Down 31-0, Frogs shock OR 47-41 in overtime

While the loss of quarterback Vernon Adams and center Matt Hegarty certainly hurt those numbers, it had nothing to do with the second-half collapse of the Ducks’ defense.

One person not facing much pressure tonight will be TCU coach Gary Patterson. Freeman ran for 130 yards and three scores as OR had 419 yards of offense.

OR wide receiver Darren Carrington, who was wearing No. 22 rather than the usual No. 7 in tribute to his close friend New Mexico safety Markel Byrd who was killed in a auto accident December 22, produced seven receptions for 107 yards and 37-yard touchdown pass to start Oregon’s scoring blitz.

The injury bug was starting to devour Horned Frogs by midseason, as the defense was completely ravaged. “If I allowed it to repeat – let’s just say nothing happened and [Boykin] jumped curfew and went out and came back and played a great game – then I’m going to have the same problem next year if we’re good enough to go back to a bowl game”. We’ll probably never know what Patterson said to his players while making that wardrobe adjustment, but whatever it was he should bottle it and sell it at every coaches clinic and convention from coast to coast.

Flustered backup Jeff Lockie was pushed into action and forced OR into a quartet of three-and-outs in regulation, and the team could only score when positioned favorably in overtime. Entering the Alamo Bowl, Oregon won six games in a row, including at Stanford, and Adams ended up leading the nation in passer rating. OR may be the hotter team with an upper hand, but the Ducks are not changing their preparation for TCU.

“This whole year, especially on the defensive side, it’s been a struggle in the second half to finish games”, OR defensive end DeForest Buckner said. The last five of those wins produced these OR points totals in four quarters of football: 41, 44, 38, 48, 52.

OR coach Mark Helfrich encourages his players during the second half of the Alamo Bowl NCAA college football game against TCU, Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016, in San Antonio. We had a 31-0 lead.

After the teams exchanged field goals in the second overtime, Kohlhausen sneaked around the right end on an option, and seemingly disappeared behind his blockers until he was in the end zone.

OR took the big lead early behind quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., but he was knocked out of the game late in the second quarter after taking a hard hit to the head.

In the fourth quarter, TCU’s Aaron Green scored a touchdown to cut the lead to 31-26 with 3:32 left, and the Frogs successfully converted the two-point attempt on a reverse pass from Shaun Nixon to Buck Jones.

“We got it together and were able to get rolling”, Kohlhausen said.

On January 2 the Valero Alamo Bowl features two of the most explosive offenses in college football when the TCU Horned Frogs take on the Oregon Ducks.

In a week 11 30-29 loss to Oklahoma TCU almost mounted a fourth quarter comeback while Boykin sat out with an injury. He also made some gutty runs, including the game-sealing triple overtime touchdown. TCU would have a chance to win the game with a touchdown. A field goal by each team would send it into a third. Kohlhausen went 28 for 45 for 351 yards and 2 touchdowns.