MMQB: New Year, New Team

Oh hey everyone, it’s 2017 so new year, new team am I right? Well...that was the most fun game since 2016 Baylor. It’s been around nine months since we’ve had TCU football, so naturally there’s a lot to talk about but first....

*ahem*

Texas lost to Maryland at home

A&M blew a 34 point lead and lost to UCLA

BAYLOR LOST AT HOME TO LIBERTY

Okay where was I....

The Good:

Guys, I know it was Jackson State but pretty much everything was good. We had no flashy, unnecessary trick play calls (talking about you, double-reverse flea flicker). Outside of like the first two plays of the game we locked in on defense, recording 5 total sacks, one pick six, and one scoop and score. For the first time in a while the TCU defense put a smile on this guy’s face.

While we’re on the defense let’s talk about some of the new faces, and the old faces that were in new places. Ty Summers looked good at DE, Ross Blacklock was great and hustled up and down the field, Ben Banogu AKA “Banogu drums” essentially lived in the opponent’s backfield, and the team as a whole had 15 total tackles for loss.

On the other side of the ball TCU did just as well. The Frogs scored on more drives than they didn’t, and the offense was humming. Last year the offense seemed to be like a jalopy that would either roar or not start at all, but if this game is any indication of how we’re going to look this year then it looks like we’re going to see a lot more of the former. We played with a pretty good pace throughout the game, but we weren’t afraid to slow it down to get the proper plays set.

Of course we had some great impact plays made by some freshman, which is always great to see. Kenedy Snell had a sports center top 10 play with his dance from one sideline to the other that ended in the first TD of the season for TCU. Of course the second coming of Christ, Jalen Reagor, caught his first pass as a Horned Frog and took it 32 yards while shoving off the little boys that tried to tackle him and set up the Frogs up with excellent field position.

Oh ya and then when TCU was up by 42 points, Shawn Robinson made his TCU debut! Guys this game was so exciting for so many reasons other than the fact that we bossed up on our opponent. Robinson’s first completion went for a 56 yard TD pass, albeit Tre’Vontae Hights did a lot of the work so I gotta give props to him too. Robinson also made some defenders miss on a 40-yard run. He’s absolutely a star in the making and it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch him develop into “the guy” in the coming years.

I haven’t even mentioned how the usual suspects came out swinging today. KaVontae Turpin had a gorgeous 39 yard run for a tuddy, on what may have been my favorite play call of the game. Oh ya Desmond White also had two TD receptions in what may have been his best game ever. Shout out to my short guys on the team, Snell, Turpin, and White all scored for the Frogs. Darius Anderson looked great as well, he looked once more like the incredibly natural runner that we all know he could be. I’m hoping he gets more carries this year, because I think he may be the best pure runner of all of our backs.

Now I’d be disappointed in myself if I didn’t talk about my boy. Kenny “get buckets” Hill. He went 18 for 23, for 206 yards, and threw 4 TDs (although one was the amazing play from Snell, but nobody will remember that lil tid bit come voting time). The guy looked sharp in this one. Last year he came out and put up a ton of yards in the opener, but he looked incredibly focused and really precise in this one. We’ll get a better feel for Hill in the next game since he was only under center for 8 drives for this one, so he’s going to have to put up Lamar Jackson numbers next week to get the Heisman narrative on track. It’s really an exciting time guys...okay I guess I’ll mention some bad things now.

The Bad

Not much. It was a little concerning when Jackson state moved 40 yards on their first drive, but the team settled in after that.

Kyle Hicks, our best offensive weapon in this writer’s opinion, didn’t get to play because he was a little banged up before the game. Hopefully this isn’t anything too concerning going forward, especially with the Frogs heading on the road to play Arkansas next week. It’ll be good to have a fully rested Hicks next week though, so here’s hoping Hicks scores a couple of plays for six next week.

The only play that was “bad” on offense was when Kenny threw a pick in the 3rd quarter. He was trying to hit Turpin on a wheel route, but he waited a bit too long to throw it and it ended up in the hands of one of the three defenders around him. Obviously nobody wants to see Kenny throw 13 picks again, but it put me at ease when Sonny had him make the exact same throw to the other side of the field to White, which resulted in a TD.

Also bad, I have no HOT TAEKS for you guys this week, but don’t worry, it’s a long season.

No pressure but the most important game of the season is next week

It’s the first real test of the season. On the road at Arkansas trying to avenge last year’s *expletive* frustrating loss to the Hogs. We’ll get to see what this team’s mettle is really made of, in a place where a win is never easy. The fans are going to be calling for the Frogs, but let’s hope they’re calling for their UBERS after the 3rd quarter cause the game will be over by then (it won’t b/c nothing is easy as a TCU fan). But I can for sure say that I am excited to watch this team ball out and test themselves.

Play of the game

I’m trying to start this new section of the MMQB where we recognize the “play of the game” it may be the most important play of the game, it may be the flashiest, or it may be the FOW staff’s subjective favorite. This one was pretty easy though, because Kenedy Snell gave us one hell of TD for the first of the season.

Go Frogs people, stay sweet.