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My watching experience - a story told in gif form.
First Quarter:
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Second Quarter:
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Third Quarter:
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Fourth Quarter:
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I think I’ve said all I need to say about the emotional journey of this game, alright let’s jump into this.
The Good:
-IS THAT KAVONTAE TURPIN’S MUUUUUUSIC I HEAR? Ladies and gentlemen Turp does not deserve the current season that TCU is going through. The guy played his butt off, returning a kick and taking a screen pass to the house. Two of the three most positive moments for the Frogs in this game can be attributed to Turpin. I am going to be so sad when we don’t have him on the team next year, and he’s off on to hopefully bigger and better things.
*** editor’s note: this was, of course, written prior to Monday morning’s news about Turpin having been arrested. We chose to leave it in, to remember the good times. ***
- Michael Collins in the second quarter: When Robinson couldn’t get anything going against an OU defense with a (well earned) bad reputation, the coaching staff decided to switch it up. Of course on the first two drives that Collins came in on, he threw back to back touchdown passes to Turpin and Reagor respectively. The third drive ended up in a FG, which wasn’t bad all things considered, and it had appeared to given the Frogs momentum going in to half time. The second touchdown throw to Reagor was gorgeous, and had the perfect amount of touch. It got TCU back within a score and the rest of the quarter was pretty fun because of it.
-Jalen Reagor: Because of the afore mentioned touchdown reception and for being Jalen Reagor.
-Our Uniform Combination: Despite the score being ugly, I thought the Frogs at least looked good while getting run over.
-The offensive line showing signs of improvement: Last week I was pretty rough on the offensive line and while they weren’t perfect on Saturday, they showed a lot of improvement. I don’t know if putting in Collins got them to play better/harder/more focused or whatever, but I can safely say that they looked like they were trending in the right direction...well, at least in pass protection.
*Deep inhale*
Okay on to the bad...
The Bad:
-Our Record: The Frogs have a losing record for the first time in two seasons. Luckily, whenever we have a losing record it means that we bounce back the following year. That being said, we are not in 2019 just yet and I am also not ready to totally give up on this season.
-Collins in the entire second half: The spark that Collins had started in the second quarter failed to erupt into the large bonfire that we had all wanted it to become in the second half. Instead it died with a whimper, and then Oklahoma proceeded to start a fire of their own...up and down the field for 323 yards of JUST rushing yards. In the second half Collins threw about 4 times the number of incompletions as completions, and a pretty awful pick. Fortunately, that was his only turnover of the game. Hopefully his blister heals and we will be able to see him at full health if he plays next week. Oh speaking of quarterbacks:
-The quarterback situation: I would not say that it is necessarily better than what it was last week. That second half from Collins was pretty bad guys. True, he did show off his wheels, leading the team in rushing with 36 yards on 7 carries, but oh man was he throwing some really low throws, and that pick was just baffling. That being said, it was pretty clear that Shawn was not going to get it done on Saturday. I am personally not a fan of benching the guy that won the job in camp when he is having a bad day, but this has been going on since the Texas game, and it appears that we can’t put up points - regardless of who is under center.
While the ownership of the offense does not fall entirely on the shoulders of the young quarterback - DESPITE WHAT APPARENTLY EVERY FAN NEAR ME AT THE GAME THINKS - it is alarming to see us be inept on offense no matter what change we make. I will say, that if the offensive line played the way it did for Shawn Robinson like it did for Collins, then I think we could see some exciting things in the passing game from number 3. That being said, I would not be opposed to Collins getting the start in Lawrence next week, just to see what he can bring to the table with a week of practice with the 1’s.
My biggest fear is that we shake a young quarterback’s confidence by yanking him, and he begins to overthink every choice he makes - instead of growing into the dynamic playmaker that I know he can be.
I hate to say it, and to make truly definitive statements like these - especially negative - but ever since our game against Ohio State...we suck on offense.
Not breaking any news there, I know.
-The run defense today - *checks box score*
*Sees we gave up over 300 yards of rushing offense to Oklahoma*
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA
Next.
-The Defense in general - Look I didn’t have much faith that we would be able to slow the Sooners offense down much, but we did make them punt more than 3 times, which is the biggest moral victory of the day. Oh wait what’s that? We gave up 52 points...yikes. I knew their offense was scary, and I expected them to drop 40+ on us, but I was thinking it was going to come with deep bombs and Kyler Murray houdini plays...well instead they just ran over us. We couldn’t stop them, and I’m just thankful that Lincoln Riley is going to be the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys this time next year.
Play of the Game:
Well, there wasn’t much to work with, but if I had to choose one...I would go with maybe the one that a lot of television viewers wouldn’t go with right away, but for anyone in the stadium this is the obvious one. WHEN MICHAEL COLLINS WANTED ALL OF THE SMOKE AND STIFF ARMED THE LIFE OUT OF THE 5 STAR FRESHMAN LINEBACKER:
Michael Collins came to play today. pic.twitter.com/gDwi6vxTVQ
— Max Olson (@max_olson) October 20, 2018
It was great. The crowd loved it. It set the tone and got the rest of the team to play hard - and helped get the purple fans back into the game. I have to go with the style points here. Special shout out to Reagor’s touchdown and Turpin’s response to OU’s scoring drive kick return for a touchdown.
Next week - A trip up to Lawrence
This will be the first time all year that the Frogs have to play football outside of the state of Texas. It is against Kansas, who in the past can smell when there is the metaphorical blood in the water and likes to play the Frogs close.
Praying for better fortune in this one.