TCU Football: Keys to the Game, Week 2
After a massively disappointing start to the season on Saturday, Sonny Dykes and TCU Football have the chance to rebound and get their first victory of the season against Nicholls State.
The Colonels are also coming off a 38-24 loss to Sacramento State and will have quite the task when they come into Fort Worth.
The Horned Frogs, though, will have to play a much cleaner brand of football on Saturday night if they want to come away with the victory.
Establish the running game
One of the few bright spots from Saturday's loss to Colorado was perhaps the ground game. It was the only facet in which TCU was consistent and reliable for a full 60 minutes of football.
The Frogs generated 262 rushing yards, which was led by running back Emani Bailey. In his second year at TCU, Bailey had 14 carries for 164 yards. His largest rush of the game came in the 3rd quarter when the Horned Frogs started on their 1-yard line. On the drive's third play, Bailey burst for 74 yards, taking the ball to the Colorado 23-yard line. Unfortunately for the Frogs, the drive was halted when Travis Hunter Jr. intercepted a pass from Chandler Morris.
But for the running game to get going, it requires the offensive line to prove strong and stout up front. "Amazing. My offensive line did their job. They fought hard every play; they pushed every play. They created running lanes for me to get through. It was very effective," Bailey said during media availability on Tuesday.
While Bailey imposed himself on the game, Trey Sanders had quite the debut for the Frogs. The junior running back, and recent transfer from Alabama, had 15 rushes for 46 yards and three touchdowns.
The Frogs will have an opportunity to extend their success in the ground game against a Nicholls team that gave up 189 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns to Sacramento State.
Diligent and determined defending
Following the thrashing Shadeur Sanders led against the TCU defense, it has been a point of emphasis to tighten and clean up on defense. Running Joe Gillespie's 3-3-5, the defense struggled on Saturday, allowing 600 total yards to the Buffaloes.
The defense came out slow and unable to put pressure on Sanders in the pocket. Linebacker Johnny Hodges didn't mince his words when asked about the defense's performance.
When asked if Saturday was a wake-up call, Hodges said, "I guess you could say it's a wake-up call. I don't know how losing in the National Championship by 60 isn't a wake-up call, but right now, we're definitely the laughingstock of college football. Having 22 missed tackles, having who knows how many missed assignments, making our defensive coordinator look awful, just making his defense look like it's a childhood kids' defense."
The most disappointing part of it all? The effort.
"I don't think it's too hard to go find videos on social media of people just not willing to put their bodies on the line, and that's very upsetting. It's something that we will not let happen again at this school as long as I'm here… as long as these coaches are here. It's not fair to them," Hodges said.
Be more excited than your opponent:
Aside from working the defensive side of the ball, Dykes emphasized the necessity of coming out and being the more excited team.
During media availability, Dykes said, "The biggest thing is to have that killer mentality and mindset. There are these games that I think people perceive are kind of mail-in games, and they're not. You have to be the most excited team to play, you have to be consistent."
He alluded to last season and how the team rode the wave of confidence throughout the season, past the Fiesta Bowl and into the National Championship.
Dykes said, "You go back and look at our season last year we were a five-win team the year before. We won 13 ball games, and we did that because week-in and week-out, we were the most excited team to play. It didn't matter who we played, it didn't matter whether or not we were big favorites or big underdogs, our guys were excited. We had great leadership, and we went out and played at a high level."
TCU will look to snatch its first win against Nicholls State on Saturday, September 9 at 7 p.m.
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