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Monday Morning Quarterback: November 5th, 2012

Winning on the road is the hardest thing to do in College Football today. And, suffice it to say, Morgantown, WV is not a pleasant place. At the end of the day, the Frogs marched out with their balls held high, manhood inflated to unsafe levels, and bowl games in tow. Now, attention turns to Kansas State and the #2 Wildcats but FIRST, we look back at the weekend that was....

ANGRY TREY

THE GOOD
The Frogs won! You cannot overlook that. The game was incredibly frustrating at times, but TCU endured and got the hard fought victory. TCU is now bowl eligible which means more practice and an extra game. You can't hate that.

Josh Boyce was an absolute beast. Boyce had a career high 180 yards receiving with 2 touchdowns and the clutch catch on the two point conversion attempt. It seems like every time TCU needs a big play in a game, Boyce comes up big.

If people aren't taking notice of Jason Verrett yet, they need to open their eyes. Verrett is one of the top corners in the Big 12 this season and he played his best game yet as a Horned Frog. Verrett picked off his 5th interception on the season, blocked a FG, and held West Virginia WR Stedman Bailey to season lows in receptions and yards

I thought the defense played great. They held West Virginia below their season average and outside of the long Tavon Austin touchdown they were able to limit big plays.

THE BAD
What is up with the offensive play calling? Everyone watching the game saw that the inside handoff was not working. Why did TCU continue to run that play over and over again? I know the coaches don't want to put too much on Boykin, but come on. This offensive game plan is a little too conservative for me.

Can we finally replace Skye Dawson as the punt returner? Why do we have to continue to watch him put the ball on the ground week after week? I know TCU has someone on the roster who can field a punt properly. Can we please give Deante Gray the job back? Pretty please?

What happened to Jaden Oberkrom? Legatron is 1-4 on FG attempts since going 6 for 6 against Texas Tech. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. I was really starting to like Oberkrom.

The offensive line allowed Boykin to take a lot of hits on Saturday. I like Boykin's toughness but he cannot continue to take shots like that every game. The o-line needs to step it up and keep Boykin off the ground.

THE OTHER
It's crazy to me that West Virginia went from being on top of the world early in the season to now having a three game losing streak. I am guilty of falling for the hype. I thought the Mountaineers were going to sweep through the Big 12. I was way off.

TCU football is taking years off of my life this season. These games are stressing me out. I don't know how much more I can take.

I am freaking hyped for the Kansas State game this week. Call me crazy but I think the Frogs have a legitimate shot at pulling off the upset. The Carter is going to be loud and rowdy this Saturday.

JAMIE PLUNKETT

THE GOOD
Josh Boyce went full man beast on West Virginia's secondary, with six catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns, none bigger than his 94 yard touchdown catch that allowed TCU to tie the game with less than 1:30 left in the game.

I mean, none bigger than his two point conversion catch giving the Frogs the win in double overtime.

The point being, Boyce has propelled himself to legendary status with this game.

On defense, Jason Verrett continued his campaign as the best cornerback on this team. He was everywhere. He had four tackles, including one for a loss, and he picked off Geno Smith (on a terribly underthrown ball) to set up a 31 yard touchdown pass from Boykin to Boyce.

Let's not forget his biggest play of the night either, when he blocked a 36 yard field goal that would have won the game for West Virginia.

THE BAD
Overall, the TCU offense made West Virginia's terrible defense look really good. They struggled to move the ball consistently for almost two and a half quarters, which was incredibly frustrating to watch. Part of the reason is the fact that the offensive line is starting to look like that of the Dallas Cowboys. It's porous, and the false starts are horribly frustrating.

Jaden Oberkrom is starting to slip. He missed a 37-yarder in overtime that almost cost TCU the game. (He owes Verrett some cookies or something for blocking the kick attempted by the Mountaineers).

THE FROGS ARE BOWL ELIGIBLE
I'll take it. After everything that has gone horribly, horribly wrong this season, I'll take bowl eligibility. Now, with Klein hurting, let's take it to Kansas State next week.

But seriously, with three games left, a 1-2 run to push us to 7-5, with a bowl win to take us to 8-5, and I'll be content moving into next season.

Go Frogs.

FUNGO FROG

THE GOOD
Well, we won, so that's good. No doubt that it was a close game that could have gone either way, but like the Tech game I had a consistent feeling that things were going to continue going the Frogs way no matter what. Now, right before the Boyce touchdown when the Frogs were backed up against their own goal line, I felt defeated, but that reception brought it all back. That play changed the game, no doubt about it.

BTW, what the fuck happened on that play? Did WVU just quit?

The call to go for two in overtime is quickly becoming TCU's shtick, our thing that wins us the big ball game in crunch time. You have to love that, feels very emasculating man-like.

THE BAD
Jaden Oberkrom continues to struggle mightily on the road. I hope to God that somebody is in this kids ear trying to encourage him and build him up, we might just need him in a big way this weekend.

The officiating was overall OK this game, except for that PI call against Verrett late in the game. That call was so God awful, considering just how good Verrett has been this year it is hard to put into words how frustrating calls like that make this game, I wish referees would really take a second and revisit that rule, in context, to figure out a better way to officiate those close plays.

The play calling was pretty atrociously bland, but I have a feeling that was by design. Run the ball (behind what has been a good run blocking line), control the clock, let your defense win games. The offense has enough big play ability that it CAN score a bunch of points fast, but if you start taking risks with Boykin you are only going to see pain as a result, simple as that. But, next week, I expect TCU to open shit up in a major way early... To paraphrase, "Biggest game of the year Brent, can't hold anything back now."

HawkeyedFrog

The Good

The defense played like a TCU defense, shutting down the run and putting clamps on the West Virginia passing game for almost the duration. The secondary in particular comes in for high praise, as I certainly wouldn't blame Verrett on the TD in OT considering the receiver got a fastastic half-push off that went uncalled. Speaking of Verrett, he could be the best corner that TCU has ever had, which is kind of amazing. On offense Boykin started to make things happen with his feet when the West Virginia coverage was tight, which is exactly the kind of decision making we've been hoping he'd make. Additionally Josh Boyce reasserted himself as the dominant force of the TCU offense with Waymon James out for the season.

The Bad

Handoffs up the middle, particularly the delayed variety, are the death of this offense. We call them again and again on first down and only end up in second and nine or second and eight at the best. Give Boykin the option to pull if they're getting swamped up the middle and try to beat the pursuit down the line. Running backs not named Dean had another below average day as well, but at least part of that is on the O-line which is just being consistently beaten inside. Boykin's interception was another head scratcher, and special teams, which looked to be a serious strength of the team a few weeks back, have fallen off considerably. Austin's punt return TD and Dawson's muffed punt were both mind bogglingly awful, and resulted in a much closer game than the TCU defense was actually allowing. I'd really like to see Deante' Gray back returning punts this week, and confine Dawson to Kickoff returns where defenders aren't immediately in his face on the catch.

The Bowl Bid

The youngest team in the country just secured itself those crucial extra practices, and a good thing too with Texas apparently righting the ship against Texas Tech. An upset win in one of the last three would be excellent for recruiting purposes, but it will not impede the magical season that TCU could have next year if the team can just get healthy. Seth Doege, Nick Florence, Geno Smith/Tavon Austin, Landry Jones and Collin Klein will all be gone next year, while TCU loses just Kenny Cain on defense. Next years defense will put a hurting on people.