Josh Hoover threw for 353 yards and the go-ahead touchdown with 3:13 to play to lead TCU to a 34-27 victory over Stanford in the season opener for both teams on Friday night.
“We talked a lot about about being mentally tough,” coach Sonny Dykes said. “I thought we were. We got down and guys never blinked. When we had to get stops defensively, we got them. When we had to score touchdowns at the end on offense, we scored touchdowns.”
After Stanford (0-1) took the lead midway through the fourth quarter following a missed field goal by the Horned Frogs (1-0), Hoover engineered an efficient 74-yard drive to give TCU the win.
He completed all six passes for 67 yards, capping it with a 4-yard TD to Jack Bech that gave the Horned Frogs a 27-24 lead they didn't relinquish. Hoover also threw a TD pass on the opening drive of the game and scored on a 1-yard sneak in the third quarter.
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"These are the ones I love," Hoover said about the late-game drive. “In my entire life, I felt like I’ve been a guy that lives for those situations. I think we learned a lot from those situations we had last year, and we worked on it all season. Tonight, you saw what happened. We went down there and scored when we needed to.”
Cam Cook put the game away with a 7-yard TD run with 1:51 to play.
That all led to a 10th straight home loss for the Cardinal, who are still seeking their first win at Stanford Stadium under second-year coach Troy Taylor after going 0-7 last season.
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“We just didn't finish it,” Taylor said. “I thought we did a good job of being resilient. ... It just wasn't enough plays to come out with the win.”
Stanford had taken the lead on Justin Lamson's 1-yard run with 6:57 to play but faltered late. The Cardinal allowed the TD drive and then Ashton Daniels threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-16 from their own 19 with 2:14 to play.
Daniels threw for 163 yards and one TD to go with 89 yards on the ground. His backup, Lamson, who relieved Daniels in some short-yardage situations, had a touchdown pass to go with his TD run.
THE TAKEAWAY
TCU: The Horned Frogs overcame a litany of mistakes to come out with the victory. They had 100 yards in penalties, several dropped passes, the two turnovers and a missed field goal. They will have to clean that up if they want to improve on last season's 5-7 record and get back to their 2022 form when they went to the national title game.
“We made some critical, critical mistakes that typically get you beat,” Dykes said. “So we were fortunate to win.”
Stanford: The Cardinal haven't won at home since beating Arizona State 15-14 on Oct. 22, 2022, under former coach David Shaw. They started fast with a TD on the opening drive aided by three 15-yard penalties by TCU and scored another TD on a short drive following a fumble. But they couldn't muster consistent offense and got stopped twice on fourth-down tries in their own territory in the fourth quarter.
UP NEXT
TCU: Hosts Long Island University on Saturday.
Stanford: Hosts Cal Poly on Saturday.
