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For the first time since the 2022 Fiesta Bowl, TCU football defeated a ranked opponent, earning a gritty 17-14 win at No. 25 Houston on Saturday.
“It’s hard to win on the road against a Top 25 team,” head coach Sonny Dykes said. “Proud of these guys for hanging in there and not listening to all the negativity. I thought they did an incredible job of keeping their head down and not paying attention to all the junk that was out there.”
The Horned Frogs (7-4, 4-4 Big 12) jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but allowed the Cougars (8-3, 5-3), who are No. 23 in the College Football Playoff rankings, back into the game with four turnovers and multiple penalties that wiped touchdowns off the board.
Despite thoroughly outplaying the Cougars, the game was tied at 14 entering the fourth quarter. Junior wide receiver Jordan Dwyer set up the go-ahead field goal with a 53-yard punt return that led to Nate McCashland knocking down a 29-yard field goal with 11:21 remaining in the game.
“He kicked a line drive, and it got to me quick,” Dwyer said of the punt. “I had an opportunity to return it, and the whole punt return unit did an amazing job blocking it up. I just hit it and ran with it and tried to give the team a good spark.”
Houston kicker Ethan Sanchez missed field goals on the Cougars’ final two drives that would have tied the game. After he missed a 49-yarder, TCU drove to the Houston 5-yard line but failed on fourth-and-1 to give the Cougars a final shot.
Houston quickly got in range, but Sanchez missed from 38 yards out with 46 seconds remaining to seal the Horned Frogs’ victory, which broke a two-game losing skid and eliminated the Cougars from the Big 12 title race.
“There were a lot of mistakes. Sometimes we were our own worst enemy,” Dykes said. “Penalties killed us in the first half … but we had to overcome a lot.”
TCU will end the regular season by hosting Cincinnati on Nov. 29 at a time to be determined.
Here are four takeaways from Saturday’s win:
Up-and-down day for Josh Hoover
TCU junior quarterback Josh Hoover showed the best and worst parts of his game against Houston. His performance in the first quarter was the best stretch of football he’s played since TCU’s win over Colorado on Oct. 4. Hoover was 12-of-14 for 148 yards and two touchdown passes in the opening quarter as TCU’s offense had no problem moving the ball.
Hoover’s hot start fizzled out in the second quarter as his decision-making led to two game-changing turnovers while targeting senior wide receiver Eric McAlister. Hoover appeared to regain his momentum after completing a 37-yard strike to McAlister midway through the third quarter that got TCU to the Houston 20.
On the next play, Hoover threw a jump ball to Dwyer for a touchdown, but the score was called ball due to an illegal block by tight end Chase Curtis. Two plays later, Hoover was intercepted for a third time as TCU squandered another scoring opportunity while leading 14-7.
Hoover did enough to get the win, as he finished 24 of 33 for 293 yards and two touchdowns, but his turnovers on the road continue to be a troubling trend.
Defense rises up
Led by senior linebacker Kaleb Elarms-Orr, TCU’s defense was able to bail the offense out after the Horned Frogs struggled with the four turnovers and two touchdowns taken off the board by penalties. The Cougars’ revamped offense struggled to consistently find lanes to attack as TCU did a good job of containing Cougars quarterback Conner Weigman.
The third-down defense in particular was excellent as the Horned Frogs limited Houston to just 4-for-17 on conversion attempts. The biggest sequence came in the fourth quarter with TCU holding onto a 17-14 lead. Elarms-Orr blew up a sweep to Dean Connors to force a third-and-13 at TCU’s 35-yard line. Weigman was stopped well shorts of the sticks on his third-down scramble, and Houston was forced to attempt a 48-yard field goal.
The kick was well short to preserve TCU’s lead. Elarms-Orr led the way with 15 tackles, his third game with at least 15 tackles and sixth game this season with double-digit tackles.
It was an impressive bounce-back performance from a defense that had its worst game of the season last week in a 44-13 loss at BYU. The 14 points were the second-fewest Houston has scored this season.
“We played really [well] tonight,” Elarms-Orr said. “The way we prepare week in and week out, we strain in practice. We know if you do it in practice it’s going to show up in the game. I’m super proud of those guys and how we did as a unit overall. It’s onto the next.”
Young safeties step up
Playing without injured preseason All-Big 12 safety Bud Clark was a major storyline entering Saturday’s game, but the Horned Frogs showed their depth at the position as a pair of young safeties stepped up in Clark’s absence. Sophomore Jordan Lester and true freshman Julius Simms had strong moments in the first half against the Cougars.
Houston tried to target Lester in coverage with Clark out, but he held his own, forcing two incompletions on deep vertical passing routes to help TCU get stops. Simms made the biggest play of the half defensively when he intercepted Weigman in the end zone on fourth-and-goal to preserve TCU’s 14-7 lead.
Lester made another good play late in the third quarter as he forced another incompletion on third-and-8 with the Cougars driving to take the lead. There wasn’t a big drop-off without the presence of Clark, and that says a lot about how the young safeties played.
“They were huge. I thought both those guys played extremely well,” Dykes said. “They were going after us early. They were targeting those young guys, and, man, they both made plays. I was really proud of them. I can’t say enough about how hard they competed. It was awesome to see.”
Another frustrating start
It was a tale of two quarters in the first half, as TCU appeared like it was set for a blowout victory in the first only to let the Cougars back in the game in the second. Hoover and the offense were on fire in the first quarter, as he threw two beautiful touchdown passes to McAlister and Dwyer.
The one to Dwyer was fit perfectly over a defender’s head and was arguably Hoover’s best throw of the season. TCU outgained Houston 174-48 in the first quarter and had a chance to go up 21-0 at the start of the second. But that’s where things began to unravel for TCU. Hoover forced a pass up to McAlister that was intercepted by Will James at the 14:27 mark in the second quarter.
That turnover would help set up Houston’s only points of the half as the Cougars cut TCU’s lead to 14-7 on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Weigman to Amare Thomas. The Cougars were also aided by two costly fourth-down penalties on the TCU defense. A second Hoover interception almost led to another score until Houston was intercepted on fourth-and-goal at the TCU 1-yard line.
With less than two minutes remaining in the first half, the Horned Frogs had one more chance to add onto the lead and got deep into Houston territory with less than 55 seconds remaining. TCU executed a tunnel screen to sophomore wide receiver Jordyn Bailey perfectly for a 27-yard gain, but he was stripped by a Houston defender, taking away a scoring opportunity right before halftime.
TCU led 14-7 at the half, but it squandered multiple opportunities to put Houston in a bigger hole.
This story was originally published November 22, 2025 at 6:29 PM.
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Steven Johnson
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