Eric McAlister has 254 yards and 3 TDs receiving as TCU beats SMU 35-24 in last scheduled meeting

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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 was 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 after breaking through two defenders with 9:18 left put TCU (3-0) ahead to stay, and he added a 44-yard touchdown three minutes later with a 30-yard catch to midfield in between on a fluttering pass from Hoover after he got hit while he threw on a third-and-15. McAlister also came close to two other scores.

“He just did amazing things after the catch,” Hoover said.

“The guy just took over the game, and that's what great players do,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said. “The one catch when Josh got hit the ball flew up in the air, that usually doesn’t turn out particularly well. And Eric somehow positioned himself underneath the ball and made a play which turned out to be one of the biggest plays of the game.”

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.

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

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.

There was another impressive catch by McAlister inside the 1 and then stepping into the end zone 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 the ACC officiating crew, even though Dykes called timeout before the Frogs missed a 47-yard field goal.

“I was in, I saw the video,” McAlister said.

“They said replay reviewed it and said it wasn't a catch,” Dykes said. “I feel bad for the officials on the field because I think they saw the replay (on the stadium video boards), but there was nothing they could do about it.”

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

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 when leading in the fourth quarter.

“This team has to find a way to finish those games. But this team still has a lot of potential to get better and be competitive in our league,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “It’s funny, you go 2-2 to start a season, and people forget that you’ve won 22 games in the last two years, or that you’ve not lost a conference game in almost three years in the regular season.”

TCU: The Frogs outgained SMU 517 total yards to 384. While McAlister had the second-most receiving yards in school history, including a 27-yarder on their 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.

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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