TCU-Oregon State: Grading TCU's Performance By Unit

Game Summery

TCU dominated the game from start to finish. Looking at the stat sheet it wasn't even close. TCU had 28 1st downs to Oregon State's 13. TCU had 278 rushing yards to Oregon State's 73. TCU had the ball for 39:23 compared to Oregon State's 20:37. But the score was only nine points. Key turnovers and a few bad play calls kept the game close, but a win is a win and TCU is one win closer to back to back undefeated seasons.


Rating TCU's Performance


Quarterback - D

Sorry Dalton, but you did not play well at all tonight. Two very bad interceptions, and overall did not play very well at all. Dalton ran the ball outstanding, and picked up seven first downs with his legs, but passing the ball I was VERY disappointed. He had a few bad passes on deep balls too when the receiver was one on one and had a clear step in front of the defender. With all of the hype surrounding Andy Dalton, he really disappointed me.

Runningback - B+

Ed Wesley, you get an A+. Wow, did Ed Wesley look great. He was just trucking people. 17 carries for 134 yards and a TD, and his runs were with power. Wesley was consistently picking up 8 yards a carry all game. He looks SO much bigger and faster than last season, it was really great to see him looking so good.

On the other hand, there's Mathew Tucker. Tucker was supposed to be the feature back this year. He looked like he was better as a freshman. Only 74 yards on 20 carries, he didn't look nearly as good as Wesley did in this game. He didn't look bad, he still had some tough runs, but he was a disappointment. Tucker was supposed to take a big step forward in his Sophomore year, but he looked basically the same as a year ago.

Wide Receiver - B

With a seven receiver rotation, I expected everyone to be fresh and dominating. They weren't nearly as dominate as I thought they would be. Curtis Clay and Bart Johnson looked really good, and they have some of the best hands in the country, but it's guys like Antoine Hicks and Jimmy Young that disappointed me. Those guys were supposed to be playmakers, and they didn't do anything at all. Freshman Josh Boyce was supposed to be a big play guy too, and he only had one catch and should've picked up the first down on that catch, but instead went backwards and forced a punt.

The one thing that did impress me a lot with this group is their blocking. It was amazing. They were blocking like a bunch of TE's blocking in the run game, they were dominating. Overall it wasn't a poor performance, but I wish a few players would have stepped it up more (I'm looking at you Jimmy Young)

O-Line - B+

Marcus Cannon was outstanding. Just dominating. The whole line was outstanding except for the two guards. They were solid most of the game, but there was just too much pressure on Dalton up the middle. A lot of those play action plays he had a man right in his face right away coming from the inside of the line, and most of the time it was one of the two guards letting the pressure get up the middle. But overall, this looks like one of the more dominating offensive lines in the NCAA.


D-Line - B

Wayne Daniels may have looked like he had a great game with two sacks and a forced fumble, but he was in fact very disappointing to me. The second play of the game he had a strip sack that was VERY impressive, but after that he literally did nothing. The second sack he picked up was a coverage sack in which it took him 12 seconds to get to the QB. He was good against the run like usual, but the pass rush was not there at all tonight.

The two DT's played very well, especially against the run, but again, virtually no pass rush. The other DE spot actually impressed me, and played better than Daniels most of the game. It was a solid rotation, Stansly Maponga looked the best of the three, and got the most playing time of the group as well. He looks like he'll be a great player with more experience.

Overall, I'm very disappointed in the pass rush, but the run defense was great.

Linebacker - B+

Tank Carder was a monster, like usual. He was making tackles through blocks and he was all over the field. You could tell that Oregon State was focusing on him pre-snap before every play, and sometimes even used two blockers to try and keep him out of the play. Carder was outstanding, he was great in pass coverage too.

Brock is expected to have a big year in Tank Carder's spot after Tank moved to WLB, and he did look very good too. He looks very strong against the run, but he wasn't fully there mentally just yet. He was hesitating just a step, but that's expected with it being his first start. He made a great play on the ball and dropped a pretty easy INT, but it was still a great play to be in that position. Overall, I'm very impressed with the linebackers .

Cornerback - C+

Greg McCoy looked very good for the most part, and did not have much help on James Rodgers most of the game. Teague also looked very good. The corners played outstanding for most of the game, but it's the big play that gets me worried.

TCU's defense does give up a lot of big plays in the passing game. They let too many guys get deep on them. They were lucky that it didn't hurt them too bad in the end, but they'll need to fix that. I'm also disappointed in the lack of turnovers that this defense forces. It was a problem last year, and zero so far this year too. The opportunities were there though. They dropped a few easy INT's, especially Teague dropping an easy INT in his gut that was ended up being a 14 point turnaround.


Safety - B

Tejay Johnson played great at FS. He was a ball hawk. He really carried this safety group. Alex Ibiloye played terrible in the 1st quarter, but after that he stepped it up and played outstanding.

I was VERY disappointed not to see Jurrell Thompson much at all. I wonder why. He has all the tools to be a dominating safety, I wonder if GP just didn't want him in there because he was young.I thought he would start at safety, but he wasn't even the backup.

Tyler Luttrell started and played decent, but he got hurt and they brought in another senior, Colin Jones to replace him. Jones didn't play terrible, but he wasn't that great either. I get Thompson's only a sophomore and doesn't have the experience, but I'd like to see what he has.


Overall - C

Not happy with the performance. TCU played alright, they dominated the game, but stupid mistakes, terrible play calls in key situations, and key turnovers made this game MUCH closer than it should've been.

The final score should've been much like the TCU-Utah game a season ago, but instead was only a 9 point win. TCU missed out on a HUGE chance to capitalize on making a statement to the rest off the college football world. But, a win is a win, and TCU will stay undefeated another week.

Interesting Fact
Andy Dalton became TCU's all-time win leader as a starting quarterback with 30, passing the great Sammy Baugh.

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