TCU moved to 2-0 on the season with a 42-21 win over Abilene Christian at Amon G. Carter Stadium on Saturday evening. Although the Horned Frogs scored six touchdowns on offense and posted nearly 500 yards, questions have been piling in about the defense, which surrendered over 450 yards to the Wildcats and conceded a trio of second-half touchdowns. In our newest installment of the Frog Mailbag, we’ll do our best to answer some of these questions as TCU prepares for what could be its final rivalry
showdown against SMU this coming weekend.
“Why didn’t we play defense with the same intensity in the second half? Shouldn’t we expect back ups to play with intensity too?” – Janette Lott Hahn
After a very strong performance against North Carolina, I was pretty shocked by how poorly TCU played defensively in the second half on Saturday. The only thing I can think of at the moment is how the team went ahead 28-0 at halftime and took its foot off the gas pedal. For the record, I do believe TCU was very strong on defense over the first quarter and a half, but it felt like, when the Horned Frogs scored their third touchdown midway through the second quarter, that the effort on defense started to fade. Head coach Sonny Dykes said after the game that he was disappointed in the play of the corners, who drew multiple flags and gave up big plays throughout the second half. We’ll see how this group responds against SMU on Saturday, but my biggest takeaway was that TCU went into cruise control late after gaining a huge early on an FCS opponent.
“Who are the surecut starting corners moving forward? Seems like its canada/glover but with helm working his way back from injury and then seeing how they played them last night it doesnt seem evident to me” – Corey Hickey
Channing Canada and Vernon Glover were the starters on the depth chart and the starters we saw take the field for the Abilene Christian game. Canada finished with three tackles against the Wildcats and of the two starters, I thought he was the better corner. Regardless, I haven’t seen any of the top six players on the depth chart emerge as the surefire No. 1 corner over these first two games. Elijah Jackson, who was brought in from Washington over the offseason, was injured throughout camp and is currently a third-stringer on the chart. Avery Helm, who missed all of last season with an injured knee, earned a lot of reps late in the Abilene Christian game but struggled with a pair of pass interference penalties. If neither Jackson nor Helm are able to return to the players they were before their respective injuries, then things could get dicey at the cornerback position. For now, I’d expect Canada to remain a starter, but I’d be curious to if Jevon McIver Jr. can make a case to start.
“Whatever the question is must be about the defense. Second question on injury update on Barnes” – James McDuff
Starting running back Kevorian Barnes, who finished with 10 carries for 43 yards along with one catch for 7 yards, appeared to suffer a leg injury during the game against Abilene Christian. DJ Rogers and Jordyn Bailey were two other offensive players who exited on Saturday, but Dykes said afterward that the injury to Barnes doesn’t appear serious. It doesn’t sound like the injuries to Rogers and Bailey are serious either, although Bailey was limited at times during camp. At this time, I wouldn’t expect any of these three to miss the SMU game, but in college it’s generally not reported whether or not a player will be out until hours before kickoff.
