A vintage Southwest Conference game ended in a vintage Southwest Conference score as No. 23 TCU pounded out a 28-7 victory over Arkansas in Fayetteville. The game was the 70th meeting between the former conference bunk mates but just the second since the Razorbacks left the SWC for the SEC after the 1991 season, and the Frogs’ first trip to Fayetteville since 1988.
TCU (2-0) used a short field to get on the board first, needing only 45 yards and eight snaps to reach the end zone on a 1-yard Sewo Olonilua plunge. Arkansas (1-1) immediately answered, running the ball to midfield to set up a 49-yard snatch-and-dash from Austin Allen to Jonathan Nance for the Razorbacks’ only points of the day.
The Frogs reclaimed the lead for good with a 15-play, 80-yard march, punctuated by a 4-yard Kyle Hicks run, at the 7:39 mark of the second quarter.
The score remained 14-7 until only 2:18 remained in the second quarter, when Darius Anderson put a cap on the game with a 14-yard scoring jaunt. After Arkansas fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Olonilua added an exclamation point, running in from 13 yards out and carrying multiple cardinal jerseys with him. As a team, TCU muscled to 195 yards and four touchdowns on 42 carries, while Hill hit 21-of-31 passes for 166 yards.
Reminiscent of a vintage Gary Patterson defense, TCU’s defense controlled the game. The Frogs limited Arkansas to 136 yards on 30 carries while Allen was harassed throughout, completing only 9-of-22 passes for 138 yards. Outside the 49-yard score, Allen averaged 4.24 yards per pass attempt.
This isn’t to say Arkansas did not have its chances, however. Kenny Hill served up an interception in TCU territory with the game knotted at 7-7, but Arkansas’s ensuing drive stalled at the goal line and Cole Hedlund could not convert a 23-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter.
Arkansas put together one last good possession at the close of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth, moving 78 yards in 12 plays, but again Hedlund missed a short field goal, this one from just 20 yards out.