TCU Still Looking for First Win in State of Oklahoma

Daxx Garman. That’s the name of OSU’s quarterback the only time the Horned Frogs have defeated the Cowboys since being invited to join the Big 12 Conference in the summer of 2012.

Things were different back then. A mullet-less Mike Gundy was forced to move onto quarterback No. 2 after J.W. Walsh’s injury. And future heir of Stillwater, Mason Rudolph, was redshirting* the 2014 campaign.

Meanwhile, TCU was two weeks removed from its capstone Big 12 win over No. 4 Oklahoma and one week removed from the heartbreaking 61-58 epic loss to Baylor. Emerging Heisman Trophy candidate Trevone Boykin threw for a career high 415 yards while the TCU defense held OSU without a touchdown for the first time since 2009.

Mike Gundy had this to say following the game.

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“We just got our butts kicked. There’s really not anything else I can say,” Gundy said at the time. “We gave up two big plays in the first quarter. Offensively, we couldn’t make plays. … We never could get out of a jam after we got behind.”

No. 12 TCU bounces back in impressive fashion from crushing loss to Baylor, dominates No. 15 Oklahoma State, 42-9. pic.twitter.com/EbPG9BwhQI

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 18, 2014

Much has changed since then. TCU won a Big 12 title and cemented itself as a perennial player in the Big 12 title race. Meanwhile, OSU found its answer at quarterback and in doing so, reassured a wavering T. Boone Pickens and reinvigorated a hopeful fan base.

As conference play opens in 2017, a rejuvenated TCU defense hopes to make the Cowboys play “more than a half” in the highest ranked matchup in Week 4 of the young college football season. Led by second year starter Kenny Hill, TCU will attempt to muster more than 6 points after its 31-6 shellacking last year in Ft. Worth.

TCU (3-0, No. 16) now enters Boone Pickens Stadium seeking something it still hasn’t accomplished since joining the conference, a win in the state of Oklahoma. The Horned Frogs since joining the Big 12 have won in every Big 12 venue except Norman and Stillwater, where they haven’t won since 1991 as a member of the Southwestern Conference.

They are 0-5 in that span against the Pokes and Sooners on the road with a 30-29 loss in Norman in 2015 the closest they came to a win.

But Gary Patterson’s TCU program has never been intimidated by tough road environments. During his tenure, they’ve silenced Arkansas in Fayetteville in front of 80,000 fans, they’ve conquered an upset-hungry Mountaineer team on a cold and windy evening on the national stage with playoff hopes on the line, and they’ve annihilated an Ole Miss Rebel team in essentially a New Year’s Eve road game.

The question now, is can Patterson and the Horned Frogs finally conquer the house of horrors that is Boone Pickens Stadium and its sea of orange? A Heisman Trophy candidate, a packed house of OSU faithful, and a squadron of paddle-wielding defenders stand directly in their path.