MMQB: Shark Fishing

The Frogs picked up a comfortable victory over LIU on Saturday.

The Frogs moved to 2-0 with a dominant 45-0 victory over the Long Island University Sharks on Saturday. There was no doubt who the better team was in this one as the Frogs outgained LIU by almost 300 yards. All in all, TCU took care of business and is now 2-0 heading into its first conference game of the season against UCF.

The Good

Josh Hoover: For the second straight week, Josh Hoover was in complete control of the offense. Hoover was very efficient in this one, completing 20 of 25 passes for 267 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Through two games this season, Hoover is completing over 72 percent of his passes and averaging 310 yards through the air per game. Though the defenses TCU has faced have not been world-beaters by any means, Hoover has looked more than impressive thus far. The touchdown pass to Chase Curtis was my favorite throw of the game from Hoover especially after all the red zone struggles TCU had in 2023. The throwing windows in the red zone are smaller and close quicker meaning quarterbacks have to be decisive and a strong arm becomes even more valuable. Hoover showed off both of those traits on the pass to Curtis, zipping the ball into a tight window, slightly to the back shoulder so that Curtis could catch the pass and be in a position to brace himself for a hit. Frog fans should feel very confident in their quarterback heading into Big 12 play.

Receivers: The wide receiving corps for TCU is much deeper than it was a season ago thanks in part to new additions and steps forward by players who were on the roster last year. The biggest factor has been Savion Williams playing like an alpha, number-one receiver. Williams finished with five catches for 69 yards against LIU and could have had much more had TCU not pulled starters early in the second half. Eric McAlister appeared to be fully in the rotation after seeing limited playing time in week one due to injury and had a couple of catches for 54 yards. Jojo Earle made his return from injury and looked shifty as ever with some solid route running to rack up three catches for 24 yards and a touchdown. This offense is loaded with receiving weapons for Josh Hoover to throw to.

Running backs: Cam Cook and Dominique Johnson both had solid days for the Frogs on Saturday. Cook was the lead back with 13 carries for 58 yards and three touchdowns. Cook had a very strong fall camp and has continued to succeed through the first two weeks forcing missed tackles and being very effective in the red zone with four touchdowns already. Johnson had the other rushing touchdown of the day for the Frogs as he had seven carries for 26 yards to go along with the score. Trey Sanders looked solid in limited action and true freshman Jeremy Payne was good in the second half. The running backs for the Frogs have looked solid in 2024.

Defense: The TCU defense was excellent on Saturday holding LIU to just 127 yards of total offense. The Sharks only averaged 1.7 yards per carry as a team as the Frogs controlled the line of scrimmage all game. Namdi Obiazor continued to impress, picking up 5 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and his first career interception. Richard Toney Jr. and Johnny Hodges tied for the team lead in tackles, each with seven on the game. Notre Dame transfer NaNa Osafo-Mensah collected his first sack as a Frog along with two tackles. Max Carroll had a very strong game with six tackles and a pass breakup. Jamel Johnson is another standout from the first two weeks as he tipped the pass that ended up being intercepted by Obiazor. Perhaps what was most encouraging was the intentional adjustments made by Andy Avalos to limit the quarterback scramble as that was an issue against Stanford. Luca Stanzani, the LIU quarterback, picked up just 12 yards on five rushing attempts in the game as TCU did a solid job of staying in their rushing lanes and limiting his ability to escape the pocket. LIU crossed the 50 just three times in the game as the Frogs were very impressive on the defensive side of the ball.

Less mental errors:

Against Stanford, TCU was plagued by penalties, turnovers, and concentration drops allowing Stanford to stay in the game much longer than they should have last week. Cleaning up these mental mistakes was clearly a focus in practice last week because the Frogs did not turn the ball over, had no concentration drops, and had no penalties in the first half. There were some penalties committed in the second but I am willing to chalk those up to young players getting into the game for the first time. The Frogs played a much cleaner football game and as a result had no trouble pulling away early.

The Bad

Run blocking: Through two weeks, the TCU run blocking has not been very impressive. Against Stanford and LIU, the Frogs have averaged 3.1 yards per carry as a team and 3.4 yards per carry as a team respectively. Neither Stanford nor LIU have dominant defensive fronts and there should have been more space for Cam Cook and the other running backs to work with. Against better defenses, TCU could struggle mightily to run the ball.

Play of the Game

I love the creativity on the goal line on the first touchdown for the Frogs. Cool way to get Cam Cook the ball in space.