Frog Mailbag: How will TCU respond after home loss against UCF?

We take questions from Facebook and poll our Twitter followers in preparation for the Iron Skillet this weekend.

TCU football suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday, blowing a three-touchdown lead in a 35-34 defeat against UCF. Although Josh Hoover was outstanding, throwing for 402 yards and four touchdowns with no turnovers, TCU failed to generate an effective run game, finishing with 58 yards on 17 carries. Meanwhile, UCF rushed for nearly 300 yards and scored four second-half touchdowns against a Horned Frog defense that went without a sack and failed in large part to stop the run game. Despite a trio of blocked kicks on special teams, TCU fell just short and will look to rebound against SMU this weekend. Here are the Facebook questions and Twitter polls for this week’s Frog Mailbag.

There are a combination of factors in play here. When TCU shut out LIU last weekend, the offense rushed for four red-zone touchdowns. Even though it’s a lesser opponent, I thought that maybe the Horned Frogs would begin to establish the run more frequently inside the red zone. The only instance we saw of this was during the second half, when Cam Cook took two carries to the 1-yard line before a false start on third down led to an incomplete pass and a field goal. While the penalty took away the chance to run again, I still think that rushing in the red zone has to be a priority for this offense, which philosophically doesn’t appear to prioritize running the football in general. I also think the offensive line needs to do a better job of creating running lanes. For what it’s worth, the pass protection for Hoover has been great so far, as Hoover has yet to be sacked in three games. TCU’s offensive line is also filled with new players, so it may take some time for the communication to improve. I’m anxious to see how TCU runs the ball against SMU, who did a good job against it last year.

I don’t think conditioning is the issue for TCU’s defense right now. UCF entered this matchup as one of the best rushing teams in the Big 12 and in all of college football, while the Horned Frog defense is arguably its weakest on the interior of the defensive line, where the team lost star nose tackle Damonic Williams to the transfer portal. During the first half, TCU put the UCF offense into more obvious passing situations and moved the Knights away from their desired plan of attack. The Horned Frogs also blocked two field goals, which killed promising UCF drives that took up significant amounts of play clock. Other than a blocked extra point, TCU did neither of those things well in the second half. KJ Jefferson also made better throws in the second half, where Kobe Hudson did most of his damage. The biggest issue defensively was the lack of adjustments. I would’ve like to see more men in the box on early downs or some sort of sub package with four defensive linemen as opposed to three defensive linemen and an EDGE rusher. Three of TCU’s top four interior linemen (Caleb Fox, Tymon Mitchell and Markis Deal) combined for just one tackle.

We are still months away from the season being over, but I’d argue the expectations for this year’s team are to make a bowl game at the VERY minimum. Given the resources TCU has and the talent currently on the roster, there’s no excuse to not be competitive in the new Big 12 now that Texas and Oklahoma are in the SEC. I’m still hopeful that TCU can win eight games this season, but should the Horned Frogs finish 6-6 or fail to reach a bowl again, then we would be in line for more significant changes in the offseason. Ultimately, Briles’ fate will be determined by how well the offense fares and whether or not the team can make the necessary adjustments, particularly in the run game and in/near the red zone, where TCU struggled mightily in his first season last fall. A lot can happen over the next few months, but I’m still optimistic that TCU can be a top-8 or even a top-4 Big 12 team this year.

As expected, fans attributed TCU’s loss to multiple factors including an inability to run the football, a failure to contain UCF’s rushing attack and poor playcalling on offense. With that said, I’m a little surprised to see how greatly this loss has impacted fans’ views of the new defense. Like I mentioned previously, TCU’s defensive line, particularly on the interior, was a noticeable weakness in terms of talent, but the amount of talent, experience and depth at linebacker and in the secondary should still give fans enough confidence that things will get better. As far as the offensive line is concerned, I think that group will turn it around as well. TCU has three new starters including tackle Bless Harris, guard Carson Bruno and center James Brockermeyer, who all arrived through the transfer portal.

Despite concerns about the run game, TCU fans remain very confident in their redshirt sophomore quarterback, who has already eclipsed 1,000 passing yards this season and has eight touchdown passes with zero interceptions. Hoover’s only turnover was a botched exchange with Cam Cook on a run play against Stanford. Hoover has shown excellent poise in the pocket, making multiple reads and shredding opposing defenses over the middle of the field. While it’s early, Hoover has a 69.7 completion percentage, which is nearly 8 percent higher than it was last season.

Hoover has had help from playmakers like Jack Bech, who is the clear breakout player of the year right now for TCU. Through three games, Bech has already caught more passes (17) and posted more receiving yards (350) than he did in the entire 2023 campaign. I’m very curious to see how TCU splits up the wide receiver reps when Dylan Wright returns. Wright had earned a starting spot over Eric McAlister, but an injury has kept him out of action so far. Regardless, Bech has earned a starting role and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

It’s nice to see that TCU fans are still excited about playing SMU. This year’s Iron Skillet battle could be the last ever between the two rival schools in a time where the landscape of college football is changing rapidly and geographical rivalries are fading away. Ironically, this year’s matchup against the Mustangs carries slightly more weight now that SMU is technically a Power 4 opponent as a member of the ACC. I’m still cracking up about the game being broadcast on the CW, though.