TCU Dominates in Poinsettia
Final Score: TCU 37 Northern Illinois 7
Tuesday, December 19th
By Don Prather
The bowl season kicked off Tuesday night to the sound of a drubbing when the TCU Horned Frogs outplayed the Northern Illinois squad by a resounding score of 37-7.
TCU came out strong on defense holding the number 1 rusher in college football to just 28 yards on 20 carries. Garrett Wolfe couldn't find any room to run up the middle as the Horned Frogs were just too big and then he couldn't find any room on the outside as the defense proved to be too fast as well. The Northern Illinois offense just couldn't get anything going against the larger and faster boys from Ft. Worth. The Huskies had a total of 60 yards on offense to TCU's 456. NIU only managed to cross midfield twice, once when Matt Simon came up with a 62 yard reception, but that drive resulted in a missed field goal. The other came on a 57 yard drive of which 45 yards were gained due to two pass intereference penalties and one personal foul on TCU - the final outcome of that drive? The huskies turned the ball over on downs. The only score of the night for Northern Illinois came early in the fourth quarter when John Tranchitella scooped up a blocked punt and scampered in for a score, but the game was already out of reach at that point. Huskie QB, Dan Nicholson, never got on track either going 6 of 18 passing for 80 yards. He was under pressure all night and was sacked five times by the Horned Frog defense.
This was definitely TCU QB Jeff Ballard's night. He accounted for four touchdowns, three running and one passing against the outsized Huskie defense. Ballard went 19 for 29 connecting with 9 different receivers and racking up 258 yards passing and the TD pass to Brent Hecht while Lonta Hobbs had a TD on a 4 yard run (part of his 109 for the evening).
The defense for TCU played lights out all night, making this look like a week one matchup between a Top 10 BCS school and a 1AA team. Defensive End, Tommy Blake had a banner evening coming up with two sacks and a couple more knockdowns. Blake was in the Huskie backfield so much, some thought he might be on scholarship at NIU.
All in all it wasn't the most spectaculare game, but it's a decent start to the bowl season.
Don is the AJS Webmaster and Editor
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OUR PICKS |
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Dan |
TCU |
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Don |
TCU |
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Joe |
TCU |
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Tom |
N. Illinois
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Travis |
TCU |
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BOX SCORE |
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Team Stat Comparison |
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Scoring Summary |
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NIU |
TCU |
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First Quarter |
NIU |
TCU |
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1st Downs |
5 |
23 |
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TCU |
12:03 |
TD |
L. Hobbs 4 yd run |
0 |
6 |
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3rd down eff |
2-14 |
7-15 |
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(blocked XP) |
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4th down eff |
0-1 |
0-1 |
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Second Quarter |
NIU |
TCU |
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Total Yards |
60 |
456 |
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TCU |
14:49 |
TD |
J. Ballard 10 yd run |
0 |
13 |
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Passing |
80 |
258 |
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(C. Manfred kick) |
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Comp-Att |
6-19 |
19-29 |
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TCU |
0:00 |
FG |
C. Manfredini 25 yd FG |
0 |
16 |
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Yards per pass |
4.2 |
8.9 |
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Rushing |
-20 |
198 |
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Third Quarter |
NIU |
TCU |
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Rushing Attempts |
29 |
46 |
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TCU |
12:06 |
TD |
J. Ballard 1 yd run |
0 |
23 |
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Yards per rush |
-0.7 |
4.3 |
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(C. Mafredini kick) |
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Penalties |
0-0 |
7-80 |
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TCU |
9:08 |
TD |
J. Ballard 6 yd run |
0 |
30 |
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Turnovers |
1 |
0 |
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(C. Mafredini kick) |
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Fumbles lost |
0 |
0 |
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Fourth Quarter |
NIU |
TCU |
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Ints thrown |
1 |
0 |
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NIU |
14:14 |
TD |
J. Tranchitella 32 yd |
7 |
30 |
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Possession |
27:36:00 |
32:24:00 |
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blocked punt rtrn |
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(C. Nendick Kick) |
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TCU |
10:55 |
TD |
B. Hecht 6 yd pass from |
7 |
37 |
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J. Ballard (P. Lococo |
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Kick) |
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Northern Illinois Passing |
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TCU Passing |
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C/ATT |
YDS |
AVG |
TD |
INT |
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C/ATT |
YDS |
AVG |
TD |
INT |
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Dan Nicholson |
6/18 |
80 |
4.4 |
0 |
1 |
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Jeff Ballard |
19/29 |
258 |
8.9 |
1 |
0 |
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Ryan Morris |
0/1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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Team |
19/29 |
258 |
8.9 |
-- |
-- |
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Team |
6/19 |
80 |
4.2 |
-- |
-- |
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Northern Illinois Rushing |
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TCU Rushing |
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CAR |
YDS |
AVG |
TD |
LG |
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CAR |
YDS |
AVG |
TD |
LG |
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Garrett Wolfe |
20 |
28 |
1.4 |
0 |
7 |
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Lonta Hobbs |
18 |
109 |
6.1 |
1 |
16 |
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Justin Anderson |
3 |
4 |
1.3 |
0 |
3 |
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Aaron Brown |
14 |
52 |
3.7 |
0 |
12 |
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Britt Davis |
1 |
-4 |
-4 |
0 |
0 |
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Jeff Ballard |
11 |
19 |
1.7 |
3 |
10 |
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Dan Nicholson |
5 |
-48 |
-9.6 |
0 |
0 |
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Donald Massey |
3 |
18 |
6 |
0 |
11 |
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Team |
29 |
-20 |
-0.7 |
-- |
-- |
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Team |
46 |
198 |
4.3 |
-- |
-- | </
