TCU vs. Kansas State: Game Grades, Analysis for Horned Frogs and Wildcats

The No. 2 TCU Horned Frogs may be the most electric, exciting team in the country as they survived an 18-point halftime deficit and came back on the road to beat Bill Snyder and the Kansas State Wildcats 52-45. 

Heisman candidate Trevone Boykin added some trophy-worthy moments to his resume, with the biggest one coming on a 55-yard bomb to his partner in crime, Josh Doctson, with just over a minute left that ended up being the game-winning touchdown. 

With that, let's check out the game grades for both these Big 12 teams that were locked in one of the best battles of the season.

TCU Horned Frogs

Rush Offense: B The Horned Frogs racked up 239 yards on the ground, with Boykin leading the way with 124 yards on 11 carries, including two touchdowns. Aaron Green nearly matched that, with 121 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. One of those came on the first play of the game as Green gashed the K-State defense for an 86-yard score. 

Pass Offense: B+ Two interceptions by Boykin nearly cost the Horned Frogs this game. Instead, he finished the game with 301 yards and two touchdowns on 20-of-30 passing. To nobody's surprise, Doctson led all receivers with 155 yards on eight catches, including both of Boykin's touchdown passes. 

Rush Defense: C While the TCU front line wasn't tested perhaps nearly as much as many analysts think it should've been in the second half, as K-State went to the air more after halftime, the Horned Frogs still gave up 228 yards and six—count 'em, six—touchdowns via the ground game. That's a gaping hole for TCU that Snyder exposed, perhaps not enough. 

Pass Defense: A The TCU secondary held Joe Hubener to just 13-of-33 passing for 157 yards and no touchdowns. K-State seemed hell-bent on testing the Horned Frogs' secondary, and TCU responded to the challenge almost perfectly. 

Special Teams: A- No gripes for the Horned Frogs here. Jaden Oberkrom was 6-of-6 on his kicks with five PAT's and a field goal, while KaVontae Turpin had some nice returns. The only big flaw was a shanked punt that gave K-State the chance to take a 35-17 halftime lead, which it did. 

Coaching: A It's not easy to beat Snyder on his home turf. But the former K-State graduate assistant-turned-TCU head coach Gary Patterson did just that, overcoming a halftime deficit and a delirious sellout crowd to keep his squad's playoff hopes alive.

Orlin Wagner/Associated Press

K-State Wildcats

Rush Offense: A- The Wildcats, for some reason unbeknownst to anybody that watched the game, decided to get away from the run game in the second half. Nevertheless, the Wildcats racked up 228 yards on 48 carries and six touchdowns, with Hubener leading the pack with 111 yards and four scores. Charles Jones did have a breakout game of sorts, picking up 75 yards on 13 touches with two scores after a rough start to the year. 

Pass Offense: D K-State was absolutely convinced that passing the ball was the way to go with an 18-point lead at halftime. The Wildcats were wrong, as they were limited to just 157 yards through the air as Hubener completed just 13 of 33 pass attempts. Had the Wildcats gone to the run more, they could've eaten up valuable clock time and perhaps squashed the second-half momentum of TCU. 

Rush Defense: C+ After giving up an 86-yard run to Green on the first play, the Wildcats actually limited his role for the rest of the game. However, Boykin's legs came up big in the game as he racked up 124 yards and was able to chip away at a K-State defense that just couldn't wrap him up behind the line of scrimmage. 

Pass Defense: C+ K-State had two picks against Boykin and didn't let him get into a rhythm in the first half. However, the Wildcats' secondary was burned all night in the second half, culminating with the 55-yard touchdown pass from Boykin to Doctson as K-State was trying to force overtime. TCU finished with 301 yards and two touchdowns through the air. 

Special Teams: A- The only real complaint for K-State is that, on its final kickoff, it let Turpin have a decent return to the TCU 36. That gave Boykin good field position with TCU only needing a field goal. Of course, the Horned Frogs ended up scoring a touchdown. Besides that, K-State was fine on special teams, as it always is.

Coaching: C It's not often Snyder gets outcoached, but he did on Saturday night in Manhattan by one of his own products in Patterson. Snyder and Co. were bent on passing the ball despite holding an 18-point lead, and that let the Horned Frogs back into the game as they routinely got K-State off the field quickly. Granted, it's tough to beat the No. 2 team in the nation, but the Wildcats had a chance to do it—they didn't because of coaching.