After the game, Gary Patterson had three words for his mentor: "Go win it." Let's honor his request. 12 quarters to go.
Some things that were good...
Collin Klein - Collin scored our only two touchdowns of the game, which was good. He also had much better vision and patience with the running game than either Pease or Hubert. Also good. Even with all that good, it seemed like a hesitant performance from Collin. He was sacked three times, threw an interception, and weirdly decided to slide in the middle of the field 2 yards short of the first down on an important third down play. Then again, he had that spectacular throw to Chris Harper (which was, admittedly, under thrown) and the last minute toss to Tyler Lockett as he was being chased out of bounds that led to a first down. So mostly good, but not the great that we've grown accustomed to.
Chris Harper - Harper had the brilliant catch and run in the first quarter that set up our first touchdown. Brilliant, especially because he had to go back and get it and then fight off defenders for extra yardage. But then... he didn't have any more receptions. The entire night. That was it. What gives?
Tyler Lockett - Tyler looks so pretty and so speedy on those reverse plays when they work. He lands in the good category this week because he went out with an ankle injury in the fourth quarter. Not good.
Ty Zimmerman - Ty got his 5th pick of the year and was a general force in the secondary this week, bouncing back from an embarrassing performance against OSU. TCU ended with only 178 yards passing... which was still 33 yards more than we produced. Ty went out with some sort of knee/ankle injury in the second half too, and Thomas Ferguson had to come in for him. #5 works hard, but there's a noticeable drop-off there. We'll need Ty back healthy for Baylor's full throttle offense next week in Waco. Get better soon, Ty.
Offensive play-calling - Why so conservative, Coach? Was Collin more mentally unstable than he looked? Is it a shoulder injury? Is someone on the line hurt? Are you hiding something from Baylor or Texas? It was a bit stuffy, which looked stuffy against TCU's dominant defense. I'm surprised we didn't switch it up more after Fields and Maponga kept reading the hand-offs easily. I think there might be more injuries than we realize. That Thanksgiving bye week can't come soon enough.
We will, we will, out run you. (But never out gain you.)
Some things that were great...
Meshak Williams - The defense had a big day, and no one contributed more than Meshak. He had a couple of tips at the line of scrimmage and caused general mayhem in the backfield all game long. My favorite Meshak play came in the third quarter, when he managed to take out two guys at once. He was pursuing the quarterback, knocked him down, then realized Boykin pitched the ball to the running back, so Meshak turned around and grabbed him by the ankle to make sure the play was dead. Keep it up.
The rest of the Defense - The defense kept TCU to 96 yards rushing, and 274 yards of overall offense. Every single stop was needed, as TCU still managed to outgain us on offense by 14 yards. After a suspect performance against OSU, this was a huge improvement. However - TCU does have one of the worst offenses in the Big 12, so they'll need to continue to work hard this week to get those kind of numbers against Baylor.
Ryan Doerr - Ryan is so consistent. He bails out the offense. He bails out the defense. He flips the field. He gives the return units time to get in place. He kicks it high and spinny so that receivers have a harder time handling it. He does it all, and he does it every single time. We are so lucky to have him, and in a game like this, when our offense sputters more often than not, he's invaluable.
Tramaine Thompson - Man, teams really have nowhere to kick these days, do they? He and Tyler work so well together and take such pride in blocking for each other. It's so sweet to watch and they're both improving dramatically from game to game. His consistency on punt returns has given us good field position all season long.
See, Ryan? Just fall on it. Look at the ball, square up, secure it. That's all you need to do.
Some things that were puzzling...
Arthur Brown - Arthur looked like he forgot his contacts for this one. He executed a perfect sneaky blitz and then forgot to wrap up and let Boykin slip by him. On a run play, he lost sight of the ball and let the running back slip right around him before he even noticed. Running lanes have been slightly more open in the middle since Tre went out and I think Arthur is missing his vocal counterpoint. Coach said this week on his show that Tre is out for the season, so he and Jarell and Justin better start gelling soon. We'll need them at their sharpest against Baylor and Texas.
Fourth Quarter Defense - So, I said before that the defense had a great day. I still agree. But what the heck happened in the fourth quarter? All 10 of their points came in the fourth quarter and their touchdown came in the last minute. To add insult to injury, the touchdown was the first points we've surrendered off a turnover all season long. They've been letting up the last few weeks in the fourth quarter and I don't like it. Everyone remember '98. We can't get soft in the fourth.
Offense's inability to finish drives - Of the four times we reached the red zone, we only managed one touchdown. Two of those red zone opportunities came off turnovers and started with excellent field position. I don't know if this was a result of the conservative play calling, or the offensive line, or Collin being banged up, but it's weak and won't cut it against better Big 12 offenses. We knew going in that 3rd down conversions would be a battle, but we still only finished at 5 of 13. Definite step back.
Ryan Mueller - Another game, another huge mistake for Ryan. This time he tried to pick it up instead of falling on it and the turnover went back to TCU. It ended in 4th down and a shanked punt, but still - we won't always be that lucky. Just fall on the ball, Ryan. If it's good enough for Truman, it's good enough for you.
Nigel Malone - Can you imagine how high our turnover margin would be if we actually caught 100% of the interceptions that we have a chance at? It seems like three times a game we have an opportunity that bounces right off the numbers because guys have their eyes on that wide open end zone. Nigel was the biggest offender this week and decided to call attention to it by doing push-ups on the field. Hard to believe Coach was too thrilled with that. Just catch it next time, Nigel.
Offensive Line - What's going on with the O-Line? The TCU defense got pressure on Klein all night long and Hubert and Pease had nowhere to go. If Klein wasn't the most brilliant play caller we've ever had in the Snyder era, I don't believe we would have scored any touchdowns against that swarming 4-2-5. The line did not seem prepared for those ends or that formation at all. I know they're banged up and they're rotating in and out and we've been passing more the past couple of games, but still. Time to re-focus, guys.
Next week we have our last road game and trip to Texas this year, with a visit to Waco to face the enigmatic Baylor Bears. I hope Hubert is getting himself pumped up for his homecoming. He's about to face the worst rush defense in the Big 12. It's time to take advantage.
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