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Football
TCU’s Gary Patterson sees South Dakota State ahead, not big picture | Fort Worth Star Telegram
It’s typical Gary Patterson fashion to brush off questions about conference championships, etc. It’s not unique to Patterson by any stretch, but it’s nice to have a coach that legitimately respects every opponent.
“Who are the experts?” he said Tuesday at his weekly press conference, asked if he minded being one of the two favorites for the league title. “Right now I’m trying to beat South Dakota State, to be honest with you. If I don’t beat South Dakota State, I won’t even have to ask who the experts are.”
5 takeaways from TCU’s Week 1 presser | Dallas Morning News
All good points here, but this one is especially nice.
2. The wide receiver position has earned Patterson's confidence.
Patterson was asked if having senior wide receivers back from injury would help Kenny Hill adjust to the new offense, but he said that wouldn't be a factor. "That doesn't help us any," Patterson said. "We already had good players -- Turpin, all kinds of guys, Jaelan Austin." Deanté Gray spoke to the media and said there's a bunch of guys that could be the next breakout player for the Frogs. Put all this together, and it seems that this wide receiver corps is ready to bounce back from the loss of Josh Doctson to the NFL.
Kirk Herbstreit likes TCU as College Football Playoff sleeper | Sporting News
Herbie liked Oklahoma from the Big 12 last season, so let’s hope he’s correct again. Of course, he really liked TCU in 2014 until Ohio State came into the picture. Should we expect anything else, though? Probably not. And it’s not like his argument influenced the Committee’s final decision.
"With all the talk about expectations about Oklahoma coming out of the Big 12, (TCU) has a chance to be somewhat of a surprise,” Herbstreit said. “Not to just to win the Big 12; I think they could go on a run and make the playoff.”
TCU’s Iloka still seeking full-speed return from injury | Fort Worth Star Telegram
He was a key player in TCU’s secondary at the beginning of 2015, but it’ll be a while still until he steps back into a major role in the back 5.
Iloka, listed in Tuesday’s depth chart as the backup to Nick Orr at weak safety, projects to play primarily on special teams in Saturday’s opener against South Dakota State as he continues to recover from a knee injury sustained while covering a kickoff in TCU’s second game last season. Iloka, who received a medical redshirt for the 2015 season, was a starter at the time of his injury.
TCU: From also-ran to Big 12 power | Sioux Falls Leader
South Dakota State coach John Stiegelmeier says his guys are playing to win.
“This will be our biggest challenge yet,” Stiegelmeier said. “But we’ve played well against FBS teams before, and the neatest thing about it was we never looked at (close losses) as moral victories. Our guys play to win.”
TCU takes committee approach to kicking duties | Fort Worth Star Telegram
With Jonathan Song out for at least two games, Patterson is having to take a new approach to the kicking game.
“It’ll probably be by committee, to be honest with you,” Patterson said. “There’ll be a kickoff guy. There’ll be a short field-goal guy and there’s got a chance to be a long field-goal guy.”
TCU’s Patterson using social media to scout SDSU | Fort Worth Star Telegram
I love that man.
“They probably don’t think we’re paying attention. But we’ve stayed here 19 years because we pay attention to everybody,” Patterson said. “I’m watching on the … website and I’m watching them practice and listening to them talk about each one of their players. So I’m not going to do the same thing.”
‘Trill’ is gone, but ex-Aggies QB Kenny Hill is back | Dallas Morning News
There’s a very interesting tidbit that hints at how great Hill might be on the run. Josh Carraway gives a quote about watching him on film.
"It's frustrating," Carraway said Tuesday. "They'll call it a sack, but in my head, I'm thinking there's no way I got to him. They give us the benefit of the doubt. But we go back and watch film, and I'm saying, 'There's no way anybody was catching him.' That was going to be a touchdown."