Horned Frogs Need Big Victory

TCU has lost its last six big contests in a row and is badly in need of a win on Thursday night. The losing streak began with their loss to BYU two years ago, also on a Thursday in Ft. Worth. The streak includes two losses to BYU, two to Utah, and one to both Oklahoma and Texas.

The issue will probably come down to whether or not the sputtering TCU offense can pull it together to create momentum on its own. The TCU attack relies far too much on turnovers and special teams to set them up in excellent field position. TCU’s offense is a bit of an enigma and resembles more of a Chinese fire drill than a finely tuned unit.

They have lots of players going in and out at the skill positions, and lots of guys running the ball and catching passes. But virtually nobody is able to make a big play. To make matters worse, starter Andy Dalton has missed the last two contests with a knee injury. Second-teamer Marcus Jackson showed last Saturday why Coach Patterson has been unwilling to give him Dalton’s job on a permanent basis.

Despite the fact that over the last two years TCU has generally moved the ball better with Jackson under center, Jackson is simply not “defensive” enough on offense. He dropped the ball four times against Colorado State and made numerous decisions on the zone read that lead to yardage losses. He also has a higher interception and sack ratio than Andy Dalton. So what is TCU to do?

The starter for the game is likely to be Andy Dalton but he has not fared well in big games against tough defenses. This is not necessarily his fault. He was recruited out of high school as a passer but the Horned Frogs have been bound and determined to make him a dual-threat quarterback who runs the ball almost as much as he passes. He certainly has made great strides in his running ability since the beginning of last year, but he has had trouble against fast defenses.

Inexplicably, the Horned Frogs just won’t pass the ball enough with him in the game and particularly will not pass it deep down field or into the end zone. Gary Patterson’s offense will need to use more imagination than it has shown in the last year-and-a-half if he wants to move his program forward and compete against a team like BYU.

Unfortunately for TCU fans, I do not think they are ready yet. If BYU does not turn the ball over, they should be able to win this game and keep TCU still searching for answers for its offense.