TCU needed to make a statement and it was running out of time.
Sure, the season was off to a good start. The Horned Frogs opened with a 48-14 win over Samford when the defense gave up just 143 total yards. The next week against Minnesota, TCU held the Big Ten opponent to minus-1 rushing yards in the first quarter. In the 30-7 rout, the Gophers scored only a meaningless fourth quarter touchdown.
Against cross-town rival SMU, the Frogs pitched a 56-0 shutout, but the beleaguered Mustangs put up little resistance. It was the third time in four games that SMU had failed to score a touchdown.
Finally in the season’s fourth game, TCU with its traditional brick wall defense and up-tempo offense had a chance to put itself in the championship discussion. Oklahoma, ranked No. 4, had come to Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Now with three quarters gone, the score in the see-saw game was 31-31. The Sooners had taken the lead after intermission, but the Horned Frogs had scrapped back to knot the score. Oklahoma was moving again.
The statement came 48 seconds into the fourth quarter. Sooner quarterback Trevor Knight’s pass was picked off and returned 41 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. TCU never lost the lead.
“The guy just made a heck of a play,” Knight said. “There’s not much you can do about that.”
“The guy” was Paul Dawson, who was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts.
The 6-2, 230-pound senior linebacker, a former wide receiver at nearby Dallas Skyline High School, reached high with two hands, squeezed the ball, and ran untouched into the end zone.
“The quarterback (Knight) had been throwing slants and balls on a rope the whole game,” Dawson explained. “As soon as he looked to my side, I just felt it coming. I stepped out, caught the ball and sprinted.”
Junior safety Chris Hackett praised Dawson after the game.
“Dawson is a great player,” he said. “He’s an athlete. I don’t even call him a linebacker; he’s a hybrid. I know Trevor Knight didn’t see him when he made that catch, so I think it surprised everybody.”
Paul Dawson’s outstanding play since he arrived in Fort Worth doesn’t surprise people now. He has proven himself for the past three seasons.
As a sophomore, he played in all 13 games as a back-up linebacker and on special teams. He finished with 14 tackles, including a tackle for loss and a recovered fumble in a win at West Virginia.
As a junior, he led the team with 91 tackles. He was second on the team with 10 tackles for loss and recorded 17 tackles, including three for loss, against Kansas. He had double digit tackles in five of the last seven games, including 12 against Texas. But, the season was disappointing as the team failed to qualify for a bowl for the first time in eight years.
The Horned Frogs were determined not to let that happen again in 2014. They were highly successful and the defense, led by Dawson, was a big part of that. Against Texas, he was again named conference Defensive Player of the Week after he recorded 10 tackles, including two for loss, with an interception.
After beating Oklahoma in Game Four, Dawson put it matter-of-factly.
“This is going to put us on the map,” he said. “This is for sure a statement.”
It was a season-long statement for TCU — one of the nation’s best teams this year.