Through the Facemask Looks Beyond TCU’s 63-7 Win Over Grambling State

Former TCU linebacker Jason Phillips explains what caught his attention when he looked past the score of the Horned Frogs’ home-opening victory.

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

TCU was supposed to beat Grambling State.

The Horned Frogs had more talent, more depth and two weeks to sit with everything that went wrong in Dublin.

So the 63-7 final score did not tell me much by itself.

Before the game, I wrote that an opponent like Grambling State can sometimes hide your problems just as easily as a good opponent can expose them. A mistake that gets you beat against North Carolina can disappear underneath a five-touchdown lead against Grambling.

I wanted to see whether some of the things that hurt the Frogs in Dublin looked different.

For the most part, they did.

Jaden Craig Looked Like He Was Playing Quarterback

There is a difference between operating an offense and playing quarterback.

Tony Beblowski for KillerFrogs.com

Saturday, Jaden Craig looked much more like he was doing the second.

The numbers were obviously impressive: 24-of-31 for 391 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions, plus another 53 yards rushing.

But I am less interested in those numbers than in how comfortable he looked getting them.

There are times at quarterback when the play works exactly as it was drawn up. The protection is right, the receiver gets open and the ball comes out on time.

Then there are times when football happens.

A perfect example came on fourth down when a bad snap could have turned into another disaster. Craig did not panic. He did not try to rescue the original play. He handled what was actually happening in front of him, took off and turned it into a 31-yard gain.

That is what I mean by playing quarterback.

You can know every call in the playbook and still play slowly because you are trying so hard not to make a mistake.

Saturday, Craig did not look like he was trying not to screw anything up.

He looked like he was playing football.

Against Grambling State, that does not prove what he will look like when the windows get smaller and the pressure gets there faster.

But it was a step I wanted to see.

This Is How Roles Get Earned

After Dublin, I wrote about four players I wanted to keep watching: John Schobel, Ka’Morreun Pimpton, Kaden McFadden and Jacobe Hayes.

Pimpton caught both balls thrown his way for 37 yards and a touchdown. Hayes caught all three of his targets for 36 yards. McFadden finished with five solo tackles.

But this is not really about their stat lines.

It is about how roles actually grow inside a football team.

Players do not usually make one play and suddenly get handed a major role.

You make a play.

A coach gives you another opportunity.

You handle that one.

Now maybe he trusts you in another situation. Eventually, opportunities become responsibility, responsibility becomes trust and trust becomes a role.

Schobel earned a start this week. Somewhere through offseason work, fall camp and the first game, he earned an opportunity. He turned that opportunity into trust and that trust into a role.

That is why these games matter so much for players trying to establish or expand their roles.

TCU edge rusher Paul Oyewale (97) brings down a Grambling State ball carrier during the Horned Frogs' 63-7 victory. | Tony Beblowski for KillerFrogs.com

Everybody talks about needing depth late in a season. But you do not get to November and suddenly decide which guys you trust.

You find that out now.

I do not know what the roles for Schobel, Pimpton, McFadden or Hayes will eventually become.

I just know they showed me enough in Dublin to make me want to keep watching them.

Saturday, they gave me more reasons to do it.

You do not build November depth in November.

The Tight Ends Gave Linebackers Something Else to Think About

Kari Ashley caught seven passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns. Add Pimpton, and TCU’s tight ends combined for nine catches, 156 yards and three scores.

As a former linebacker, that is the kind of production that gets my attention for a different reason.

Playing linebacker is already a constant fight with your eyes.

You are reading run. You are fitting gaps. You are trying to get downhill before a 300-pound offensive lineman gets his hands on you.

Now put a tight end in front of you who can sell run, release behind you and hurt you in the passing game.

That creates hesitation.

And at linebacker, hesitation can get you beat just as badly as being wrong.

Take one extra step downhill on play-action and the tight end is behind you. Start worrying too much about him and now you are a half-step slower fitting the run.

That is why Saturday’s tight-end production matters more to me than the 156 yards.

It gave future opponents something else they have to prepare for.

Now TCU has to prove it was not just a one-game problem.

Winning Can Hide Bad Football

This would probably be my biggest point in the meeting room Monday.

Week 2, 2026 Grambling State Tigers at TCU Horned Frogs | Tony Beblowski for KillerFrogs.com

TCU won 63-7.

Great.

Now turn the scoreboard off.

Because winning can sometimes make mistakes harder to correct than losing does.

When you lose, nobody has to convince you something went wrong. The scoreboard already did that.

When you are ahead by 40, it is different.

Now you are asking a 19- or 20-year-old player to care just as much about a bad rep when the scoreboard is basically telling him it did not matter.

TCU put the ball on the ground and lost one near the goal line. The Frogs were also penalized five times after halftime.

Neither came close to changing Saturday’s result.

That is exactly why you correct them now.

The challenge is not convincing players that mistakes matter when they cost you a game.

The challenge is getting them to treat a bad rep the same way when it costs them absolutely nothing.

Corrections Have to Become Habits

I do not think beating Grambling State 63-7 proved TCU is a great football team.

Grambling could not tell us that.

But Saturday could tell us something about TCU’s response.

North Carolina exposed some of TCU’s problems.

Grambling gave the Frogs an opportunity to start correcting them.

Now comes the part that actually determines what kind of football team TCU becomes.

Those corrections have to become habits.

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All game statistics were checked against the official TCU box score.