Today\u2019s era of bowl games provides the intrigue of upsets and unpredictability as teams often look vastly different than the regular season versions of themselves. Neither intrigue nor upsets are constants as TCU dominates Louisiana 34-3 to win the New Mexico Bowl. The Horned Frogs were sharp on both sides of the ball throughout the game. UL lacked rhythm offensively but was simply outmanned on this day.<\/p>\n
Josh Hoover<\/a> broke TCU\u2019s school record for passing yardage in a single season in today\u2019s game. It didn\u2019t take long to see the tools that put him in a position to do so. Hoover was sharp and decisive, taking advantage of Louisiana\u2019s soft coverage intended to prevent big plays. The talented sophomore completed 17-25 passes for 218 yards by halftime.<\/p>\n Wide Receiver Eric McAlister<\/a> was the main beneficiary of Hoover\u2019s dominance. McAlister stepped up in the absence of Jack Bech<\/a> and Savion Williams. The local product had eight catches for 87 yards, nearly a third of his 2024 catches coming into the game. Drake Dabney was an explosive threat at tight end while averaging 24 yards per catch.<\/p>\n TCU easily drove down the field for a touchdown on its first possession and set the tone for the game. UL struggled in pass coverage and could not generate pressure. Worst of all, the Cajuns missed several tackles after the catch. The defensive game plan was to keep everything in front of them and prevent explosives. They obviously struggled in that regard.<\/p>\n Not to be outshined by the offense, the TCU defense was every bit as dominant. We think UL has one of the more underrated running back tandems<\/a> in the country, and it never stood a chance. The Horned Frogs overpowered the Cajuns\u2019 offensive line, leaving nowhere to go for the backs. Louisiana rushed for 3.5 yards per carry as a team, but a few late runs by freshman Tylon Citizen inflated the average.<\/p>\n UL was fortunate to get starting quarterback Ben Wooldridge<\/a> back from injury. Unfortunately, he didn\u2019t get much help from his receivers. The Ragin\u2019 Cajun pass catchers could not separate from the sticky coverage of the TCU secondary. In the few instances in which they managed to gain separation, they made a habit of dropping balls in critical situations. UL\u2019s failure to win one-on-ones combined with poor blocking up front combined to produce a completely inept offense. The Cajuns never threatened the TCU defense in any way.<\/p>\n Sonny Dykes\u2019 Horned Frogs have now bounced back from a disappointing, sub .500 record in 2023 to finish 9-4 in 2024. TCU has added instant impact talent from the transfer portal but hasn\u2019t lost many players compared to most programs at this point. The New Mexico Bowl win adds to the positive momentum as the Horned Frogs look ahead to spring practice.<\/p>\n Hoover repeatedly made plays most quarterbacks wouldn\u2019t even attempt. He\u2019s elusive in the pocket, accurate, and strong-armed. His natural ability leads to a few ill-advised throws, but he\u2019s shown the potential to be among the elite at the position. Freshman running back Nate Palmer<\/a> was lightly used coming into this game but was impressive on the day. TCU has other talented running backs, but Palmer has a burst that\u2019s different. Considering Dykes\u2019 track record and the weapons returning, TCU is a team to watch in the chaotic Big 12<\/a> 2025.<\/p>\n UL simply had a tough draw in its bowl game. The Cajuns would\u2019ve been underdogs regardless, but they lost major weapons that could\u2019ve changed how TCU defended them. However, the result of this game shouldn\u2019t dampen the spirits of the Ragin\u2019 Cajun faithful.<\/p>\n Mike Desormeaux\u2019s squad finished 10-4 with the Sun Belt\u2019s Offensive Player of the Year in Wooldridge and Coach of the Year. Desormeaux has proven himself as a head coach since taking over for Billy Napier, and the Cajuns continue to be a force in the Sun Belt. UL has to replace its best players on both sides of the ball in Wooldridge and KC Ossai on defense, but we wouldn\u2019t bet against the Cajuns to pick up where they left off in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today\u2019s era of bowl games provides the intrigue of upsets and unpredictability as teams often look vastly different than the regular season versions of themselves. Neither intrigue nor upsets are constants as TCU dominates Louisiana 34-3 to win the New Mexico Bowl. The Horned Frogs were sharp on both sides of the ball throughout the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4690,"featured_media":71115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7361,6,10906,8,14],"tags":[8582,4699,2753,9149,34688,34624],"class_list":["post-71112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bowl-games","category-big12","category-cfb","category-fbs","category-sunbelt","tag-michael-desormeaux","tag-savion-williams","tag-sonny-dykes","tag-tcu","tag-tylon-citizen","tag-university-of-louisiana"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4690"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71112"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71116,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71112\/revisions\/71116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tenacious TCU Defense<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Everything\u2019s Sonny in Fort Worth<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Solid Year in Lafayette<\/strong><\/h3>\n