Up until recently, the TCU Horned Frogs have been truly known for their top-tiered defense year in and year out. At the helm of that prestigious honor is Head Coach Gary Patterson. Unfortunately, Patterson’s team enters this 2015 season of college football riddled with a number of injuries on their defense.
It’s happened before. Prior to the 2009 season, Gary Patterson had to call in true freshmen along with other less experienced young men to step in in place of injured juniors and seniors and under the bright lights of Amon G. Carter stadium. That was the year TCU went 12-0 and on to the Fiesta Bowl. Deja Vu? Maybe. But even before the Frogs suited up for their season opener against Minnesota, it was reported that defensive tackle Davion Pierson and defensive end James McFarland would be sidelined for an undetermined time frame. Both were poised to be leaders for a promising TCU front seven. Linebacker Mike Freeze stepped in during the Frogs opener but has since been sidelined citing a personal leave of absence. During the Frogs last game, TCU lost free safety Kenny Iloka to a knee injury.
Utilizing the “Next Man Up” approach, the Horned Frogs moved two of their safeties, Travin Howard and Montrel Wilson, into starting linebackers. The both of them combined for 14.5 tackles in TCU’s 70-7 romp over Stephen F. Austin. In for Iloka is now Michael Downing who is a walk on. It is always a scary notion when you have to maneuver players so strategically it’s almost as if you’re in a chess game. But, TCU is one of the best when it comes to overcoming challenges such as these. Even Patterson is impressed with his guys that have either transitioned or stepped up. In his weekly press conference Tuesday, Patterson said that the linebacker group that played up against SFA’s offense “probably played better than the guys (that played) at Minnesota” and his team have “so far handled it well.”
Thankfully a well-oiled offense has secured a 2-0 record so far for TCU. While it’s still quite early in the CFB season to be discussing Heisman candidacy, Trevone Boykin has the makings to be the next winner written all over him. He also happens to be TCU’s triple threat QB.
Boykin is gifted with incredibly fast receivers in Kolby Listenbee and Josh Doctson, and a couple of 6’4” receivers in Emmanuel Porter and Ja’Jaun Story. All four combined for a total of 236 yards and 3 TDs. A worthwhile backfield is also of note. TCU utilized Aaron Green, Colten Christensen, and Kyle Hicks heavily. The running backs helped their team to 4 of the teams 9 offensive touchdowns. Offensive Coordinators have created a great system in Fort Worth, TX in lieu of a momentary halt for the Frogs defense.
In spite of this setback, just last weekend, TCU’s defense only allowed the Lumberjacks of SFA to score only once and only allowed 85 yards of total offense.
TCU plays longtime rival SMU (1-1) tomorrow for the Iron Skillet which is always an interesting few hours. It will be no secret that the Frogs offense will pick apart the Mustang defense. But, I wouldn’t be surprise to see SMU’s QB Matt Davis to get his team into the end zone more than a few times. He has the offensive power in wide receiver Courtland Sutton to do so. Davis also has leg strength to run and extend plays.
Defensively, SMU played great football against the No. 4 Baylor Bears in their opener before Baylor pulled away in the second half. The Mustangs defense also brought pressure against UNT. They forced four North Texas turnovers. It will be very difficult to stop the multi-dimensional TCU offense, but SMU might show some looks that TCU hasn’t yet encountered.
Saturday’s game has the Mustangs heading into Horned Frog territory on Saturday evening at 7pm. Coverage will be provided on FSN.