TCU Preview: Max Duggan Looking for First Conference Road Win

Spencer Sanders and Max Duggan may have more in common than you think.

Both are freshman quarterbacks who have taken the reins of their programs with somewhat mixed results so far. Both are also fresh off improved performances and bounceback wins, each following a two-game skid.

Now the two will face off inside Boone Pickens Stadium on Saturday, but only one will get to experience consecutive conference wins for the first time.

Before we get into what else makes the two similar — and what makes them different — let’s take a look at their season numbers back-to-back.

Duggan has played in all seven of the Horned Frogs games but didn’t take over the starting job from K-State transfer Alex Delton until Week 3. It’s been an up-and-down first year for Duggan, but he’s been fairly efficient, completing nearly 60 percent of his passes.

But his most impressive trait has been his interception avoidance, especially for a true freshman. Duggan threw 143 pass attempts before one found landed in the hands of a defender. That happened on his second pass from scrimmage against Texas last Saturday.

Like Sanders, Duggan was a highly-touted four-star prospect. He was the No. 5 dual-threat quarterback from the 2019 class and the Gatorade Player of the Year in Iowa. Sanders, of course, won all kinds of Texas prep awards included Gatorade Player of the Year and was the No. 8 dual-threat QB in 2018.

Also like Sanders, Duggan has had to adjust to the college game. He may not have had the same issues with interceptions, but he was wildly inaccurate in his second and third games (his first start), completing a combined 23 of 54 passes (just 42.5 percent). But he’s improved over the last four games, completing 65 percent of his passes, and he became the stuff of SportsCenter with his dramatic finish against Texas.

After giving away that early turnover, and earning just 3 points on the Horned Frogs’ first three drives, Duggan captained TCU to a second half comeback win over No. 15 Texas.

TCU scored on four its last five drives, scoring three touchdowns. That last one was an 11-yard rushing score by Duggan, his third of the season, to put the Frogs up 10 points over the Longhorns with two minutes left.

“Good football player,” said Mike Gundy on Monday. “He’s gonna be around a while, and he’s starting to adjust and play better. He’s got some elusiveness to him. He’s throwing it around pretty good. They’ve got what looks to be a good, young player in their program.”

Duggan’s head coach Gary Patterson warned that just because he had a strong finish on Saturday, he’s still a rookie. Patterson, much like Gundy, has stuck with his freshman quarterback despite a couple of rough patches.

“Like I said the other day, you guys want instant cocoa, and it’s not that easy,” said Patterson. “They’re still going to go through frustrations this Saturday and probably the rest of the ball games as he keeps growing up.

“He’s going to keep growing up, and we’ve seen signs of what I think he’s going to be like for TCU the next three and a half years. He’s not even a redshirt freshman; he’s a freshman.”