MMQB: Noche de Nightmares

The Frogs moved back to .500 on the season with a loss to Houston on Friday.

Last year TCU lost on the road in an ugly game to Iowa State by 13 points and I titled the MMQB article following that game “Rock Bottom (I Hope)”. After this past Friday, I can confidently say that the Iowa State loss was not rock bottom. TCU lost by a final score of 30-19 to Houston, who was 1-4 coming into the game this past weekend. At home. As 16.5 point favorites according to ESPN. The bad category is going to be much longer than the good category in this article.

The Good

Cam Cook: Cam Cook had his second consecutive solid game on Friday with 14 carries for 77 yards, good for an average of 5.5 yards per carry. Cook looked like the running back TCU fans thought he could be coming out of high school and continues to provide evidence that his slow start to the season was a product of lack of experience as opposed to lack of ability. Cook did a solid job breaking tackles and using his speed to beat defenders to the edge when necessary. If TCU had not been losing for most of the game on Friday, Cook would have undoubtedly received more carries and most likely cracked the 100-yard rushing mark for the first time in his career.

The Bad

Turnovers: The TCU offense has a turnover problem. The Frogs have not done a good job protecting the ball this season and they turned the ball over four times against Houston on Friday. TCU’s defense has been lackluster in 2024. The offense continues to give opposing offenses great field position and extra possessions via turnovers, setting the defense up to fail. Josh Hoover has played very well in 2024 and is a huge reason, if not the main reason, that TCU has the three wins that it does. That being said, he has to take better care of the football. Both interceptions on Friday were just bad decisions and he needs to be more aware in the pocket of when to tuck the ball and take a sack. I appreciate his willingness and toughness to stand in the pocket under pressure to try and make a throw but a some point he needs to cut his losses and protect the football. TCU ball carriers need to do a better job preventing fumbles too as there was another fumble that killed a promising drive on Friday.

Offensive line: The TCU offensive line has struggled at run blocking this season but pass blocking had been consistent coming into this game. The pass blocking fell apart against Houston. The Cougars got to Hoover for three sacks on Friday and were able to consistently generate pressure to disrupt TCU’s passing offense. There were some blitzes and stunts run by the Cougars but the majority of the pressure was created by the defensive line of Houston winning one on one against the offensive line of TCU which is a concerning sign for the rest of the season. The offensive line struggled against the Cougars on Friday.

Defense: It is well documented that Houston had been shut out in the two games leading up to this week. The Cougar offense had looked inept with no identity or source of explosive plays. On Friday, the Frogs let up 361 yards of total offense and 30 points to that Houston offense. The starting quarterback on Friday for Houston was Zeon Chriss who had not started a game at the power four level before. Chriss had a completion percentage of 83 percent and averaged 7.7 yards per attempt against the Frogs on Friday. Chriss also rushed for 97 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, good for 8.8 yards per carry. The Cougars averaged almost five yards per carry as a team and totaled over 200 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. There was not a position group on the defense I can confidently say played well on Friday. The defensive line lost at the point of attack time and time again. The linebackers did not do a very good job tackling or containing the quarterback running game. The TCU secondary was deficient holding up in coverage. The defense failed to create a turnover against an offense that had been incredibly turnover-prone through the first five games. Houston did not run a complex scheme that should have caught TCU off guard. They simply lined up, exerted their will at the line of scrimmage, and did whatever they wanted from there. There have been a number of very disappointing performances from the TCU defense this season and this one took the cake for the worst defensive game of the season considering the offense they were facing.

Energy: This game against Houston was the second game of 2024 where TCU’s opponent came out of the locker room for kick-off with noticeably more energy and excitement, and looked distinctly more ready to play football than TCU. Against Houston and SMU, TCU came out incredibly flat and never recovered from getting punched in the mouth in the first quarter. Both the players and coaches felt wildly underprepared for the game against SMU and Houston. The quarterback sneak on fourth and a yard and a half against Houston and the triple option on fourth and one against SMU are two play calls that seem like panic calls because the coaches weren’t ready for a big play call that early in the game. It felt like TCU did not expect any adversity in this game and did not know how to respond when adversity came.

Underperforming: TCU is underperforming their talent level this season by a comfortable margin. The Frogs have too much talent to be a .500 football team with the schedule they have played up to this point. TCU has prided itself for years on doing more with less and this year the Frogs are doing less with more which is a sad statement to make about the state of the program.

Play of the Game

Savion using his athletic frame to make contested catches is always fun to watch.