TCU beat Kansas 22-16 at home, and the box score makes it look like the Frogs lost. Kansas outgained them 451 to 286 and held the ball for nearly 39 minutes. Two Jayhawk turnovers decided it. Jaden Craig ran for 87 yards and the TCU touchdown that held up. Coming out of that game, the Frogs have 1 win in their last 2, 2 in their last 5, and an offense that needs short fields to score.
Look past the records and TCU's defense is the most dependable thing either team has shown lately. It held Baylor to 6 points on the road and kept BYU, UCF and West Virginia all at 24 or under. The Frogs' 4 losses came by 8, 7 and 4 points, plus 1 more result outside this window. That's a team losing close games. It isn't getting blown out. Arizona's 4-game run before Lubbock was the opposite: 34, 34, 52 and 39 points, with Iowa State held to 3. The question is which of those holds up when they meet.
TCU's injury report is short. Linebacker M. Short is out with no timetable, and that matters against an offense that wants to spread the field and throw 45 times. For Arizona, the bigger worry is what Texas Tech did to them on the ground. A team that just gave up 336 rushing yards will see a TCU offense that won its last game on the legs of its leading rusher. Both teams play again 6 days after a Saturday game, it's a late Friday kick in Tucson, and the forecast is clear and 71 degrees, so weather won't be an excuse for anybody.
Arizona needs this one to stay in the Big 12 race after Lubbock, and it gets to play it at home. TCU has nothing left to play for in the standings except a bowl trip and the chance to wreck somebody else's season, and a Friday night on the road against a ranked team that just collapsed in the second half is a good spot for that.
