MMQB: Ugly Wins Count

The Frogs gutted out a win on the road over the Utes this past Saturday.

The Frogs moved back above .500 on the season with a win on the road at Utah late this past Saturday night. The winning recipe for the Frogs was not one they had used in this season as it was a low-scoring game with a final score of 13-7. There were many encouraging aspects from this game, not the least of which was finding a way to win ugly against a well-coached team in the Utes. The Frogs also took large steps in the right direction in the running game and run defense against Utah which was exactly what TCU fans wanted to see coming off of a bye week. Any win on the road in a night game is a good win and the Frogs toughed one out this weekend.

The Good

Running game: The performance against Utah was the best rushing attack of the season for the Frogs. Credit to the TCU coaching staff for finding a way to inject some explosiveness into the rushing attack while simultaneously finding ways to get Savion Williams the ball by using him as a wildcat quarterback. Williams had seven carries for 72 yards, good for an average of over 10 yards per carry. I do not anticipate as many wildcat snaps for Williams in future games but I do think giving him a few traditional handoffs per game is a great way to find a change of pace in the running game. Williams flashed the ability to get downhill quickly, run through arm tackles, and outrun linebackers. Savion should be used out of the backfield consistently moving forward. Seeing the coaching staff use their personnel in creative ways to solve an offensive issue was very encouraging.

Another player that was integral to the increased success on the ground was Trent Battle. Battle made his 2024 season debut this week after missing the first six games due to injury and made an immediate impact with eight carries for 45 yards. Battle brought a good mix of power and solid speed to the rushing game that has been missing up to this point in the season. The two primary running backs have been Cam Cook and Jeremy Payne who present a similar style of running as speedier, lighter running backs. Both Williams and Battle bring more physicality to the rushing game while still having solid speed to create chunk plays. Also, shout out to Battle for some excellent work in pass protection. Through his three years at TCU, Battle has been a solid third down back with the ability to help in pass protection and be a receiving threat out of the backfield. Expect to see Battle in on key third downs moving forward. The offensive line was also solid in run blocking on Saturday against a very solid defensive front from Utah. There was solid movement created at the point of attack by the offensive line, freeing up space for ball carriers.

Rush defense: Much like the improvements made in the rushing attack on offense, the defense had its best performance against the run this season against Utah. The Frogs held a very potent Utah running game to 68 total yards, an average of 2.6 yards per carry, and no rushing touchdowns. Micah Bernard was averaging 6.6 yards per carry coming into the game against the Frogs and was held to just 55 yards rushing on Saturday. The defensive line for the Frogs had a very good game, pushing the Utah offensive line back and causing chaos in the backfield. The linebackers and secondary took advantage of the wins by the defensive line by coming downhill and racking up eight tackles for loss. Jamel Johnson and Abe Camara both did solid jobs of coming down from their safety positions to get involved in run defense. Linebackers Johnny Hodges, Kaleb Elarms-Orr, and Namdi Obiazor all had good games in run defense as well. The key for the Frogs coming into the game was to be solid against the run on early downs to force Utah into obvious passing downs and they executed on that gameplan very well.

Pass rush: The pass rush for the Frogs was active on Saturday night as they got to Isaac Wilson for four sacks as a team. Devean Deal saw a large increase in playing time with an injury to Cooper McDonald and took full advantage, picking up two sacks and five total tackles. Deal showcased solid pass rushing moves and very good athleticism in rushing the passer. Marcel Brooks was another playmaker for the TCU defense on Saturday with a sack and plenty of quarterback pressures. Elarms-Orr also picked up a sack on a beautifully designed blitz where the defensive tackle took on both the left guard and center and Elarms-Orr wrapped around to the right A-gap for a free rush at Wilson. When opposing offenses have been in obvious passing situations, the TCU pass rush has done a great job of taking advantage and getting after the quarterback this season.

Ethan Craw: One player that has been underrated this season, in my opinion, has been punter Ethan Craw. Craw was excellent again on Saturday with five of eight punts being downed inside the 20-yard line and long of 52 yards. In a low scoring game, winning the field position battle is very important and Craw was a big part of that for the Frogs on Saturday. Shoutout to Ethan Craw.

The Bad

Red zone offense: Ghosts of 2023 came back to haunt the TCU offense as the Frogs managed just one touchdown on five red zone trips against Utah. The Frogs were not great at converting all of those trips to field goals either as there was a red zone turnover and a blocked field goal on the first two drives of the game by TCU. Despite the success that TCU had when getting the ball into Savion Williams’ hands against Utah, for some unknown reason, they were reluctant to give him touches in the red zone. The dude is six foot five and has at least five catches this season worthy of being on the “You Got Mossed” highlight reel. Throw him the ball in the red one and let him eat. The red zone turnovers are also a recurring issue. Ball handling in the red zone on handoffs is a problem that needs to be solved quickly.

Timeout fiasco and late subs: Perhaps the most mindboggling use of a timeout I have ever watched happened early in the fourth quarter by the Frogs against Utah. It was fourth and four on the Utah 36 with the Frogs up 13-7 and the Frogs initially sent the offense out on to the field, looking like they were going to go for it. The play clock winded down and TCU spent a timeout to avoid a delay of game and presumably get their best personnel on the field to try and convert the fourth down. Instead, the TCU offense trotted back on to the field and tried to draw Utah offsides before eventually taking a delay of game penalty and punting. I would have liked the decision to go for it, even if it meant taking a timeout. The yardage difference between a punt and a failed conversion would not be big and the TCU defense had been playing well. Burning a timeout only to eventually take a delay of game penalty was frustrating to watch. That sequence paired with more late offensive substitutions that enabled the Utah defense to sub and use up all of the playclock provided evidence that time management was a problem on Saturday.

Play of the Game

There is one obvious choice here. I always enjoy watching Shad Banks make big plays and this time it came on punt block.