TCU Horned Frogs

TCU - To put the recent TCU gridiron renaissance into some perspective, consider the following. Five Top 25 finishes in the past 7 seasons. Eight bowl games in the past 9 years. An 8-1 mark the last nine games vs. teams from BCS conferences. And the Horned Frogs are one of only five teams (Boise State, LSU, Oklahoma, and Southern Cal the others) to record 11 or more wins in 3 of the last 4 seasons.

Indeed, there’s nothing “mid-major” about the powerhouse program HC Gary Patterson has assembled in Fort Worth. And we’ll find out where TCU stacks up against the really big boys in early September, with a tasty week two date set against Texas at Austin. If we were Mack Brown, we’d be a bit concerned.

That’s because the Longhorns and every other team on the Killer Frogs’ ‘07 slate will have to deal with a stop unit that returns 9 starters from an ornery defense that was playing like the old NFL Pittsburgh “Steel Curtain” down the stretch last fall. In storming to wins in its last 8 games a year ago, TCU held foes to a puny 10.8 ppg and measly 185 ypg, while outscoring them a collective 192-13 (!) in the first half, en route to ranking second nationally in both rush and total defense. The presence of disruptive sr. DEs Chase Ortiz & Tommy Blake (with 28 tackles for loss between them LY) detonates clever d.c. Dick Bumpas’ pet 4-2-5 alignment and removes the need to commit extra resources to generate pressure on opposing QBs, as the platoon’s speed and pursuit ability usually don’t require Bumpas to gamble unnecessarily with his schemes. If anything, the “D” could be even better than ‘06, with plenty of sr. leadership including the aforementioned Ortiz & Poinsettia Bowl MVP Blake, featured LB David Hawthorne, and SS Brian Bonner emerging in spring as a capable replacement for graduated Marvin White as the rallying point in the 2ndary. A highly-regarded juco influx figures to provide more depth.

If there is a chink in the Frogs’ armor, it could be with an offense that lost just enough from last season to cause concern. Departed QB Jeff Ballard didn’t post Heisman-like numbers the past two seasons but was remarkably efficient at the controls (61% completions, 737 YR, 26 TDP and only 12 picks that span), and nimble RS soph Marcus Jackson (who got his feet wet relieving Ballard LY) couldn’t quite shake the challenge of RS frosh Andy Dalton in spring. The battle for the starting QB job will thus continue into fall. Patterson (left) and o.c. Mike Schultz spent much of spring looking for a go-to receiving threat to replace graduated Quentily Harmon, and are hoping srs. Donald Massey & Marcus Brock can step into the breach. Moreover, there’s less established depth at RB, although quick-hitting jr. Aaron Brown (team-best 801 YR in ‘06) might really flourish now that he’s not sharing carries with graduated Lonta Hobbs any longer. Still, Groza Award candidate sr. PK Chris Manfredini (an Adam Vinatieri-like 25 of 27 FGs since ‘05) can usually salvage some points from stalled excursions into enemy territory.

Summary...The secession of last year’s MWC crown to BYU will likely be a one-year anomaly, and expect TCU to reclaim the top spot in the loop. And the BCS talk will start early if the Frogs can pull the upset at Texas September 8. But if TCU keeps winning big, how long can the Frogs realistically keep HC Patterson in the fold?

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