TCU Football: Horned Frogs Fall to Baylor, What Does It Mean?

The college football season has started off with a bang thanks to the incredible show put on by TCU and Baylor Friday night. Not only did the game come down to the wire, but we got our first big upset of the season, as the Bears knocked off the 14th-ranked Horned Frogs.

The Bears came out of the locker room hot, scuffled late in the second half, but bounced back with a last-minute field goal to take the lead that would ultimately win them the game by the score of 50-48.

The TCU defense, which has generally been very good in seasons past, looked poor on this day. Baylor piled up 564 yards, 414 of which came through the air.

The Bears' star quarterback, Robert Griffin III, completed 21 of 27 passes for 359 yards and five touchdowns. That performance will get Griffin's Heisman campaign started in earnest.

Running back Terrance Ganaway added 120 rushing yards on 24 carries.

The TCU offense got going in the second half, but it was a little too late. Casey Pachall completed 25 of 39 passes for 251 yards and four touchdowns. The running game collectively had 215 yards on 38 carries.

Everyone around the TCU program knew that this team was not as good as the team that went to the Rose Bowl last season, but I don't know that anyone expected them to drop this game to Baylor.

Baylor is a program on the rise, but a team the caliber of TCU should never lose to them if they have designs on being a BCS buster.

Both team's trajectories were changed by this result.

TCU now has to be thought of as a distant second-place team in the Mountain West Conference, behind Boise State. We haven't seen Boise play yet, but I have my doubts that they would have lost this game.

TCU is still a good team, but they are not going to make many waves on a national level.

Baylor, on the other hand, has to be taken seriously now. Most prognosticators had them as a solid cut below teams like Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M, but now maybe they should be put on that level.

TCU will get a chance to redeem themselves rather quickly. Air Force, another team that will test their defense with their speed and quickness, will host the Horned Frogs next Saturday.

Baylor will have a much easier game next week, as they host FCS opponent Stephen F. Austin State.

Both these teams will end up in the top 25 rankings when they come out after this weekend, but the two teams will be headed in opposite directions.