Five Questions About The 2023 TCU Football Team

The 2023 season offers a ton of excitement for the TCU Horned Frogs. They signed a talented transfer class, inked their best recruiting class in school history, and return plenty of All-Conference players. The Big 12 changes next year to a point where TCU expects to be the big fish in the pond.

But, with just 41% of offensive production returning, there's also a lot of holes and questions. They must replace a Heisman finalist QB and eight NFL Draft choices. With just one year of Sonny Dykes in the books, there's also a question about sustainability.

Below, I picked out five questions I believe are pivotal to the success of TCU in 2023.

There's expectations... now what?

Last season, nobody saw TCU coming. Able to fly under the radar until November, TCU racked up win after win and played freely and without any sort of pressure.

This year, that changes. There's expectations now. How do the roster and coaching staff handle those expectations? As we've seen from other programs – Texas, Miami, Nebraska – expectations can completely collapse a program.

The hunters now become the hunted. And everybody sees them coming, meaning TCU will get every team's top-tier effort.

What if everything doesn't go right?

Nobody goes on a playoff run without their fair share of luck. TCU went 6-1 in one-score games (historically not replicable) and, for the most part, avoided any injuries to major players (also historically not replicable).

So, what happens when not everything falls in favor of the Horned Frogs? Does 12-0 turn into 7-5?

The primary concern is at the quarterback position. Chandler Morris has dealt with his fair share of injuries in his career and there's a signifiant drop off in experience behind him. Can TCU handle two weeks relying on Josh Hoover?

Will the Kendall Briles experiment be worth it?

Kendall Briles found success as a play caller at Arkansas, landing him the job at TCU in the wake of Garrett Riley's departure. But he brings with him enough baggage for the entire Big 12. So far through camp, it seems there's minimal distraction, even though he brought along his disgraced father, Art.

Briles also found a ton of success riding 6-foot-3, 240-pound bruiser KJ Jefferson at QB – a luxury he doesn't have in Fort Worth. This is Sonny Dykes' system, but will Briles mesh well in the environment?

Should TCU drop a couple games or underperform offensively, does Briles become a distraction then?

Which Chandler Morris do we get?

There's little tape on Morris thus far. He won the hearts of TCU fans with a gutsy performance and upset win over top-10 Baylor in 2021. That performance was so exciting, that it also erased his following week – a 63-17 blowout loss to Oklahoma State. Morris completed 11/20 passes for 125 yards and no touchdowns.

Against Colorado, Morris suffered an injury, opening the door for the famed Max Duggan run. But before that injury, he was subpar, completing 13/20 passes for 111 yards and no touchdowns against one of the worst defenses in the country.

The ceiling of that 2021 Baylor game exists. But does he have it in him consistently?

Who's it going to be up front?

TCU's defensive front is extremely inexperienced. Just one starter returns – sophomore All-Big 12 preseason selection Damonic Williams – and fellow starter Markis Deal is a true freshman. Tymon Mitchell is a junior, but he has eight total games of experience in his career and STAR Namdi Obizaor, senior though he is, started just two games last season.

In 2021, TCU's defensive line was atrocious. They were pushed around week-in and week-out. The Horned Frog defense paid the consequences of lacking a run stop unit or a pass rush.

This year, should nobody exceed their expectations, they may get pushed around up front again, and the defense will again pay.

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