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Damn. It could have been much better, it could have been worse. The Frogs offense struggled to stay on the field with turnovers and inconsistent passing effort from Casey Pachall and the defense couldn't get off the field on third down. There were several ways that this game could have gone the other way, but in the end TCU can't pull it out.
Purple Wimple: call me no-longer-convinced that TCU's offense is much improved over last year. Sure, LSU is a top-grade defense (we think) but this evening felt to me like a time machine. Pachall didn't spread the ball around; Boykin throws a soft ball that gives safeties time to make a play, and TCU's receivers just aren't play makers. Add false starts, stupid penalties, muffed punts, and a lot of dropped passes, and the whole package was very . . . 2012.
Which means that unless something changes very quickly, we can expect TCU to do OK against OK teams; but top grade teams aren't going to have to worry too much about the Frogs. They especially won't have to worry about the Frogs' offense.
The stat that most worries me: LSU converted 13 of 19 third downs. (Let's just beat that dying horse and do the math: that's a 68% conversion rate.) That's not giving yourself much room for error, Horny Toads. Maybe it matters that Devonte Fields didn't play; or that Mettenberger to Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham suddenly looked like an all-world trio. But until the Frogs rise up and shut down a dynamic QB-WR tandem or two, I'm very worried about the plethora of Big 12 passing attacks.
Positives? Waymon James and B.J. Catalon are an improvement over Aundre Dean and B.J. Catalon; and I don't recall Aviante Collins getting flagged a single time. Marcus Mallet was in on a lot of tackles, but the linebackers generally didn't impress me as fearsome. Oh-- that's not a positive...
Oh well. Kansas, K-State, Iowa State, and maybe Texas Tech better be shaking in their boots when the Frogs come calling. But after that performance the rest of the Big 12 sure ain't.