How TCU Quarterback Max Duggan Evolved From Backup To Star For Undefeated Team

During the summer, Chandler Morris and Max Duggan competed for TCU’s starting quarterback job, alternating snaps in practice and trying to make their case as the first-stringer. Still, TCU coach Sonny Dykes didn’t publicly reveal who won the spot until the season opener on Sept. 2, when Morris opened the game.

Late in the third quarter, Morris sustained a left knee injury and never returned, as Duggan took over. Duggan hasn’t relinquished the starting role since even as Morris has been cleared to play for about a month.

Duggan is not just a capable fill-in. After all, he started for the past three years before Morris beat him out for the job. But this fall, he’s been better than ever and the driving force behind TCU’s surprising start.

The Horned Frogs are 7-0 for the first time since 2017 and No. 7 in the Associated Press poll, their highest ranking since they were No. 4 in that 2017 season. TCU, which faces West Virginia on the road on Saturday, is one of only six undefeated teams remaining. And it joins No. 3 Tennessee as the only two teams with four victories over ranked opponents.

Duggan has played a major roles in those victories. He has completed 68.9% of his passes for 1,871 yards and thrown for 19 touchdowns and only one interception. He is fifth in the nation with a 181.8 passer efficiency rating, and he is tied with USC quarterback Caleb Williams for the nation’s best touchdown to interception ratio.

Duggan’s statistics are the best of his career by a wide margin, and he’s showing the promise that was expected of him when he enrolled at TCU as a four-star prospect and the fifth-ranked dual-threat quarterback in the high school class of 2019, according to the 247Sports Composite.

As a freshman, Duggan started TCU’s final 10 games, completing 53.4% of his passes for 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He started each of the past two seasons, as well, completing 62.3% of his passes with 26 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Still, when Dykes was hired as TCU’s coach following last season, he decided to open up the job for competition, pitting Duggan against Morris, the son of former SMU and Arkansas coach Chad Morris. Chandler Morris spent his freshman season in 2020 at Oklahoma before transferring to TCU, where he played in four games last year and preserved his redshirt year.

Morris showed some promise last season, especially when he threw for 461 yards and running for 70 yards in TCU’s 30-28 victory over Baylor. He then outplayed Morris in the offseason to win the contest, only to see Duggan regain the starting spot due to Morris’ injury.

Now, Duggan is an entrenched starter and overseeing an offense that’s third in the nation with 44.7 points per game, 522.1 yards per game and 7.4 yards per play. During the past two weeks, TCU has overcome deficits of 17 and 18 points against then-No. 8 Oklahoma State and then-No. 17 Kansas State.

Against Oklahoma State, Duggan threw a 10-yard touchdown pass with 1:57 remaining, sending the game to overtime. The Horned Frogs won, 43-40, in double overtime. And last week, after TCU trailed 28-10 to Kansas State midway through the second quarter, the Horned Frog scored the game’s final 28 points as Duggan threw a touchdown just before halftime and another late in the third quarter to put TCU ahead for good.

“Having two games like that back to back where you can come back against really good opponents, against well coached teams, and just keep clawing back and find a way to win just shows a lot about this team,” Duggan told reporters afterward.

The Horned Frogs have five regular season games remaining, all against teams that aren’t ranked in the latest AP poll. Three of those games are against in-state rivals Texas Tech, Texas and Baylor.

If TCU can win all of those games or even lose just once, it would be in position to play in the Big 12 championship game for the first time since 2017. Back then, the Horned Frogs lost, 41-17, to Oklahoma.

TCU has already exceeded expectations. particularly considering it was picked to finish seventh in the 10-team league in the preseason media poll. But now, the Horned Frogs have much bigger goals, thanks in large part to Duggan, who has impressed Dykes and anyone else who’s watched him play and how he handled the benching.

“He loses the job, which is really hard,” Dykes told reporters last month. “He’s getting ready to be a senior, it’s his last year, and he never blinks. He never had a bad practice. He never pouted. He never thought of himself one time. How many people can you say that about that you know in your life? Truly, how many people can you say that about? You can say it about Max Duggan, that’s for sure….I’m kind of emotional about it, honestly, just because he’s the way you want your son to handle that situation.”