TCU: No Need To Soul Search; Just Reflect (Part II)

There are several key points that stick out in my mind as to what facilitated TCU's loss to Utah.

First are penalties.  This is something that has plagued TCU all year.  They have had a lot of pass interference calls and personal fouls on defense. 

TCU plays aggressively and since only a few of the personal fouls have been stupid or malicious, I am not really bothered by them very much.

What has been more annoying are the dozens of illegal procedure calls they have had this year, including five last Thursday night.  Particularly damaging were two penalties called against TCU on their fourth possession of the game. 

Up until that point, in their previous three possessions, TCU had easily driven the ball down the field and had already gained over 200 yards.  Those two penalties caused the Frogs to go three-and-out for the first time, gave the Utah defense a breather and a chance to gather itself and get some confidence back.

TCU's offense did not return until the second half, and they never scored again.  Those two penalties, more than anything else, changed the complexion of the game.

All these illegal procedures this year seem more like an unlucky anomaly than anything else.  Virtually everyone on the line has been guilty including the center who has been called about three times for hesitating with snaps.

Perhaps it is sometimes crowd noise, perhaps stunting and lunging by the defense or maybe it is the pressure of difficult blocking assignments.  I am not sure what if anything a coach can do except yell at his players to concentrate.

Field Goals:

Non-Attempts

TCU passed up two opportunities to kick field goals: a possible 53 yarder in the second quarter and a 52 yarder in the third.  Ross Evans is 5-of-6 on field goals of 35 yards or longer and 3-of-3 on field goals of 40 yards or longer, including one of 50 yards which he made with room to spare. 

One wonders why Gary Patterson passed up an opportunity, particularly in the second period when TCU was leading 10-0, to try a field goal in the high altitude.  Patterson has openly stated that Evans has been kicking better from longer distances because he follows through more.

Attempt

In the fourth quarter with just under six minutes to play, TCU elected to try a field goal on fourth and two from the Utah 9-yard line when they had a four-point lead.  At this point in the game I don't see the reasoning behind taking a field goal. 

TCU had been moving the ball well all night and had only gone three-and-out once (due to penalties as mentioned above). Coach Whittingham could not have expected to have more than one possession from that point on, so it is very unlikely that he would have attempted any field goal even if down by only four.  

Regardless of being down by four or seven, he would have had to forgo a field goal and try to score a TD.  So what Gary Patterson was essentially trying to do when he elected to attempt a field goal was to ensure at least a tie. 

With both teams having trouble punching the ball into the end zone, it is likely that any overtime would have come down to a kicking duel between super kicker Louis Sakoda at home and true freshman Ross Evans on the road.

When TCU decided to go for the field goal they needed only two yards to get a first down. Any failure would have simply turned the ball over at the Ute 9, so I was disappointed in this important tactical decision by Coach Patterson. 

Irrespective of the hindsight of knowing that Evans missed the field goal, I don't believe it should have been kicked in the first place.  TCU should have gone for the first down and tried to put the game away.

Rushing Attempts (or lack thereof)

Aaron Brown carried the ball 15 times for 106 yards.  Andy Dalton carried it six times for 53 yards. Combined, this is more than 7.5 yards a carry and neither Dalton nor Brown ever lost yardage on a carry. ( I am not counting Dalton's four sacks or the one time he just got back to the line of scrimmage after dropping back to pass). 

On a night when both were having great success running the ball, they were called on to do so only 21 times out of TCU's 76 plays from scrimmage.  Conversely, the Frogs passed the ball 37 times.

This was far more than their average and their second most attempts after the Oklahoma game in which they were playing catchup for 58 minutes.  Furthermore, neither Brown nor Dalton ran the ball in the "lost second quarter" during which the Horned Frogs gained only four yards.

This happens far too often in football. Teams have something that is working that they just do not use enough.  Then after reviewing the losing game film all they can do is kick themselves in the tail and wonder "why didn't we use that more?"

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