It was a tough weekend for DFW football, college and NFL respectively.

Two games, two QB’s that got hurt. One game had a TCU quarterback lead the team to a late victory and the other had a TCU quarterback come in and then throw the game deciding pick 6 in the third quarter.

THE THIRD QUARTER.

Despite allowing only one offensive touchdown from Kansas State the Frogs lost at home. I don’t want to get ahead of myself so let’s rip the bandaid off.

The Bad:

- Almost everything on the offensive side of the football, but allow me to go in on the offensive line: Pretty sure that’s the longest subtitle I’ve written in my history of writing for FoW. The offensive line has not been a good unit for 2 seasons and 3 games now. Wes Harris is good, shout out to him but my goodness this O-Line cannot protect the QB in pass protection and we all saw what happened to Max Duggan at the beginning of the second half. Duggan’s first injury wasn’t on them, he just got blown up trying to spin, but I’m running out of excuses for this offensive coaching staff.

I rarely place any offensive blame on the head coach, since Patterson’s side of the ball did its job, AND THEN SOME, only allowing one offensive touchdown and 14 points in total over 4 quarters. I’m also not ready to bring the guillotine down on Doug Meacham since the OL was bad, banged up, and inconsistent. At some point you do have to make play calling adjustments to make up for the lack of a quality O-line and play to your strengths (a dynamic QB that can make plays with his legs). I will say, that first down run on the first play of the last drive of the game is proof to me that Meacham is still drinking 4Loko on the sidelines.

In all seriousness with this offense it feels like it has been two steps forward and then two steps right back. We saw progress in the second half of the Iowa State game, HUGE progress in the UT game and then.....well this. My guard should’ve been up more since even bad TCU teams beat UT.

The play calling wasn’t great outside of 2 or 3 drives on offense, and the same can be said for the offensive line play. Max didn’t show a ton of touch today and the Kansas State defense absolutely made him uncomfortable in the pocket. Both teams exhibited great defensive coaching and I don’t want to take anything away from Kansas State’s defensive coaching staff.

While I don’t hold Gary totally responsible for this loss, at some point we are going to have to talk about the offseason changes that were made if this does keep up. While every team outside of Alabama and Clemson is capable of getting caught with its pants down (hello LSU and Florida), if the losses continue to pile up for the third straight season then Gary’s gonna have to bring in some new blood. As much as I love Cumbie and Meacham, when your biggest move is to bring in Jerry Kill and if it results with not a ton of difference on offense...well you have to take a look in the mirror. There’s a lot of season left and losing to a Chris Klieman coached team isn’t the end of the world...losing a game at home has kind of lost its sting.

It’s happened way too much in the past 3 years and with TCU’s rise in recruiting rankings, we have to do better. It’s a results based business and we’re not producing. I’m not trying to have an existential crisis about TCU football 3 games in, but we just cannot keep dropping these winnable games.

Long story short - fix the damn offensive line, I don’t need NFL level play, I just want solid OL play.

The Good:

-Max Duggan tough guy: While he did not play great, Max for what feels like the 20th time in his 15 game career had to try and outplay not only the other team’s defense, but also his offensive line. After taking off on a scramble and getting blown up, Duggan could barely get off the field right before half time. On the first offensive series for the Frogs in the second half, the TCU OL caved and let Max get hit on third down resulting in another injury/re-aggravation of the previous injury.

DESPITE THAT, QB1 came back into the game late and led the Frogs down the field for a touchdown that he himself took in. Other than literally outplaying his own team’s inefficiencies I do not know what more you want from this kid if you are a TCU fan. He brings toughness every week, he’s a competitor, and he makes plays.

-Blair Conwright is a MAN: BC led the team in catches and receiving yards on the day and game in and game out shows that he is someone that can be counted on to make some plays.

-The Defense: They lost their second best player in the secondary early on to a targeting call, but overall it was a solid defensive effort. They didn’t let Kansas State’s backup quarterback ever get comfortable, look accurate, or good for that matter. Most of the big plays that did come in the K State passing game did seem to be borderline flukey with defenders seemingly a finger length away from turning it into a takeaway for TCU. The defense had TWO SACKS back to back in the fourth quarter so the defensive line did do something.

There’s really not much to criticize on this side of the ball. They really did only give up one touchdown to the K-State offense, and 14 points overall. It does upset me that we continue to “waste” these defensive gem performances.

Play of the Game:

On 4th down Thuggan Duggan channeled his inner Vince Young and scrambled to the right for a touchdown that brought TCU back within one possession of tying the game. Max you are one TOUGH son of a gun:

Next Week: BYE

The Frogs get an extra week off to prepare for a visit from the Oklahoma Sooners who are riding the high an emotional win. Let’s hope QB1 gets all healed up and is ready to go at 100%.