TCU strikes hard, often to hammer UNLV

The Horned Frogs scored touchdowns the first four times they had the ball before deciding to be merciful to UNLV.

The Rebels could be thankful the 34-10 loss at Amon Carter Stadium wasn’t worse. But it was bad enough.

"It was difficult to come back from," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said of the 28-0 deficit. "We gave it everything we had to come back. I think we competed, I think we fought, I think we did everything we possibly could to come back.

"But we had ourselves too deep of a hole against a good football team."

Thankfully for the Rebels, they have only one more game as yet another miserable season closes. UNLV plays at New Mexico on Saturday.

"(We) have nothing to lose really," Rebels tailback Frank Summers said. "So if we come out and play and let our hair out, hopefully a lot of positive things can come from it."

The Rebels (2-9, 1-6 Mountain West Conference) will try to avoid one major negative. They need to beat New Mexico to end a three-year streak of two-victory seasons. But with a seven-game losing streak, the Rebels don’t exactly take momentum into the game.

They didn’t come close to halting the skid Saturday.

TCU (6-5, 3-4) rolled up 20 first downs in the first half while controlling the clock for 18 minutes to take the four-score lead. The Frogs were incredibly patient, scoring on drives that combined for 38 plays. Their first scoring drive covered 92 yards.

"They nickel-and-dimed us down the field," said Rebels linebacker Beau Bell, who made eight tackles, including one for a loss. "We should’ve stopped them. We knew what they were doing. It wasn’t a surprise or anything."

This was the Frogs team expected at the beginning of the season, not the squad that has battled through injuries and uncertainty over defensive end Tommy Blake’s status.

"We are kind of coming into our own a little bit," TCU coach Gary Patterson said. "It’s a little bit too late, but we will take it."

As for UNLV, Sanford said coaches were cautious with Travis Dixon early but gave the quarterback more freedom as the game progressed. Dixon completed 13 of 21 passes for 183 yards and a touchdown before giving way to Dack Ishii, who was 5-for-9 for 52 yards and an interception.

With only two available quarterbacks — Omar Clayton has a broken hand, Rocky Hinds hasn’t been with the team all season because of a knee injury, and Mike Clausen is redshirting — Dixon understood why coaches were careful.

"They don’t want me to get hit too much," Dixon said. "They’re being conservative, but that shouldn’t make a (difference) in how we play at all."

It didn’t make much of a difference regarding TCU’s pass rush; Dixon was sacked six times.

"My body’s not sore at all," Dixon said. "We’ll see (today), but other than that, I’m good. I can take the hits. It’s pretty much what I’ve trained for in the offseason."

Dixon wasn’t helped by the absence of a running game. UNLV knew it was facing a tough rush defense and found out for sure with a ground game that totaled 12 yards. Summers ran for 15 yards on seven carries, leaving him 120 yards from 1,000 this season.

"It’s pretty frustrating," Summers said of his night. "As a running back, you want to get the ground game going and carry it on, but we got (behind) the eight-ball early, and their defense was playing well. We couldn’t go back to the run game."