Quick Thoughts: TCU 45, Cincinnati 23

Expectations Realized & Squandered

What a bookend to this 2025 season. If you watched the Horned Frogs season opener and its season finale you’d swear this squad was an unbeatable juggernaut on its way to Arlington looking to complete an unbeaten campaign and roll into the CFP with a bye. THIS is why TCU fans have been so frustrated with the coaching staff’s laissez-faire attitude about expectations, because it was always clear that the Frogs could put on a show like it did in Chapel Hill on Labor Day and in Fort Worth on Saturday. It just underscores how disappointing it is that this team couldn’t close against ASU & ISU or show up vs. BYU & KSU.

TCU put up an absolute beauty of a game to roll past Cincinnati on Saturday, a true realization of this team’s sky-high ceiling. Josh Hoover was a near-perfect 19-22 for 306 yards and 4 touchdowns with zero turnovers. The ground game was the best it has been since 2022. TCU amassed 544 total yards and actually converted those yards into points, scoring on all four of its red zone possessions. Cincinnati entered the game allowing the fewest sacks allowed per game, allowing just 4 total on the season; TCU got to Bearcats QB Brendan Sorsby for three sacks and three additional QB hurries. TCU even had the balls bounce its way, with the Frogs landing on a muffed punt and Jordan Dwyer recovering a Joseph Manjack fumble in the endzone for a touchdown. Other than a 90 minute lightning delay, it’s about everything one could want from a TCU football game.

While this is a win to celebrate and will surely propel the Frogs ahead to an improved bowl landing spot, it’s impossible to see this performance and not think about what could have been. The weight of unrealized potential should loom heavy on the players and coaches returning in 2026 as they look to build a roster and a mindset to deliver on the lofty expectations next season.

McAlister an All-Timer

TCU Football has been blessed with some supreme talents over the years; elite athletes, All-Americans, First Round NFL studs. And although he has not yet earned the national praise and accolades, Eric McAlister can truly stand among them. For the sixth time this season the senior wideout hit the century mark, hauling in eight receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown. With another huge game, McAlister continues to climb the Horned Frogs record books, cementing his place among the TCU legends. With still a bowl game remaining to be played, he is up to 64 receptions on the season which puts him in a tie for 5th all-time; his 1,121 yards is behind only Josh Doctson’s 1,327 in 2015; his 10 touchdown receptions places ranks third all-time behind only Josh Doctson’s 2015 (14) and 2014 (11). If McAlister chooses to participate in the Horned Frogs’ bowl game, every single-season reception record in program history is within potential striking distance. A runaway Big 12 receiving yards leader, with 410 more yards than second-best, Eric McAlister should be a unanimous First Team All-Big 12 honoree and should absolutely find his name on every All-American ballot.

PAYNE TRAIN 🚂

See what happens when you RUN THE DAMN BALL! The Horned Frogs rushed 52 times on Saturday. Not a typo, fifty-two rush attempts in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-five, good for 238 yards and two rushing scores. It is by far the most rush attempts this season, the 38 attempts vs. Baylor is a distant second, and the most in a game since the 56 attempts during the regular season contest vs. Kansas State in 2022. In 2025 TCU has won every game it reached at least 35 rush attempts (Cincinnati, Baylor, SMU, Houston, UNC, Colorado).

You can only run the ball like that when you have a stable of strong backs led by a true bell cow performer. On Saturday it was Jeremy Payne delivering an elite performance out of the backfield. Payne carried the rock 26 times for 174 yards and two scores, adding a reception for 44 yards. It’s the best performance on the ground by a TCU running back since Kendre Miller torched Texas Tech in 2021 for 185 yards and 3 TDs on just 12 carries. It makes consecutive weeks breaking the century mark on the ground for Payne after getting 103 last week vs. Houston, giving a glimpse at a future as a feature running back for the Horned Frogs going into his junior campaign in 2026. Payne didn’t do it alone, flanked by brawlers Jon Denman and Nate Palmer who both ran with intense purpose on Saturday, picking up key first downs along the way with a combined 62 yards on 18 carries.