"The showdown in cowtown...

...turns into a let down."

-Courtesy themtn.tv

- POLY can shake their keys all they want

...on key shaking

Mr. Wesley Willis made note in the comments about not remembering to add this in his recap. I'm glad he forgot, because this topic deserves it's own spotlight.

Mr. Willis said it was the "biggest lowlight" of the evening, and I concurred. I then thought about this adolescent type bahavior happening every fourth quarter this season, as well as seasons in the past.

And after concurring, I replied..."Paschall High school is down the road and they'd be happy to have you on friday nights," which I think is an accurate response.

This may seem like a dumb post for those of you pro key-shakers out there, or those who could care less, but enough is enough.

Have some class, respect your opponent, and -

STOP SHAKING YOUR FU**ING KEYS!

Game 8 Recap: Chop Block U.

SWW is Sadly Working from the Woad - sorry guys, it's all I had - this week, so the recap will be less intensive than usual. Most of you are probably rejoicing about this, be honest. A quick look at the Air Force game just as soon as I find some Forrest Gump caliber leg braces for the Utes D-line this weekend as they travel to Colorado Springs...

Highlights:

• Naturally, Ed Wesley is the major highlight of this one for the Frogs. One of the more underrated aspects of the game was following along on my phone as Wesley got closer and closer to approaching 200 yards, which he finally did on his second and last TD in the fourth quarter. For the game he had a career high 209 yards on a workhorse 28 carries, which is the highest rushing total for a TCU back since Joseph Turner in 2007. Shockingly, LT's 406 yard record still stands. Wesley was absolutely unstoppable Saturday night and- here's a stat- out rushed the ENTIRE Air Force team by 25 yards. They're the #1 ranked rushing attack in the country, you know.


• The Backup Offensive Line also played a huge role as two starters were sitting with injuries. We know what happened to Dooley last week in the BYU destruction, but I'm a bit unclear why Roth sat out. No matter, Jeff Olson and Spencer Thompson stepped up and paved the way for Wesley's night. The offensive line did not allow a sack, either. The future is in good shape, although it's good to know that we should be back in business with all of our original starters by the Utah game.


• Jimmy Young went over 2000 yards for his career at TCU. He also got Section V as fired up as it was all night with a couple of well timed menacing glances. Stay real, JY.


• The Defense also played out of its mind for the fourth straight week, finishing the month of October - all league games - giving up 10 points. TOTAL. Patterson's defenses are always highly lauded and recognized... but what the WHAT? Seriously, they had one bad series on the evening when Air Force took their first possession and rolled off an 89 yard scoring drive... and then nothing. Pretty solid for maybe the most non-descript defense we've had under Patterson. Utah scores a lot of points, but they're going to have a hell of a time making any sort of headway in two weeks if our guys keep this up. Their game in Colorado Springs this weekend should be a good bridge-gapping measuring stick.


• UT lost to Iowa State. Well, of course I had to add this one in. Just remember - Iowa State lost to Utah and Oklahoma by a combined score of 120-27 and at one time led UT 28-7. You know what, I can't even blame their fairweather fans at this point... that's just sad.


• Great crowd support on the evening too, as 47,000 Frog faithful showed up despite the elements. I'll be honest - it was looking REALLY bad when I arrived around 4 PM after driving in the most intense rain I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing. But, apparently God has a new team in the Metroplex this year as the heavens opened, the temperatures dropped to 60 degrees and we had one of the most perfect football nights imaginable. It definitely helped that the Rangers had an off night - and apparently Jorge Cantu appreciated this as well - but it's nice to see that our fair weather fans didn't take it literally.

Lowlights:

• Clearly the major lowlight here is Kelly Griffin going down with a season ending ankle injury. Griffin was the first freshman to start on a Patterson defense a few years ago, and he and Cory Grant are very integral parts to the success of our run defense. Watching on replay - and judging by Patterson's tight jawed responses in the post game - it suuuuuuure looked like a dirty play to me. To get all technical, Griffin was "engaged" with one blocker and another just came in and dove at his feet and while it didn't look as bad as you'd think, clearly it did the job. From what I understand, Patterson had more than a few words for Troy Calhoun after the game. That said, Jeremy Coleman sure filled in adequately, didn't he? The defense didn't seem to miss a beat at all with the youngster in there plugging up the middle. As you surely know by now, the defense held Air Force to over 160 yards under their season average running the ball, and that doesn't happen if Coleman is in over his head. But still - he's no Kelly Griffin by any means -and not just because he's 20 pounds lighter, although that plays a role - and we can't expect him to have the same kind of impact every single week. It's nice to get a look at your young guys before they're thrown into the fire, but certainly not in this way. Stay strong, KG, and hopefully we'll see you in Glendale post New Years.


• Well, I said if Andy Dalton's body clock stayed tuned, he'd have an off week this week, and his 11/20, 185 yards 1 TD/1INT night certainly backs me up. The interception was troubling because it was just a really, really poorly thrown, Garret Gilbert-esque display and AD should know better. But still, 377 rushing yards makes up for any lags in the passing department, of which Andy himself played an ample role, kicking in 93 yards of his own. However, Andy had the double entendre of the evening after the game with this gem in reference to his 47 yard camper - "I've never seen that much open grass in my life." Considering he just got engaged, I'd imagine that's about to change. Bonus lul'z - he clearly never hung out with James Battle, either.


• We all bitched about it enough in the stands, but how pathetic was Air Force's treatment of Kerley on punt returns? Ok ok - clearly I understand the tactic and it was definitely a smart move based on what he can do... but wasn't it just SO frustrating? I know we all became a little grumpy late in the game when it was 4th and long, we knew what they were up to and STILL didn't put anyone back there... but when you're pitching a near shut out and the offense is rolling up yards like it is, you play it straight. Regardless, Ed Wesley probably doesn't hit 200 if they kick away. It should also be noted they did the same thing on kickoffs, although Kerley still averaged 23 yards per.

That's about all I've got today, sorry for the brevity and lack of cohesive information. That's what the Star-Telegram, minus the Engel's, is for. Hope to have a quick preview of the UNLV game this weekend up before I head that way on Friday, and hopefully a decent spitblood contingent will make it out there as well. Getting Games three and four of the World Series in Vegas is the next best thing to being there.

Costly injury

While most of what happened in Saturday night's 38-7 win over Air Force was positive, the first-quarter injury to starting nose tackle Kelly Griffin turned out to be a broken ankle, which will likely sideline the senior for the rest of the season. The Sunday article in the Star-Telegram mentioned that Griffin might have a chance to return for the bowl game, but in the meantime sophomore Jeremy Coleman will have to pick up the slack.

Football:

Patterson likes his team's mentality Star-Telegram

Patterson's success rooted in hard work Yahoo! Sports

TCU gives up rare score, little else Washington Post

Boise State or TCU? No comment New York Times

Early UNLV-TCU report CBS Sports

Air Force determined to bounce back after blow-out loss Denver Post

Air Force hoping to learn from TCU loss Colorado Springs Gazette


Alumni:

LT's true inspiration: his son New York Daily News

Jamie Dixon helps pull wreck victim from car Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


...and finally, I think I see some familiar faces in this video, taken at Saturday night's game: