered his 10th loss at Texas.)

Vegas appears to have given up on the Longhorns for this game.  Texas Christian is favored by 15 points in a game where the over/under is 71.  That would work out to a 43-28 win for the Frogs -- which would actually represent a major improvement from the beat-down Texas suffered on its home field last year.

I'm of two minds about this game.  I find it hard to believe that the University of Texas doesn't have some students who are actually pretty good football players, and I could see the Longhorns rallying in an effort to save their season.  As we've seen in the last two weeks, Texas Christian has big problems on defense, which makes it hard for the Frogs to put teams away.  On the other hand, I could see Texas Christian coming out determined to bolster its case for the NCAA Playoffs by running up the score on You-Tee, while the Longhorns may be demoralized.  In this case, Texas Christian could easily win by a score of something like 63-14.

At the end of the day, I'm confident that Texas Christian quarterback Trevone Boykin will do whatever it takes to win this game -- he may be the best player in the whole country.  But I won't know how much he'll have to do until the game gets started.

Texas Tech 52 - 55 Texas Christian (Final)

Since this blog started in 2010, we have seen Texas Tech play for the UCFC six times.  Here are the scores of those games:

10/13/12:  Texas Tech 49, W. Virginia 14
10/20/12:  Texas Tech 56, Texas Christian 53 (3 OT)
10/27/12:  Kansas St. 55, Texas Tech 24
11/24/12:  Baylor 52, Texas Tech 45
11/16/13:  Baylor 63, Texas Tech 34
09/26/15:  Texas Christian 55, Texas Tech 52

That's right.  In Texas Tech's last four UCFC games, the Red Raiders have averaged 38.8 points per game -- but they lost all four times, because their opponents averaged 56.3 points per game.  That is some really bad defense.

Anyway, the Red Raiders are now 17-16 in UCFC games.

But the Texas Christian Horned Frogs are now 41-19-6 in UCFC play, and they will defend the title for a TENTH time this week against the University of Texas.