McAlister's 254 yards receiving, 3 TDs leads TCU past SMU

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Eric McAlister had eight catches for 254 yards and three of the career-high five touchdowns thrown by Josh Hoover as TCU beat SMU 35-24 on Saturday in the last scheduled game between the former Southwest Conference rivals that played for the 104th time in 110 years.

Hoover finished 22-of-40 passing for 379 yards, and now has 53 TD passes in his 22 career starts.

McAlister's 70-yard catch-and-run score with 9:18 left put TCU (3-0) ahead to stay, and he added a 44-yard touchdown three minutes later. The longer of those scores came three plays after Kevin Jennings' third TD pass for the Mustangs (2-2), a 34-yarder to Jordan Hudson gave them their only lead at 24-21.

The Horned Frogs for now will hold on to a 54-43-7 lead in the “Battle for the Iron Skillet” that had continued since the SWC broke up after the 1995 season, except for 2006 and the pandemic-impacted 2020 season.

Jennings finished 24-of-37 passing for 290 yards and three touchdowns, along with two interceptions.

There was another impressive catch by McAlister inside the 1 that didn’t count, a leaping grab late in the third quarter while defended on a third-and-15 from the 30, though officials ruled his foot landed out of bounds. There was no replay review by officials, even though coach Sonny Dykes called timeout before the Frogs missed a 47-yard field goal.

It also appeared McAlister had a catch in the end zone late in the first half, but SMU cornerback Jaelyn Davis-Robinson pulled the ball away for an interception instead of a touchdown as they fell in the end zone.

The takeaway

SMU: After making their Atlantic Coast Conference last year as regular-season champions and making the 12-team College Football Playoff, the Mustangs already have two losses going into a break before opening AAC play.

TCU: The Frogs outgained SMU 517 total yards to 384. While McAlister had the big scoring plays, including a 27-yarder on TCU's opening drive, Joseph Manjack IV had a powerful 4-yard touchdown catch soon after halftime. He was immediately hit when catching the ball behind the line of scrimmage, but broke that tackle and lunged through two more defenders while extending his body and his arm to reach the ball over the goal line.

Up next

SMU has an open date before its ACC opener at home against Syracuse on Oct. 4.

TCU is at Arizona State on Friday night.

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