At 4:54 remaining in Fort Worth, TCU had the ball at its own 16-yard line, trailing Kansas 16-14. Jaden Craig’s passing afternoon had offered little comfort. The quarterback’s legs, however, were still available, and his final possession used them at exactly the right moments.
Craig directed a 13-play, 84-yard drive that consumed 3:43. He ran for the winning touchdown from 17 yards with 1:11 left, and TCU added a successful two-point conversion for a 22-16 TCU victory. The Horned Frogs did not suddenly become a polished offense. They found a quarterback willing to take the cleaner option when the game demanded it.
Kansas helped create that option. On second-and-10 from the TCU 16, Craig threw incomplete deep to Jordan Dwyer. Kansas was flagged for pass interference, but TCU declined it; the Jayhawks were also charged with roughing the passer, and that 15-yard penalty moved the ball to the TCU 31 with a first down.
Because the play was wiped out, it did not count as a pass attempt. It did count as breathing room.
Craig used it. He ran for 7 yards, then gained 3 on second-and-3 to move the chains. Two incompletions followed, putting TCU in third-and-10 at its own 41. Craig answered with a 17-yard completion to Ed Small. A 6-yard pass to Kari Ashley and a scoreless Amante Martin run left TCU facing third-and-4 at the Kansas 36, where Craig found Dwyer for 7 yards.
The quarterback handled the final stretch with even less interest in making the drive complicated. On third-and-5 at the Kansas 24, Craig ran left for 7 yards to the Kansas 17. One play later, he ran right for the 17-yard touchdown.
The third-down answers came in different forms, but both reflected the same decision: take the available ground instead of forcing the afternoon’s shakier passing game to solve everything.
That passing game remained a problem. Craig completed 13 of 29 attempts for 141 yards, with no touchdown passes and no interceptions. TCU’s opening possession ended after a third-and-9 incompletion at its own 47.
On the next Horned Frogs possession, Craig was sacked for 5 yards and then missed on third-and-9 from the TCU 21. A later second-quarter possession ended after another third-and-7 incompletion from the TCU 23.
The larger missed opportunity came just before halftime. TCU traveled 80 yards on 13 plays, moving through Kansas territory with completions to Dwyer, Small and Jacobe Hayes along with Craig’s rushing contributions. From the Kansas 6, though, Craig missed Small on first down, ran for 1 yard on second down, and Kari Ashley gained 3 on third-and-5.
