Sioux City Sarsaparilla? Yeah, that's a good one... Sir Wesley Willis is unavailable to provide his usual Monday morning novella of a recap, so I'll be filling in this week. Compounding the fact that I'm not nearly as comprehensive as him is the fact that, well, I didn't actually watch the game. I don't have The Mtn at my place, and I just did not feel like going to a bar- so I pulled up a comfy chair and tuned to WBAP to listen to the game on the radio. The good news is that Brian Estridge, John Denton and the rest of the TCU radio crew do a fantastic job of describing the action in a way that leaves you feeling as if you were watching the game. Anyhow, here are my thoughts on the Frogs' 31-20 win over Doo Doo Brown in Laramie:
Offense:-Where to start? On one hand, the Frogs racked up 617 total yards on offense- their highest output in nearly five years. Of those, 390 were on the ground- where they averaged 8.3 yards per carry. Even against a suspect defense like Wyoming's, that is pretty impressive. On the other hand, they turned the ball over FIVE times. FIVE! Three of those came in the red zone, meaning at least 21 potential points were left on the table in a game that shouldn't have been nearly as close as it was on the scoreboard. Perhaps part of that was the weather, and maybe part of it was looking ahead to Boise. I don't really know, but it's got to change if the Frogs want to have any kind of chance next week. Waymon James was the star of the day (him or the O-Line), running for a career-high 181 yards and, perhaps more importantly, no fumbles.
Defense:
-Early on, it looked like the defense may have reverted back to it's yard-hemorrhaging ways of the beginning of the season. They surrendered 134 yards in the first quarter, including a whopping 101 on the ground. The run defense tightened up after that, though, allowing just 5 yards the rest of the way. Wyoming's QB Brett Smith was still able to create plays with his arm, racking up 210 yards through the air before the play of the game: Tank Carder earning a QB tear drop by delivering the knockout blow on a completely clean and completely awesome hit to Smith that the Cowboy fans are complaining about vociferously on their message board. I'd provide a link, but I'm lazy and this is the second time I've typed out this recap due to blogger completely licking taint. Not to be outdone by his fellow linebacker, Kenny Cain had a team-high 12 tackles. The linebacking corps leading the defensive charge for TCU? Are things getting back to normal?!?
Special Teams:-It's always worth noting, just because of his many detractors, when Ross Evans has a superior game. That was the case on Saturday, when he was 4-4 on PATs and made his only field goal attempt, from 35 yards out. He also averaged just over 67 yards per kickoff, including two touchbacks. Greg McCoy and Skye Dawson were the real stars on special teams, though, by continually providing TCU with good starting field position due to their lengthy kickoff returns. I was also a big fan of GP putting "No-One Back-There! Clap-Clap! Clap-Clap-Clap!" on punt returns, giving the Frogs' difficulty fielding them all season long and the nasty weather.
Overall:-It certainly wasn't the prettiest W the Frogs have ever earned, but it counts just the same as any other in the standings. With two losses on the season, style points really aren't a top priority this year. Any win is a good win for a young team like this one, especially one on the road. Now it's time for GP to pull out some unexpected twists agianst Boise next week.
This weekend's game between TCU and Boise State was supposed to be in Fort Worth...until the Boise State administration went and cried to the Mountain West this summer, claiming that the game should be in Boise since TCU is leaving the conference. That's petty and childish enough already, but now Boise State themselves have eyes to leave the MWC. Like Joe Paterno, I think they knew about this the whole time. You sneaky, sneaky, jean shorts-wearing smurfs!
