TCU beats Kansas 20-6

The opening moments of Big 12 play for Texas Christian University we’re nightmarish.

Barely two minutes into the game, TCU junior quarterback Casey Pachall fumbled a low snap in Kansas territory while fans at Memorial Stadium roared to life as senior defensive tackle Josh Williams recovered the ball near midfield.

The Pachall fumble became a kick-start for two trends throughout Kansas’ 20-6 defeat: TCU turnovers and the Jayhawks inability to do anything with them.

The Jayhawks were on the receiving end of four fumble recoveries — three of which were forced — but the turnovers resulted in only three Kansas points.

“We didn’t feel like they were stopping us,” Pachall said. “We were stopping ourselves.”

Indeed the Horned Frogs offense gained 487 yards, but aside from two touchdowns, the Kansas defense protected the red zone well.

After Ron Doherty notched a 37-yard field goal in the first quarter to give Kansas an early lead off Pachall’s first fumble, TCU was again set up deep in Kansas territory, and again lost the ball.

On a second and ten pass from the Jayhawks 23-yard line, safety Bradley McDougald broke through the line, wrapped up Pachall and ripped the ball from his hands allowing senior defensive end Toben Opurum to gobble it up.

All game long the Kansas defense made a play for the ball, not just the carrier.

“Coach Campo told us they are bound to turn the ball over,” sophomore linebacker Ben Heeney said. “The running backs carry the ball loose and the coaches told us to put our head on the ball and strip it.”

It would take Kansas only 18 seconds to hand the possession right back as quarterback Dayne Crist fired an interception that found TCU’s Sam Carter in the secondary. It would be Crist’s only costly pass of the game, but that’s not to say the fifth-year senior had a productive day.

Crist gained over 300 yards in the air, but for the second time in three games finished with a poor passing percentage completing only 19 of 39 attempts. Crist also failed to sustain any momentum the Jayhawks picked up on offense — squandering three valuable turnovers.

“You want to kind of put the pedal to the metal at that point and capitalize on those,” Crist said. “We didn’t finish drives, we didn’t score a touchdown and as an offense that’s frustrating.”

The frustration began to swell late in the fourth quarter with Kansas trailing by 14, as the Jayhawks could not operate on offense after another TCU turnover.

McDougald stripped the ball from TCU running back Matthew Tucker at the seven-yard line for his second forced fumble of the day, and with 3:11 left in the game Kansas coach Charlie Weis decided to start airing it out.

“When we got the ball back the last time I told the defensive staff I don’t care if I use both our timeouts,” Weis said. “We’ve got to go down there and try and get this to a one-score game.”

The Jayhawks picked up three first downs, highlighted by Andre Turzilli’s 41-yard reception, and were set up on the Horned Frogs goal line when Crist was stripped by defensive end Stansly Maponga ending any shot of a Jayhawk comeback.

The defense gave Charlie Weis’ offense every opportunity to get points on the board, but the Jayhawks couldn’t muster more than two field goals.

“It’s frustrating if I’m being honest about it,” Opurum said of the offenses inability to capitalize on turnovers. “The biggest thing we need to do is finish. Whether it’s plays, drives, quarters or halves we just need to finish.”

• Updated Sep. 15, 2012 at 5:37 pm