TCU News: Athlon gives Frogs no shot in Austin

Football:

TCU Football Game-by-Game Predictions for 2018 | Athlon Sports

Spoiler Alert: All are picking AGAINST the Frogs for the Ohio State game AND THE TEXAS GAME. Four years of utter beatdowns, and not one of these writers thinks TCU can win at Austin?!!!?? Hoooooo boy, that ought to fire up GP.

Also... one picked Baylor. So... yeah.

But the schedule is difficult. Playing SMU on short rest in Week 2 is trickier than it looks on paper. Afterward, TCU faces a three-headed monster of physical teams over the next three weeks with a trip to Austin sandwiched between a semi-neutral site heavyweight matchup with Ohio State and a visit from Iowa State. Later, Oklahoma has an extra week of preparation before travelling to Fort Worth and TCU must make the long trip to West Virginia where the nation’s top quarterback will be waiting. Finally, not playing Oklahoma State until the regular season finale means the Cowboys will have all season to get its new offensive personnel settled.

The Horned Frogs have the talent and coaching prowess to make a run at a second straight Big 12 Championship Game appearance, but the schedule does not set up will for a College Football Playoff push.

10 most overrated college football teams entering the season | Larry Brown Sports

Wow, the hits keep coming, eh?

Of course... the fact that they mention Taj Williams, who had two receptions, and not John Diarse kind of gives away that they have no idea what they are talking about.

Gary Patterson’s squad is another group that we’re just not buying as a conference title contender. The defense will be solid, and Shawn Robinson looks to have a very bright future at quarterback, but no Big 12 team will have to absorb more turnover than the Horned Frogs will this year. Among the players they lost are Joseph Noteboom, Matt Pryor, Taj Williams, Kyle Hicks, and Travin Howard. That all will have an impact.

Top 15 College Football Defensive Ends | WSAU

The matchup of Nick Bosa and Ben Banogu in week two should be fun. Hopefully, Ben shows the younger Bosa up.

10. Ben Banogu, TCU: Gary Patterson’s Horned Frogs finally got their defensive identity back, and BAnogu played a big role. He has a knack for always seeing the ball, and making big plays.

Ben Banogu is latest example of a gem discovered by Gary Patterson, TCU | The Athletic

Oh, hey... The Athletic remembered that there is a good college football team in Fort Worth. Nice.

Ben Banogu isn’t supposed to be here.

He isn’t supposed to be representing TCU at Big 12 media days. He isn’t supposed to be voted as the preseason Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and take a spot on the preseason All-Big 12 team, as voted by the media. That isn’t the expectation for a two-star recruit who was ranked as the 472nd recruit in Texas and 3,119th in the country.

But that is the case because of a match made in heaven between Banogu and TCU head coach Gary Patterson.

Gary Patterson Continues Defending Big 12 and Recruiting Ability | Heartland College Sports

TCU has made major inroads with top Texas talent, and still has one of the best and most distinguished coaching staffs in the conference, if not the country.

I’m not sure how much higher the recruiting ceiling is for TCU, but you’re seeing why some of the Texas programs were always hesitant to make the Horned Frogs a legitimate Power 5 program, because this kind of success was always a possibility based on their location and proximity to so much high-level talent in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Meantime, with the retirement of Bob Stoops last year, Patterson gladly took Stoops’ place as the “voice” for the Big 12 Conference. That mantra continued this year as he pointed out the stability of the conference, saying, “You’re talking to a guy that’s been in a lot of conferences, I don’t know anything thought the Big 12 had instability, you should have been in all the conferences I’ve been in. It’s less and I think you’re seeing — you look in the recruiting, your kids are starting to stay in at least the state of Texas and in surrounding states, starting to stay home more, lot of good players.”

College football’s best teams to never win a BCS or CFP title | 247 Sports

Must. We. Keep. Re. Living. 2014?

This Horned Frogs team was special and the most deserving of any College Football Playoff-era snub to be in the final four. Equipped with one of the nation’s highest-scoring offenses, TCU thrashed four Top 20 and suffered its only loss to then fifth-ranked Baylor, 61-58, on the road. Needing to pass the eye test without a conference championship game in the regular-season finale vs. Iowa State, TCU dismantled the Cyclones, 55-3. Still, it was Ohio State that got the Playoff’s final bid (and wound up winning it all with Cardale Jones at quarterback) ahead of Gary Patterson’s squad. TCU responded with a 42-3 whooping of a talented Ole Miss team in the Peach Bowl a few weeks later. Everyone in Ft. Worth still wonders what might have been for one of the nation’s hottest teams.

2020 Four-Star QB Ken Seals Busy Summer Almost Complete | 247 Sports

The Frogs have a good relationship with Seals, but have yet to offer one of the top pro-style QBs in the 2020 class. Will they pull the trigger if he impresses Friday night? Or do they need to see more at the varsity level from the young gunslinger?

Seals’ summer camp circuit isn’t completely finished. He still plans to attend camps next week at TCU (27th) and Baylor (28th). Seals has gone to TCU camps several years and he’s always been a big fan of the program.

“I’ve always been a huge fan of Coach (Gary) Patterson and Coach (Sonny) Cumbie and I’ve been going to that camp ever since I was in sixth grade,” he said. “There’s almost a sentimental attachment going to that school every summer. Obviously I love TCU and I’ve been a fan ever since I was little. I definitely always love going to TCU’s camp and even though their recruiting process hasn’t turned out exactly how I wanted to I’m still excited for what can happen.”