Four seasons ago, Ohio State nipped TCU to reach Football's Final Four in a classic Orange Bowl. Now, #4 OSU and #5 Texas Christian were again battling in a key game against one-loss teams.
The difference in the game was the opening quarter. TCU's offense, defense, and special teams were running on all cylinders, whereas the Buckeyes were ready but started on slowly before they hit all gears. After a minute of play, Horned Frogs scored on a 31 yard pass to Aaron Green from reciever Kolby Listenbee to take the lead. Ohio State was game, but red zone moments fizzled as they were held to two Sean Nuernberger field goal's in the first quarter. TCU meanwhile added another TD on Aaron Green's 15 yard run to lead 14-6 after a quarter.
The second quarter scoring started on Josh Doctson 12 yard TD pass from TCU QB Trevone Boykin, and Horned Frogs were up 21-6. With three minutes to go in the half, OSU finally broke the plane, as Ezekiel Elliott scored on a 3 yard run. But TCU drove to score a TD before halftime, and held the 28-13 edge at the break.
Buckeyes offense continued to strengthen as Michael Thomas scored on a dazzling tippy toe end zone catch on a 13 yard pass from receiver Evan Spencer to cut the lead to 8. But two quick Trevone Boykin TD passes to Kolby Listenbee (35 yards) and Josh Doctson (27 yards) kept the TCU side of the field buzzing, with a lead to 42-20.
In the fourth, a 47 yard TD pass to Devin Smith continued an excellent string of play Cardale Jones despite some early struggles, and the two-point conversion cut the lead to 42-28, but TCU successfully ran clock and kept the Buckeyes from scoring, and held on to the 14 point win.
Certainly, Ohio State has nothing to be ashamed of and will build on this for next season, but today was the day for Texas Christian to make up for that loss to OSU four years ago. TCU will move onto their first Football's Final Four in Atlanta, and meet the winner of the Alabama/Michigan State Sugar Bowl.
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