Today in TCU Football History: TCU vs. Utah State, 1984

Today in TCU Football History: TCU vs. Utah State, 1984

Sandwiched near the top of a list, TCU’s 62-18 win over Utah State, earned on this date in 1984, fit nicely between 1929’s 61-0 whooping of Daniel Baker and 1930’s 62-0 routing of Abilene Christian. A little out of date order, perhaps, the victory over the Aggies was featured among a 34-game composite of all TCU 40-plus-point games among other Fort Worth Star-Telegram articles celebrating the team’s return to relevance.

TCU steamrolled out of Logan, Utah with a win that tied for the second-most points ever scored by a Horned Frog football team. The 62 points still stands as fifth all-time behind 82 dropped on Texas Tech in 2014, 70 at the expense of the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks a year later, and 69 against New Mexico in 2011. In fourth place, since 1932, were 68 points levied against the Kangaroos of Austin College. So let that trivia get you through a pitcher of beer while googling the additional 40-and-up victories that have come in recent years.

A few folks that day, either in Utah or back in Fort Worth, knew TCU Head Coach Jim Wacker was on the verge of something special. Few knew how, but Wacker and his coaching staff took over the Horned Frogs the year before, went 1-8-2, and were on the way to TCU’s first winning season in decades.

During the third quarter of the game, TCU Frog Club President Glenn Whittington found a pay phone at Romney Stadium – now Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium – and called fans in Fort Worth to make sure they weren’t unbelieeeeeeeving what they were seeing.

“They were just disappointed that we might not score 60,” Whittington told the Star-Telegram’s Steve Pate.

Clearly a balanced sports reporter, Pate kept things in perspective.

“Imagine,” he wrote, “TCU fans hungry for more than a piddling 55 points. Remember, this is TCU, land of 1,000 football disasters.”

Pate did suggest later in his column that TCU had a good chance to go 5-0 against Kansas State, Rice, North Texas, Houston and Texas Tech. They did. And, they threw in a rare win at Arkansas and a 10-point victory over Baylor to go way over .500 for the first time since 1961.

But the first of eight wins in 1984 happened on this date in fine fashion. The Frogs required no more than 87 seconds to spit first blood. Current TCU Defensive Line Coach Dan Sharp opened scoring with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Sciaraffa. Junior running back Kenneth Davis patiently waited while redshirt freshman Tony Jeffrey ran for 148 yards, 70 of which came on one run where he found the end zone and a 14-3 TCU lead. Then Davis closed first quarter scoring with a 32-yard run, and the Frogs led 21-3.

For perspective, it took nearly three games for TCU to score 21 points the year before.

This was a team that wasted no time. Even with only one win from the previous campaign, the Horned Frogs’ speed would be its calling card in 1984. Offensive lineman Bernie Henyon remembers subtle efforts deployed by Utah State to thwart TCU’s game plan.

“My greatest recollection was noted during our Friday walk-through on their field,” Henyon said. “It was how high the grass was – at least ankle-deep! Allegedly, Utah State had grown it to slow down the ‘speed’ of our skill people. Well, I reckon they neglected to factor in it would slow their team down as well.”

Regardless of the fast start, Utah State was not going to be relegated to the role of a gracious host. After all, 12,009 had paid to see this game. The Aggies cobbled together 15 points in the second quarter on two touchdowns and a 2-point conversion. But, they were shutout in the second half while Davis and Sharp each crossed the goal line again before freshman Scott Ankrom sealed the win on a scoring run with 24 seconds remaining. Ankrom, in fact, played both defensive back and quarterback in this game.

The TCU defense picked off five Utah State passes and held the Aggies twice on goal-line stands inside the 10. Even while surrendering 385 yards, the TCU defense was a branch that bent, didn’t break, and certainly snapped back to whip the home team in the face.

“Five interceptions, two goal-line stands, and, really, all their points were set up by our offensive mistakes,” Wacker said. “Not a bad way to start.”

The game brought additional milestones for kicker Ken Ozee, who connected on eight of nine extra point attempts. Senior kicker John Denton also remembered loosening the hamstrings quite a bit for this game.

“I kicked off to start the game and, before it was over, I had kicked off nine times,” Denton said, “and, the Frogs had made some big news to start the season. We went into the Utah State game as 14-point underdogs. Opening on the road, a lot of people thought we had no chance. And who could blame them? The last road win we’d had, other than the Rice win the year before, had been at Tulsa in 1979!”

The years of losing that had enveloped TCU quickly fell away like crumbling plaster. But the last ones to revel in the win might have been the 1984 team themselves. Denton remembered Ankrom’s touchdown as the icing on the cake, and maybe the first chance the players had to exhale.

“We were afraid that we couldn’t score enough points,” Denton said. “He (Ankrom) ran an option play, faked this guy into the stands, and jogged the last 15 yards.”

And the game ended. And, a special season began. TCU would go on to play in the Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston’s Astrodome. They lost the bowl game 31-14 to West Virginia, but not before some substantial wins got the team back onto the national scene for the first time in nearly 25 years.