Undisciplined. Unprepared. Unacceptable.
The Horned Frogs got drug into the mud and had no plan to ever emerge from the Manhattan muck. There is something about playing Chris Kleiman and the Wildcats, especially away from Amon G. Carter Stadium,
that shakes the Horned Frogs to its core. Bringing in under-value pieces, developing them beyond their ceilings, scheming to devastating effect, and performing above expectations. This used to be the way of TCU Football, that was how the program was built out of the ashes of the Southwest Conference. Today’s TCU Football got roasted thanks to three horrendous turnovers, eight brutal penalties, and a complete inability to get out of its own way. The pinnacle of ineptitude came in a sequence at the start of the 2nd Half. TCU opens the half with a possession that ends with a turnover on downs (sad), but the defense gets a three-and-out (yay), but has a holding penalty on the punt return (sad), next play Hoover is sacked for a big loss (Sad), next play Hoover throws an interception for a touchdown (SAD), first play after the kickoff is a delay of game (c’mon) followed by a false start (C’MON), leading to a TCU three-and-out (sad) to give the Wildcats the possession that would end in another touchdown (GAME OVER). Whatever the coaches said during halftime to rally the troops absolutely did not work. The game flipped from “it’s fine, TCU should probably be winning and will turn this around soon” to “this season is over” in record time.
It’s unfortunate that the TCU offensive coordinator fell into “I don’t know what to do with my hands” mode while having a successful running game and solid performance from the offensive line. Despite Kevorian Barnes smashing through the KSU defense to the tune of 6.8 yards per carry, Barnes was only given three carries in second half as TCU once again abandons the run game regardless of its success. The entire offense was again foisted upon Josh Hoover’s shoulders, forcing him to drop back for 48 passes while the Frogs only ran the ball 21 times. The turnovers are the story of the game to be sure, but this extreme imbalance is partly to blame for those turnovers, especially when you are throwing a lateral pass behind the line of scrimmage deep in your own territory just before halftime rather than simply handing the ball off to your bulldozer ball carrier. In addition to the three awful turnovers, TCU also had three turnovers on downs, going 1-4 on 4th down for the game as the key moments continue to lack creativity while defenses all know where the ball is going (a slant that you can easily drop back and swat away or will be short of first down yardage regardless).
Congrats to Ed Small for becoming the fourth different Horned Frog to reach 100 yards receiving this season; congrats to Eric McAlister filling the stat sheet in garbage time; congrats to Josh Hoover on another 375+ yard game. An actually sincere congrats to the offensive line, missing starting left tackle Ryan Hughes following a season-ending injury, the unit allowed just one sack in those 48 dropbacks while creating massive running room on the ground against a strong defensive front.
The Horned Frogs host Baylor in Fort Worth on Saturday, desperate for a cure to what ails them. Perhaps the disease is road games in conference play and the return to Amon G. Carter will reset the system, getting the coaching and execution back on track to get TCU rolling again for the second half of the season.
