Keep Score With Me After TCU’s 63-7 Win Over Grambling State

Before TCU played Grambling State, I gave the Frogs a test.

More importantly, I gave you the grading scale before they took it.

I did that for a reason.

TCU was supposed to beat Grambling. I knew there was a good chance the final score would make everything look better than it actually was.

So I wrote this before kickoff:

“I don’t get to move the goalposts Sunday morning because I know the final score.”

Well, TCU won 63-7.

And I’m not moving them.

My grade is a B+.

That probably sounds harsh after a 56-point win.

Good.

Because that’s exactly why we created a different scoreboard in the first place.

Let’s grade the test.

1. Did the Same Mistakes Follow Them Home?

Pregame standard for an A: Four penalties or fewer, no repeated procedural issues and nothing that consistently disrupts drives.

TCU's Sonny Dykes vs. the ACC Officials at the UNC game in Ireland — TCU Head Coach Sonny Dykes is discussing penalty calls with the officials | Tony Beblowski for KillerFrogs.com

Grade: B

For an entire half, TCU was perfect.

Zero penalties.

After committing 11 penalties against North Carolina, that’s exactly what I wanted to see.

Then TCU committed five penalties for 60 yards after halftime.

Our grading scale said five or six was a B, so that’s the grade.

That’s still significant improvement from Dublin. Eleven penalties became five, and TCU played an entire half without one.

But the standard wasn’t whether TCU improved.

The standard was whether it got all the way to an A.

It didn’t.

Grade: B.

2. What Happens When Plan A Stops Working?

Pregame standard for an A: When Grambling takes something away, TCU shows a clear answer within the next series or two.

Grade: Incomplete

This is where I almost broke my own rule.

My first instinct was to give TCU an A.

Jaden Craig threw for 391 yards and four touchdowns. TCU ran for 285 yards. The Frogs finished with 676 yards of offense.

That’s balance.

That’s production.

But that’s not the test I gave them.

I wanted to see what happened when a defense took away something TCU wanted to do.

What did Grambling change?

How did TCU recognize it?

And what was the answer?

I’m not sure Grambling ever consistently took enough away for us to answer those questions.

So I’m not going to manufacture an A because TCU put up huge numbers.

Sometimes the most accurate grade is incomplete.

That doesn’t count against TCU. It doesn’t count in its favor either. The test simply wasn’t presented clearly enough to grade.

Eventually, somebody will take away something TCU wants to do.

Then we’ll get our answer.

Grade: Incomplete.

3. Does TCU Finish Drives?

Close-up of TCU tight end Ka’Morreun Pimpton in uniform with his orange mouthguard hanging from his facemask and fans behind — TCU tight end Ka’Morreun Pimpton (88) takes in the atmosphere during the Horned Frogs’ 63-7 win over Grambling State. | Emma Swinney for KillerFrogs.com

Pregame standard for an A: Touchdowns on at least 75 percent of red-zone possessions, with clean execution in short-yardage situations.

Grade: A

This was one of the biggest problems coming out of Dublin.

TCU moved the football against North Carolina.

It didn’t finish.

Saturday was different.

TCU scored touchdowns on six of its seven red-zone possessions, an 85.7 percent touchdown rate that cleared the 75 percent standard we established before kickoff.

The Frogs also showed they could get the difficult yards near the goal line. Jon Denman scored from one yard out. Joe Pitchford did the same. Major Everhart scored from eight yards, and Amante Martin scored from 10.

But it wasn’t perfect.

Jeremy Payne had the ball knocked out near the goal line and lost it through the end zone for a touchback.

I can’t leave that out of a category literally called Does TCU Finish Drives?

When you’re that close to the goal line, protecting the football is part of finishing.

At the goal line, ball security is finishing the drive.

But our standard wasn’t perfection.

It was touchdowns on at least 75 percent of red-zone possessions and clean enough execution in short yardage to consistently finish drives.

TCU met it.

Grade: A.

4. Are Routine Plays Routine Again?

Pregame standard for an A: Clean operation. If I barely notice this category, TCU probably earned an A.

Grade: B

There was a lot to like here.

Ansel Din-Mbuh blocked a field goal. TCU blocked a punt. Teon Parks helped pin Grambling at the one-yard line. Nate McCashland made all nine extra points.

That’s a major change from leaving Dublin talking about a bad punt snap that resulted in a safety.

But remember what we were grading.

I wasn’t asking whether TCU could make spectacular special teams plays.

I wanted to know whether the routine stuff became routine again.

TCU muffed a punt and recovered it. There was also a 15-yard kick-catch interference penalty.

Neither became disastrous.

But the blocked kicks don’t erase the operational mistakes.

Under the standard we established before kickoff, that’s a B.

Grade: B.

5. Does the Standard Survive the Scoreboard?

Grambling State @ TCU, Week 2, 2026 — Tony Beblowski for KillerFrogs.com

Pregame standard for an A: Execution remains clean after the game separates, including when the backups enter.

Grade: B

This might be the most important grade of the five.

TCU led 28-7 at halftime and won the second half 35-0.

If we’re grading production, that’s an A.

But we weren’t.

We specifically said before the game to watch what happened after the scoreboard stopped providing consequences.

That’s when maintaining your standard gets harder.

When a game is competitive, the consequences are right in front of you. Miss an assignment and you might give up a touchdown. Put the ball on the ground and you might lose the game.

Once the game separates, that changes.

Now you’re asking players to maintain the same concentration, technique and attention to detail when almost every external signal is telling them the game has already been decided.

That’s where your internal standard shows up.

TCU kept playing hard. The defense kept getting stops. The offense kept scoring.

But some of the execution became less clean.

All five penalties came after halftime. TCU also muffed a punt.

That’s the distinction.

The scoreboard says TCU never let up.

The details say there were still moments when the standard slipped.

Against Grambling, those mistakes disappeared inside a 56-point win.

Against somebody closer to TCU’s talent level, they might become the game.

Grade: B.

TCU’s Final Grade

TCU Defense — TCU held Grambling to 210 total yards and forced two interceptions, including a 67-yard interception return for a touchdown. | Tony Beblowski for KillerFrogs.com

I know.

TCU won 63-7, and I’m giving the Frogs a B+.

Good.

Because if 63-7 automatically equals an A, there wasn’t much point in writing the first column.

The scoreboard graded TCU’s ability to overwhelm Grambling State.

Our scorecard was grading whether TCU corrected Dublin.

Those aren’t the same thing.

TCU corrected a lot.

But the details weren’t completely clean.

And one of the biggest questions we wanted answered, how this offense responds when somebody takes away what it wants to do, never really got tested.

That’s why the incomplete doesn’t help or hurt TCU’s final grade. I’m not penalizing the Frogs for a test Grambling never forced them to take, but I’m not giving them credit for passing it either.

The four categories we could grade tell me TCU was much better.

They don’t tell me it was perfect.

Final grade: B+.

The Test Changes Against Arkansas State

Dublin exposed the problems.

Grambling tested whether TCU could correct them.

Arkansas State will tell us whether those corrections can become habits.

Then comes UCF and Big 12 play.

That’s when a penalty that disappears inside a 63-7 win can extend a drive. A muffed punt can change field position. A failure to finish can cost points.

And Plan A probably won’t work all afternoon.

Grambling showed us TCU can correct mistakes.

Now we find out whether those corrections hold up when somebody is good enough to punish the ones that remain.

Don’t just watch the scoreboard.

Keep score with me.

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