PF.com preview: SMU faces TCU in Battle for the Iron Skillet

[PonyPride]

PF.com preview: Mustangs head to Fort Worth to Battle for the Iron Skillet
SMU, TCU kick off at 11 a.m. Saturday
Posted on 09/21/2023 by PonyFans.com

Breaking news: there’s a game this weekend in Fort Worth.

The SMU Mustangs and TCU Horned Frogs enter Saturday’s 11 a.m. Battle for the Iron Skillet with matching 2-1 records (the Frogs are receiving votes in the most recent AP and Coaches polls); the Ponies have yet to play a game against an American Athletic Conference opponent, while the Frogs have won their only matchup against a Big 12 opponent — they beat Houston, 36-13, last Saturday — two weeks after opening the season with a 45-42 loss to future Big 12 opponent Colorado.

The matchup will be the 102nd in the series, which TCU opted to “pause indefinitely” after the 2025 season. The Frogs lead the all-time series, 52-42-7, although the Mustangs have won the last two meetings in Amon G. Carter Stadium, and have scored 35 or more points in each of the last four road matchups with TCU.

If there are two teams that know each other, it’s the Mustangs and Horned Frogs. The rivalry is far older than anyone currently involved in either program. TCU head coach Sonny Dykes famously ditched the same role at SMU a couple of years ago to go across town to the Mustangs’ cross-town rival; he was replaced on the Hilltop by his former offensive coordinator, Rhett Lashlee.

Even with the season-opening loss to the Buffaloes, TCU is outscoring its opponents by an average of 39.7-21.3 points per game (thanks in large part to a 41-6 pounding of Nicholls in Week 2), and are outgaining their opponents by an average of 515.7-364.7 yards per game. Most of that yardage — 302.0 yards per game, to be exact — have come through the air.

But while the Frogs have jumped all over their opposition in terms of points and yards, they are not dominating every statistic. They have fumbled four times in three games while forcing two (each team has lost two). They have committed more penalties (22) than their opponents (20) for more yards: 203 to 140.

The Horned Frogs lost loads of talent from last year’s 13-2 team, including receivers Quentin Johnston and Derius Davis, running back Kendre Miller, guard Steve Avila and quarterback Max Duggan. But the notion that they left the cupboard bare in Fort Worth is far from accurate.

The Horned Frogs are led on offense by quarterback Chandler Morris — yes, Chad’s son — who ranks first in the Big 12 and 11th in the nation in total offense at 334.0 yards per game. Morris has completed 67.9 percent of his passes, and ranks second on the team with 146 rushing yards per game. Morris only attempted 18 passes last season — he earned the starting job at the start of the season but left the Frogs’ opener with an injury — but Lashlee is impressed with what he sees.

“Chandler Morris is a ballplayer,” Lashlee said. “Coach’s kid … I’ve known him for a long team. He competes, he’s a winner, he can extend plays — he can run it. It’s a problem.”

While opposing defenses (and their coaches and fans) might be glad Miller now plays in New Orleans instead of Fort Worth, it’s not like his departure left the Frogs unable to run the ball. Junior Emani Bailey (5-9, 207) leads the TCU ground game with an average of 119 yards on the ground per game, on an impressive 6.4 yards per carry. He ran for 126 yards in TCU’s victory at Houston, and a career-high 164 in the season-opening loss to Colorado.

In addition to Bailey and Morris, a third Frog has topped 100 yards on the ground this year: junior Alabama transfer Trey Sanders (6-0, 222) offers the power element to the running attack has 28 carries for 107 yards and a team-high four rushing touchdowns — three of which came against the Buffaloes.

Lashlee said this week that senior Jared Wiley is the best tight end SMU will face all season. The 6-7, 260-pound behemoth has nine receptions for 83 yards and a score, but does much more: he’s a punishing blocker who moves around to different positions (in-line tight end, H-back, fullback) in certain formations, and is a significant contributor on special teams.

Out wide, the Frogs are led by wide receiver JP Richardson, a 6-0, 190-pound junior who is known to some only as the son of former Texas A&M quarterback Bucky Richardson. But the younger Richardson has been productive through the Horned Frogs’ first three games, with a team-high 13 receptions for 117 yards through the air. Senior Warren Thompson is next, with 10 catches for 143 yards and a touchdown … and while it’s nice that Johnston is now a Los Angeles Charger, the Frogs are not without a massive receiving target on the outside: Savion Williams (6-5, 225) is the team’s top returning receiver and has five receptions for 60 yards through three games.

The Frogs’ seven touchdown receptions have been made by seven different players.

Former SMU offensive line coach A.J. Ricker has a lot of new faces on the offensive line this season. Remember a couple of weeks ago when Lashlee talked about how huge Oklahoma’s offensive line is? He wasn’t wrong, but TCU’s is bigger. The smallest starter is sixth-year senior center John Lanz, who is “only” 6-4 and 315. Left tackle Andrew Coker has 30 career starts — 27 at right tackle — and right guard Willis Patrick, a transfer from Jackson State, is a human road grader at 6-4 and 355 pounds.

TCU defensive coordinator Joe Gillespie believes in a three-man line that allows for fast linebackers and defensive backs to cover receivers all over the field. The Frogs have not allowed an offensive touchdown in consecutive games for the first time since 2017. If nothing else, the Ponies should have a good of what to expect from the TCU defense, which has started the same 11 players in each of the first three games of the season. The Frogs also have been able to bend without breaking: Houston’s first four possessions last week got inside the TCU 31-yard line, but resulted in just three UH points.

“Joe Gillespie — I’ve got a lot of respect for him,” Lashlee said. “I’ve gone against him a bunch, he does it the right way and he’s really good.

“It’s really a unique scheme. It’s not really a ‘3-3-stack.’ It’s an “odd robber” defense that people have gone to in the last 5, 10 years. He was one of the first, (when he was) up at Tulsa to start doing it and doing it really well. So because of that, it’s not the same as maybe playing OU, where you’re not sure what they’re playing. But that also means (TCU is) better at executing it. There’s a reason they haven’t given up an offensive touchdown in eight quarters. They’re settling in to what we thought they would be, and that’s a really good defense.”

Sophomore nose tackle Damonic Williams (6-2, 320) earned preseason all-Big 12 honors and anchors the middle of the defensive line, but many in Fort Worth redshirt freshman defensive end Paul Oyewale (6-4, 275) as the team’s next star defensive lineman.

TCU always has good linebackers, and this year is no exception. Junior strongside linebacker Namdi Obiazor leads the team with 22 tackles through three games, including a career-high nine against Nicholls and seven against Houston; he also picked up a blocked field goal against Colorado. Weakside linebacker Johnny Hodges, who transferred a year ago from the Naval Academy, immediately became a leader on the TCU defense. He led the team in tackles (87) last year and was named Conference Defensive Newcomer of the Year.

TCU cornerback Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson won the 2022 Jim Thorpe Award, which is given annually to the nation’s top defensive back. Those in attendance at Ford Stadium watched Rashee Rice tune him up for 6 catches (all but one in the first half), 74 yards, one touchdown and three defensive pass interference penalties before halftime. Lashlee said Hodges-Tomlinson wasn’t even the best cornerback on his own team — a title he thought should have gone to corner Josh Newton.

“You go to the back end, and … the Newton kid, I thought was the best corner on the team, and maybe in college football last year,” Lashlee said. “I thought they gave the award to the wrong guy.”

The 6-foot, 190-pound Newton is bigger, faster and a better tackler than his former teammate, and leads the Frogs with three passes broken up in as many games, justifying his preseason All-Big 12 and All-America accolades.

The other stud in the TCU secondary is safety Bud Clark, who somehow is only a sophomore. He is third on the team with 15 tackles, and snatched an interception against Houston.

Kicker Griffin Kell and punter Jordan Sandy are fifth-year seniors. Kell is 5-of-8 on field goals in the early going this season, and tied a school record when he connected on a 57-yarder against Nicholls. Sandy is averaging a career-best 44.1 yards per punt and has allowed only nine touchbacks over the last four seasons. Major Everhart, who has taken over for Davis as the team’s kickoff returner, took one back 86 yards for a touchdown against Colorado.

[PK]

Well thanks. That just gave me a sick feeling in my stomach. I need a G&T.

[Terry Webster]

This is the last year? I thought that we go through 2025?

[Charleston Pony]

I think TCU comes to Ford next year and 2025 becomes the question mark

[PonyPride]

This is the last year? I thought that we go through 2025?

You're right. Braincramp on my part - fixed.
Thanks for the catch.