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HawkeyedFrog
We won, all's right with the world! Okay, not really. Slightly better in a win is still better than a loss though, and TCU did show a bit of improvement today, coming from the playcallers of all places. After an opening drive that could not have possibly been more 2013 TCU- three incomplete passes and a false start- TCU actually went to the running game with regularity and stuck with it even when it wasn't immediately paying off. Sure enough, even though there were numerous tackles for a loss due to the poor offensive line play, it paid off with Trevone Boykin running zone reads and options for numerous gains and Aaron Green had one of only a handful of carries for over 20 yards by a TCU player this year.
TCU set up numerous downs of third and manageable from the running game and capitalized with several third down conversions early. It's hard to imagine what B.J. Catalon and Waymon James must have done in past lives to deserve to sit out the one game of the season where TCU actually ran the ball an acceptable number of times, but I'm sure they're sorry universe, please let them play.
The defense bent but rarely broke as Iowa State ended up doing the majority of their damage on special teams, converting on a fake punt as Kirby Van Der Camp threw probably the best pass all day to set up Iowa State's first TD and the Cyclones took the opening kickoff of the second half back for a touchdown to account for both of ISU's scores.
The defense struggled at times, but managed to keep coming up with the big play when it was needed, forcing an ISU fumble when it looked like the Cyclones were about to put the game out of reach. The game ball goes to Trevone Boykin who got to come in as a running quarterback and rushed for all of TCU's scores while not turning the ball over once- Boykin finally got to show what he can do without having the weight of the passing offense on his shoulders and he responded in a big way, I really hope this is the start of your redemption Boykin.
Still, the TCU offense bogged down way too much and there were some truly dreadful playcalls so don't let this happy outcome shake the fact that both Anderson and Burns need to be fired at the end of the season, just savor it for now.