Ugh-fense: Oklahoma State 36, TCU 14 Postgame analysis

HawkeyedFrog: An ugly, ugly game that once again turned as TCU blew opportunities to come away with the win. Very reminiscent of the Iowa State game in this one, as the Frogs got absolutely nothing on the ground outside of one big run by Catalon and turned the ball over multiple times while throwing. It's a long list of things that went wrong today, but unlike last week there are no excuses for this one. The defense gave up big plays through the air in the middle of the field multiple times. The offense struggled both on the ground and through the air, as Boykin had balls tipped repeatedly at the line and never got consistent touch downfield. Even light of hope (and Frog Blog favorite) Jason Oberkrom missed his only two field goal attempts of the game. So what in the world happened?

TCU failed to capitalize on its early success. Two possessions in Okie State territory on each side of the Olabode interception of Lunt resulted in no points, as the Frogs went backwards after recovering a fumble on a kickoff return. Think the game turns out differently if TCU's lead was 21-0 or 20-0? Absolutely. As it was, the offense found rhythm about twice in the game, once with Boykin working the outside routes to man of the match Ladarius Brown and once driving late, only to be taken out of rhythm by a false start penalty (a persistent issue this season). The frogs did a decent job on Joseph Randle in the first half, and indeed in the secondary as well- the issues in the second half seemed to come as the Frogs started to attempt to rip the ball before securing the tackle, as again and again contact in the backfield turned into consistent gains of three, four or six yards. It's hard to fault the D for wanting to try and swing momentum in a single play though, as the TCU offense had a miserable second half. Boykin completed just over half of his passes, but was plagued by miscommunication as receivers broke one way only to see the ball sail over their heads the other way. What makes matters worse though is that it looks like Boykin may have injured his knee on the second to last Frog series of the game, and if that turns out to be a serious injury it would be a safe wager to close the book on this season.

Jamie Plunkett: That sucked. The defense is not to blame tonight folks, don't even think that for a second. This offense was the worst thing I've seen on a football field since I watched the Cowboys game last week. Boykin looked awful. The offensive line was awful. receivers dropped passes, and we couldn't hardly run the ball.

Oberkrom went all Ross Evans on us too, which is probably the most unwelcome sight of all time. Get it right young gun.

Also, are we 100% sure that Big 12 refs are officiating our games? Once again this crew was absolutely pathetic. They made awful calls for both teams. Exhibit 1: The pass interference they called against Oklahoma State was offensive. Exhibit 2: The review of the Boykin fumble that was upheld when his arm was CLEARLY MOVING FORWARD BEFORE CONTACT WAS MADE WITH THE BALL was a comedic tragedy.

BOLD PREDICTION: TCU will end up 5-7. Especially if Boykin misses time because of that knee injury.

I will say one thing though. For those people jokingly saying that they want to go back to the Mountain West. STFU. YOU go back to the Mountain West.

Time to go throw up.

I hate football.

Jamie out.

Purple Wimple: TCU runs a pass-first offense. (This is still news to some people, I know.) But that's mis-stating it slightly; TCU runs a pass-completions offense. The Horned Frogs only move the ball when the pass attack is working.

Boykin couldn't make it work yesterday. There's probably blame to go around, but I think that's the bottom line. When TCU's quarterback can't get the ball into this receivers' hands, TCU lacks an offense.

In the Mountain West, that usually wasn't a problem; offense or no offense, TCU's defense and special teams could keep the other team from scoring, and the Frogs still won. (Sometimes even Mountain West teams could stop the Frogs-- think Utah 2008, and Boise 2009) But in the Big 12 that won't cut it.

It didn't cut it yesterday; it didn't cut it against Iowa State three weeks ago, and it certainly won't cut it from here on out.

Keep checking in with this post, as the rest of the Frogs O' War crew will edit in their responses. If you can stomach it, that is.