Tuesday September 22, 2009

TCU Preview

TCU Preview
Usually Clemson’s home opponents are ACC foes or regional opponents that the Clemson fans have seen before or have some familiarity with. This week is a different story.

Texas Christian University has played at Death Valley but not in this old man’s lifetime. The Horned Frogs lost a 3-0 game at Clemson in 1965. It was a revenge game for the Tigers who lost in Fort Worth 14-10 in 1964. The only other meeting between these two teams came in Clemson’s 23-7 win in the 1959 Bluebonnet Bowl.

TCU enters Saturday’s game with a 2-0 record and ranked 14th in one poll and 15th in the other. The Horned Frogs have beaten Virginia and Texas State to open this season.

The Horned Frogs have a great history and tradition from the 1930s and have revived their program in recent years. TCU claims two national titles, 1935 and 1938. They won the national championship in 1935 in the Williamson System which was the only ranking after the bowl games. That season they beat LSU in the Sugar Bowl and finished the season 12-1. The 1938 team won the Associated Press national title by going 11-0.

TCU was a member of the Southwest Conference until the mid-1990s before joining the WAC. Earlier in this decade they left the WAC for Conference USA only to leave again to join its current conference, the Mountain West.

Texas Christian has produced some incredible players in its history like Davey O’Brien, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1938 and Sammy Baugh, who is in the College Football Hall of Fame. The most famous current NFL star to play at TCU is All-Pro running back LaDainian Tomlinson.

The Horned Frogs have enjoyed a resurgence in their program under Gary Patterson. In fact, TCU has finished in the top 25 six times in this decade including a number seven ranking last season.

TCU opened this season with a 30-14 win over Virginia on the road. I saw most of this game and came away impressed with how sound TCU played. The game was 30-0 until the last five minutes when the Cavs scored two meaningless touchdowns. TCU outgained Virginia 380-177. They had 23 first downs to Virginia’s seven. Andy Dalton was 15-21 for 177 yards and a touchdown in Charlottesville. Three tailbacks had 10 carries each as the Frogs had 203 yards rushing.

Last weekend TCU opened its home schedule with a 56-21 win over Texas State. This game was surprisingly close when Texas State scored with less than five minutes to go in the first half to cut the lead to 21-14. But TCU scored on the last drive of the first half and the first drive of the second half to open up a 35-14 margin. Dalton was once again very effective by going 18-24 for 222 yards and one touchdown and an interception. James Turner had 129 yards rushing on only 13 carries for three touchdowns. Wide receiver Bart Johnson had his best game as a Horned Frog with seven catches for 70 yards.

TCU is a very well coached team that looks fundamentally very sound. On offense they feature a big offensive line. They like to remain balanced on offense but they set everything up with the run. TCU is successful in their play action passing game and look to Jimmy Young as their main receiving threat.

The defense has been their trademark. TCU is very aggressive on the defensive side of the football. They play a 4-2-5 but attack from different areas. In the times I have seen TCU play over the past two seasons, they attack the line of scrimmage. The Horned Frogs sellout to stop the run and try to get the opponent in negative yardage situations. They are a little susceptible to big plays in the passing game because of their aggressive nature.

We will see two different attacks from TCU Saturday. On offense they are sound. They have an experienced quarterback that makes few mistakes. TCU is a little conservative on this side of the ball. However, they gamble and are reckless on defense. They want to impose their will on this side of the ball.

Perhaps the best TCU player since LaDainian Tomlinson is defensive end Jerry Hughes. This pass rusher plays hard every play. He reminds me of Corey Moore who starred at Virginia Tech or Dwight Freeney of the Indianapolis Colts because his motor never stops. You can bet that Clemson’s gameplan will revolve around slowing down Hughes. I would look for the Tigers to give the offensive tackles help with a tight end and a chip from the running back in blocking Hughes. Also, I think the Tigers could use more three-step drops in an attempt to neutralize his effect on the game.

The Horned Frogs are very sound in the kicking game as well. Their placekicker is 3-3 on field goals and they cover kicks well.

Perhaps a misconception is that this team is just about defense. In the recent campaigns this might have been true. But TCU lost some defensive talent and they have enough experience on offense with Dalton, Young and Turner to be very balanced.

One thing I am not sure of yet is their fans. I will check this week to see how many we expect to make the trip but I would not think it would be more than a couple of thousand. I doubt we will see as many as the Aggies brought when Texas A&M visited in 2005.

Tomorrow I want to discuss this game in terms of what it means to Clemson and TCU and I want to get into reviving an old Clemson tradition.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Prayer List
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Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Jean-Pierre Bailey, Kaitlyn L, Delores Weaver, Eric Boessneck, John Bowers, Jimmy Ness, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, John Petrey, Chalmers Carr, Drayton Melton, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Ann Fallaw, Bob Pollock, Teresa O'Connor.