TCU erases 31-point deficit to win in OT

And, of course, Kohlhausen ended the game with a genius touchdown run to give the Horned Frogs the 47-41 lead.

The Ducks (9-4) lost starting quarterback Vernon Adams Jr.to a head injury in the second quarter but built a 31-point halftime lead before TCU outscored OR 31-0 in the second half at the Alamodome.

Yet that pressure was missing in the second half and instead TCU applied all its force onto the Ducks defense before it broke in a 47-41 Alamo Bowl victory. We should probably be getting used to it.

Penn State (7-6) played more than half the game without star quarterback Christian Hackenberg, who landed awkwardly on his throwing shoulder under a tackle in the second quarter. TCU would get another stop, in front of about 50,000 screaming TCU fans (and about 15,000 very sad OR fans), and a Jaden Oberkom field goal with 23 seconds left would eventually send the game to overtime.

Green ran for 101 yards on 25 carries for TCU and wide receiver Shaun Nixon had nine catches for 71 yards. But perhaps Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney should take a page out of Gary Patterson’s playbook and throw on a new shirt at halftime.

With 40 bowl games played after the 2015 season, precious few were memorable.

Then, Jaelan Austin scored his team’s first touchdown with a 26-yard connection with backup quarterback Bram Kohlhausen.

The 31-point comeback to win tied the record for a bowl game, matching Texas Tech in the 2006 Insight Bowl against Minnesota. Kohlhausen finished with 351 yards passing, with two touchdowns and an interception, and snuck around the edges of UO’s defense for two rushing touchdowns.

“I was playing this whole game for Tre”, said Kohlhausen, from the stage on field after being named the offensive MVP. Several times, OR struggled to snap the ball to him, forcing Lockie to reach low as the ball skipped on the ground.

OR players insisted they didn’t think the game was over. OR simply had no answers for an undermanned TCU offense in the last two quarters and overtime sessions, and the collapse will lead some to wonder, perhaps even head coach Mark Helfrich, whether the tenure of long-time UO coordinator/assistant Don Pellum should come to an end. A senior transfer from Eastern Washington, Adams had completed 13 of 19 passed for 197 yards and had led OR on touchdown drives of 81, 79, 84, and 62 yards in the game’s first 16 minutes and 30 seconds.

Jeff Lockie drove OR to a field goal that made it 31-0 at halftime, but the Ducks stalled there.

All that’s left now is to wait for the national championship game of the college football playoff between Alabama and Clemson on January 11, a Monday, taking place in the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

The hit also came two plays after OR got a first down off a blocked punt.

“I told them we had an opportunity in the second half to show OR what our program was all about”, Patterson said.