TCU football didn’t succumb to the preseason hype, showing dominance for nearly 60 minutes during a 48-14 thrashing against Bill Belichick’s North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill on Monday evening. The Horned Frog offense was in rhythm throughout the evening, posting 542 yards of total offense and showing tremendous balance (284 passing, 258 rushing). Outside of the opening drive, TCU controlled the line of scrimmage and made game-changing plays on defense, where safety Bud Clark returned an interception
for a touchdown before edge rusher Devean Deal scooped up a fumble for another score. Kyle Lemmermann made a pair of field goals and converted all of his extra-point attempts on special teams to cap off the Horned Frog victory.
With TCU now 1-0 to open the season, we took to social media to poll our fans and take questions as the Horned Frogs enter a bye week and prepare for their home opener against Abilene Christian next weekend. In our second installment of Hit the Horn, we share this week’s Twitter (X) polls and provide analysis from each poll.
The majority of fans aren’t surprised by the results from Monday, with over 60 percent voting for the ‘Somewhat Surprised’ option. I fall under that category as well – I expected TCU to come away with a victory, but I wasn’t going to be surprised if the Tar Heels found a way to keep the game close. Perhaps I had flashbacks of the 2023 season opener playing through my mind, but given that the game was on the road and it was Bill Belichick making his NCAA coaching debut, I thought North Carolina would make it more of a game. Over the first 4-5 minutes, it looked like that would be the case, but credit to the TCU defense, which shut the North Carolina rushing offense down quickly and left little-to-no room for quarterback Gio Lopez to throw the football.
Josh Hoover, Kevorian Barnes and Jordan Dwyer all shined on offense during Monday’s victory. That said, I was extremely impressed with Dwyer’s ability to win his matchups and gain yardage after the catch. Dwyer, who reeled in nine catches for 136 yards to lead all TCU players, stepped up with the Tar Heels placing their No. 1 corner and safety help over Eric McAlister. I know it’s one game, but I felt coming into the season that a big key for the Horned Frog offense would be reloading at wide receiver after the team lost Jack Bech, Savion Williams and JP Richardson to the NFL. Dwyer showed on Monday that his nearly 1,200-yard season at Idaho in 2024 was no fluke. Based off what I saw Monday evening, Dwyer is TCU’s clear-cut No. 2 receiver behind McAlister.
Nearly half of our fans voted for Bud Clark as the most impressive defensive performer, but I have to give Jamel Johnson his flowers. The junior safety, who opted for the transfer portal after 2024 before coming back shortly after, led the defense with seven total tackles and made a handful of stops near the line of scrimmage. I also want to give some love to Zach Chapman, who had the team’s first sack and recovered one fumble in the game. Clark is going to be an anchor of the TCU secondary this season, but should Johnson ascend to an All-Big 12 level in 2025, then Andy Avalos’ defense has a chance to be one of the best in the league, especially against the pass.
There’s still plenty of time for Belichick and the Tar Heels to turn their season around, but the early returns from Monday’s game weren’t good. North Carolina ran for only 50 yards on 28 carries (less than 2 yards per carry) and starting quarterback Gio Lopez, who left the game with an injury, went nearly two hours without completing a pass. If there’s one bright spot, former LSU and Texas A&M quarterback Max Johnson played well in relief, mostly against TCU’s second-string defense. I’d imagine Johnson will get a look as a starter for the team’s next game and should he play well, then North Carolina could be in contention for some wins. But from what I saw on Monday, serious adjustments will need to be made if the Tar Heels want to be bowl eligible in 2025.
Most of our fans voted that the win over North Carolina raised expectations to some degree. I have to take the opposite stance, however, as I expected the Horned Frogs to start 1-0 and I had this game circled on the calendar as a must-win game. Now if this were ranked SMU at home, then I’d be more inclined to raise my expectations. But since my expectations are already fairly high after a 9-4 season last year, I’m not giving much weight to a North Carolina team that looked thoroughly outclassed in all three phases on Monday evening.
