TCU vs Minnesota Recap: 5 Things We Learned

1) The new uniforms look great

This was about the cleanest thing about this game. However, this continues the tradition of TCU not playing too well when wearing all white on the road.

2) The defense looks like a Gary Patterson Defense

Considering the young defense being the main concern during the off-season and the two starters out on the defensive line, the defense played fairly well tonight. Aaron Curry and Chris Bradley filled in admirably at DT, and while the new linebackers didn't plug holes or shed blocks as well as their predecessors, they played well (including a Mike Freeze forced fumble in the endzone that probably should have been a sack & safety) and are a work in progress. The secondary played solid overall as well, and Kindred had a nice night with a couple tackles and a forced fumble.

3) The offense has some kinks to work out

TCU's offense looked very sloppy tonight, and certainly did not meet the expectations set during the offseason. Boykin went 26 for 42, throwing for 246 yards with a TD and Int, while rushing for 92 and another TD on the ground. While his stats looked okay, he had both Nixon and Porter wide open in the endzone and overthrew both of them on two separate plays (Nixon by about 5 yards). Give credit to Minnesota's secondary as well as their defensive line, who was pretty disruptive all night. Aaron Green and Nixon looked great out of the backfield, but Johnson needs to learn to run more north and south and make some cuts upfield. The receivers looked very good all night, and performed admirably with the ball in their hands, and it seemed like everybody at the position got a catch tonight.

4) Ethan Perry looked great, Legatron looked merely mortal

Save for Legatron's kick out of bounds and the FG off the uprights (looked like the hold may have been a bit off, so I'm giving him a pass), both guys played pretty well tonight, with Perry pinning Minnesota deep a few times including late in the game when TCU needed it most.

5) Punt returns looked great, Kick returns were not

Kevonte Turpin looked electric at times fielding punt returns, although the stats may not show it (he also needs to keep his arms below the waist unless he's intending to call a fair catch!). Definitely looking forward to more of him this year. Listenbee, on the other hand, failed to bring a kick return past the 20, and was constantly running towards the short side of the field or, in one case, straight into a missed block. I was hoping for a lot more when I saw him listed as one of the main kick returners.

A win is a win, and I think most Frog fans will agree this team will come out firing from this. The Minnesota D will be nasty this year, hopefully they'll be able to surpass their 8-win total from last year. If their offense can turn it up a notch they will be a team to be reckoned with in the Big Ten. On to SFA.