MMQB: Officiating was bad, defense was worse

Saturday was brutal, so I won’t stay too long here. It’s best after stuff like this to move to a positive mental space.

The Good

Yes, there was some good. This team fought hard despite falling down 42-24 early in the third quarter. They never gave up. If they had only played like that when they took a 21-7 lead...

Taj Williams was good, hauling in five catches for 210 yards and two touchdowns. Both TDs came when the Frogs needed them most, as Williams blew the top off of a Sooners defense that gave up 514 yards and 46 points, but still won.

Kyle Hicks was good again too. He racked up 142 yards and two touchdowns on 21 touches. He now has 677 total yards and eight total touchdowns on the season. I still don’t understand why they don’t give him the ball 30 times a game. Nine extra touches for Kyle Hicks on Saturday, especially when all of the momentum started to swing towards Oklahoma, may have changed the final outcome.

The Bad

The defense was horrendous, giving up 52 points at home. Missed tackles and broken coverages meant that Oklahoma did whatever they wanted on offense for the majority of the night.

TCU’s defense is now on pace to give up 392 points this season. Three hundred and nintey two points. That would be the most points allowed by a Gary Patterson-run TCU defense in a single regular season. The closest season to that would be the 373 points allowed by TCU’s defense in 2004, when the Frogs finished with a losing record.

The run defense was exceptionally bad, allowing 260 rushing yards and five, count ‘em, five, rushing touchdowns. I really don’t have much more to say, other than this defense looks terribly soft and unmotivated at this point.

The offensive line struggled tremendously, forcing the ball out of Kenny Hill’s hand earlier than he probably would have liked on numerous occasions. Hill himself struggled, despite throwing for 449 yards and five touchdowns. He missed on a few open receivers, and didn’t take the opportunity to run when he could have extended drives with his legs.

Despite all that, Hill is now second in the nation in passing yards, with 1,936. Imagine what that number could be if the offense strung together a complete game.

Because, honestly, Hill would have probably 250-300 more passing yards right now if his receivers didn’t keep dropping passes. John Diarse had a huge drop on third down to kill a drive as Oklahoma went sprinting past TCU. Isaiah Graham dropped a perfectly thrown ball that would have been a touchdown, as TCU was trying desperately to come back.

The Officiating

It was bad. Terrible. Abysmal. And yet, it still wasn’t as bad as TCU’s efforts on the defensive side of the ball.

Yes, they missed a few crucial holding penalties. No, that wasn’t intentional grounding (it’s hard to throw the ball far when someone is putting their helmet inside your chest).

Yes, they were the same officiating crew from the 2014 Baylor game. No, there is no conspiracy against TCU (stop it).

Moving Forward

As Robert Henson said on the Frogs O’ War Radio Show last night, this team lacks leadership, and it lacks motivation/energy. If that doesn’t change, this team could be in for a very dark finish. Look at the rest of the schedule. Which games, outside of Kansas, do you feel confident that TCU will win. Texas? Oklahoma State? Kansas State? Maybe those three. Baylor, West Virginia, and Texas Tech? Not feeling good about those.

This thing needs to get turned around, and quick. But, the sun came up on Sunday, and it did again today, so there’s a chance. There’s always a chance.