Well I’m not going to say that I enjoyed watching the entirety of that game, but I will say that I enjoyed seeing the Frog faithful easily out number the SMU fans at the game (yes I know it was thunderstorm szn out there, but still go Frogs nonetheless).

It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win, alright let’s jump in:

The Good:

• The defense in the second half (and to be honest, the most of the first half). The Frogs only gave up 12 points in this one, only giving up one touchdown the entire game which occurred on SMU’s opening drive. I should mention that the touchdown that the ponies scored appeared to be due to a couple of missed tackles due to the...inclement weather. After the Mustangs kicked a FG to close out the first half, it was all over for the SMU offense. TCU shut them out in the second half, and the Frogs forced punt after punt and had a nice strip sack a la Ben Banogu. Of course Frog fans may have been a bit nervous in the first half, but the Frog defense gave us all reason to exhale and relax once half time ended.
• TURPIN TIIIIIIME - once again Turpin came through big time for TCU. When the TCU offense was looking less than stellar, number 25 decided to call his own number and scored 6 to put TCU on the board. Turp also led the Frogs in receptions and receiving with 4 receptions for 64 yards and a touchdown. Good Turp, very good Turp.
• Shawn Robinson on the ground. He was the second leading rusher on the day, with 8 carries for 67 yards, averaging 8.4 yards together is never something to be sad about. It was good to see Shawn create plays with his feet when the air game wasn’t always working smoothly. He scored on a nice little scamper late in the game to pretty much put SMU out of it. It’ll be interesting to see how he plays against faster teams, but I’d like to think that Robinson is going to make a lot of defenders miss in his career at TCU.
• Gary Patterson second half adjustments. Why? Because Gary second half adjustments keep me alive.

The Not so Good/The Bad

• Alright I’ll rip it off like a bandaid. Shawn didn’t look great passing that night, AND BEFORE ANYONE SAYS ANYTHING, I know it was pouring. I feel for the guy, because 2 of his first 3 starts have come in games with very bad weather, so he hasn’t gotten to show how good of a passer he really is. The overthrows to deep receivers still concern me, but I feel like that is going to come with time. The underthrows I can at least rationalize through because of how wet the footballs were, along with the different type of footballs they were using due to the conditions. I still want him to be more accurate, which I think he can be. However, he needs time and reps and the goods will come with those. However, I have to say (like I did last week), he is not going to be able to get away with staring down receivers. If an SMU DB can read his eyes as he stares down his first read and make a play to pick it off, what do you think an Ohio State DB is going to do? I always try and give Frog QB’s the benefit of the doubt, but Shawn has done this in back to back games (hawkeye his receivers in the red zone) so I’m looking for him to work on this and improve...which I know he can do. Time and reps will help break that habit.
• I know I said the defense was a bright spot of the game, but I will say that I wasn’t a fan of the missed tackles on the first couple of SMU drives, but of course Gary coached up the Frogs and got them rolling later.
• The missed field goal was not great for my heart, but again...it was raining cats and dogs so I’m not going to lose too much sleep over it.
• The weather conditions were also not good. Not much we can do about that though.

Play of the Game:

It’s honestly a tie between two touchdown plays. One is the Turpin kick return that kickstarted the Frogs’ momentum and the other is the strip sack from Ben Bangou that was turned into a touchdown thanks to an Alec Dunham scoop and score. As many of you know, I have mad love for Ben Banogu and his “Ostrich Eggs” so I will openly admit that I’m leaning towards the latter of these two plays. Okay...I’m going with the latter of these two plays. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN I PRESENT YOU BEN BANOGU’S FIRST SACK OF THE SEASON: (Start at 2:04).

Next week: THE matchup against Ohio State

Well next week is probably going to be the game with the most eyeballs on it for the Frogs all year long...so let’s hope that we look good. This game didn’t give me the most confidence going in to the matchup against Ohio State, but I know that we’ll be the underdogs, counted out, and that’s just the way that coach Gary Patterson likes it. Let’s put some respect on that TCU name.