Three up, three down: Pro Wells is back, GP seems to contradict his own logic

Alexa, play “Marvin’s Room” by Drake.

That’s pretty much how I and everyone else in the Dan Jenkins Press Box at Amon G. Carter Stadium felt watching TCU get romped by Oklahoma last Saturday.

Ironically, the most embarrassing play of the day literally came at the hands of a guy named Marvin (Mims).

Games like this only make my three up, three down harder, but here we go.

Three Up:

1. Khari Coleman

Whether you watched the game in person or on TV, you heard this guy’s name a lot. The bottom line is (I feel like Gary when I say that): Khari went beast mode.

Against the Sooners, Coleman was everywhere, setting career-highs in tackles (8), tackles for a loss (3.5), and sacks (1). His sack was TCU’s only one of the day and just fifth of the year.

It felt like Coleman was the only guy who could get to the quarterback Saturday. If it were not for his efforts, Spencer Rattler’s career day probably would have been even more monstrous.

Despite the loss, the true freshman caught the attention of his teammates, as safety Tre Moehrig called him “a beast of a guy” during the postgame press conference.

For some context, Coleman is a three-star from G.W. Carver High School in New Orleans. Props to him: he chose playing in the purple and white over going to Kansas State, Kansas, or West Virginia.

If there is a silver lining to TCU’s defeat this weekend, it’s definitely that there is a defensive star budding in Fort Worth.

Remember the name Khari Coleman.

2. Pro Wells

TCU’s depth chart listed Pro Wells as a wide receiver before the Frogs’ season opener against Iowa State. To me, this implied that he was going to be a big part of the offense in 2020.

I would not have been opposed to that, and you wouldn’t have either.

Pro was downright dominant in 2019, especially in the red zone. He caught 17 passes, five of which went for touchdowns (led the team).

It felt like 2020 was finally the year we were going to see frequent use of a tight end in the Frogs’ offensive scheme.

Well, heading into Saturday’s game, Wells had *one* catch for 10 yards on the season. This was on three targets, tops.

The lack of Pro Wells in the offense was never addressed by Patterson. It was simply confusing.

Finally, Saturday brought us the action for which we had been waiting. Duggan went to Wells twice, who caught both passes for 58 yards and a touchdown. His first catch had gone for 47 yards, setting up TCU’s first touchdown on a six-yard Damairqua Foster run.

It’s not rocket science, Gary. Go to Pro Wells, and good things happen.

3. Zach Evans

There wasn’t really a third TCU player that stood out, but Zach Evans certainly showed us a few things to be excited about.

Ironically, this didn’t come in the run game, but we will get to that later.

Evans did ball out in the area of pass-catching, though. The true freshman caught five passes (second in the game behind only Taye Barber) for 56 yards. The five-star prospect showed off not only his hands but also his burst once in the open field.

It wasn’t anything too special, but it was certainly an appetizer for what could be a memorable TCU career for the young running back.

Maybe, just maybe, the Frogs could use Evans on the infamous wheel route (or something similar) that they so-often struggle to cover themselves.

Just an idea.

Three Down:

1. Whoever was guarding Marvin Mims

Look, it didn’t help that PFF’s third-ranked corner in the COUNTRY in Noah Daniels exited the game early with an injury.

However, what Marvin Mims did to TCU on Saturday was downright illegal.

The man looked like Randy Moss out there, catching just four passes for a whopping 132 yards and two scores. That’s 33 yards per catch, for anyone who was wondering.

The first score came early in the second quarter, as Dee Winters ran into the ref, leaving Mims more open than Denny’s on Christmas and giving up a 50-yard touchdown.

That wasn’t even the worst one. The second score came late in the third quarter. Rattler chucked it up for Mims, who mossed Kee’Yon Stewart, dropped him in the dirt like a rag doll, and strolled into the end zone for a 61-yard score.

It gets more horrible, though. Less than two minutes after sending Stewart to the grave, Mims also returned a punt 38 yards to set up an Oklahoma field goal to start the fourth.

I know, Marvin Mims is a beast and will likely be an All-American one day; however, TCU did an all-around pitiful job of covering him on Saturday.

2. TCU’s run game (and playcalling?)

The Frogs entered the OU game averaging just under 172 yards on the ground per game. Their running back core, led by Kendre Miller and Darwin Barlow, seemed to be finding at least somewhat of a rhythm.

Any such rhythm fell flat on Saturday, though.

TCU finished with 25 carries for just 75 yards on the day. Their leading rusher was redshirt freshman Daimarqua Foster, who had five carries for 20 yards and a score.

Part of this certainly has to do with the fact that the Frogs were throwing the ball often to try and catch up for most of the game.

Nevertheless, the 25 carries for TCU are their lowest of the season, and it’s not close. The next lowest has been the 37 they took against Kansas State.

I’m no StatsOWar, but such a low volume of running the football does not seem like TCU’s path to success.

Part of the blame certainly goes to the coaching staff for the way they called the game, but three yards per carry also is not exactly making lemonade with the lemons you’re given.

3. Gary Patterson

You knew it was coming. He’s back on the list.

There are a lot of things to complain about the Frogs these days (play calling, personnel decisions, dropped passes, poor blocking, etc.); but I tend to avoid such criticisms, citing the fact that the people in positions to make those decisions are either high-level coaches or athletes.

What I will harp on GP for is his decision to punt on 4^th-and-inches early in the fourth quarter on Saturday.

To set the scene, TCU had a 4^th-and-inches situation at their own 19 with just under nine minutes to play in the game. Typically, the logical thing to do here is punt so as to not give the opposing team free points were you to be unsuccessful in gaining a first.

Oh, it is important to note that the Frogs were down TWENTY THREE POINTS at the time. While any sort of comeback would have been astounding, it certainly becomes impossible when you decided to punt the ball back to the Sooners.

After the game, ole’ Gary had one word in response to if he thought about going for it,

“No.”

Following a long pause, GP added that you “can’t embarrass your kids” and that they ended up stopping Oklahoma anyways.

I have two complaints. First, the move here implied to everyone on the field, in the stands, and in the press box that Patterson had tucked this game away as an L for his team. He would never admit to that, but everyone was thinking it.

How would showing fight embarrass your kids? Plus, it was literally a few inches. Odds are that you get that first down more often than not.

Second, Patterson used the fact that they stopped the Sooners after that to prove why punting was the right move.

Not only does this ignore the fact that OU took off more than two precious, fourth quarter minutes with their ensuing drive; but it’s irrelevant, because you can’t prove that a bad decision was good because of an unrelated event that followed.

Ironically, Gary helped me learn this concept just a year ago when he preached to the media that Ohio State winning the national championship in 2014 cannot be used as evidence to prove that putting them in the CFB playoff over TCU was the right decision.

Whatever, bro.