Texas Tech earned a double-overtime win at TCU on Saturday, 27-24. It was a competitive if lower-scoring-than-expected game, and the Red Raiders finished it on a field goal after the Frogs missed their own attempt on their second OT possession.
The kick that TCU missed was not particularly close to going through.
TCU's FG attempt was really not good pic.twitter.com/bVJFR2MOcp
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) October 29, 2016
TCU kicker Brandon Hatfield is perfectly good at his job. He entered the game perfect on extra points and 6-of-7 on field goal tries this season. The purpose of this post is not to give him grief, as he’s probably both a nice guy and a good kicker. He’ll bounce back.
But, anyway, this was not good. Hatfield’s kick was from 39 yards away, and while the hold for Hatfield was maybe a bit off center, it wasn’t egregious. He was kicking from the left hashmark, and the ball ended up much farther left than it started. The kick was also short. It will not go down as a good memory for the Frogs or their kicker.
It turned out to make all the difference. The TCU defense stood up Texas Tech’s offense on the Red Raiders’ last possession, but the Red Raiders didn’t miss their 37-yard kick. That was a walk-off because TCU hadn’t scored.