Opponent preview: SMU, TCU renew Battle for Iron Skillet
Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2024 8:53 pmOpponent preview: SMU, TCU renew rivalry in Battle for Iron Skillet
Mustangs, Horned Frogs both enter with 2-1 records
Posted on 09/17/2024 by PonyFans.com
The SMU Mustangs and TCU Horned Frogs both enter Saturday’s 103rd Battle for the Iron Skillet trying to get a bad taste out of their mouths. Each team carries a 2-1 record into the 4 p.m. game at Gerald J. Ford Stadium, with each suffering a loss after opening 2024 with a pair of victories.
The Ponies had a bye week after wasting a five-field goal performance by Collin Rogers in an 18-15 loss to BYU. The Horned Frogs, on the other hand, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory Saturday, coughing up an 11-point lead with four minutes left in the third quarter in what turned out to be a 35-34 home loss to UCF. The Horned Frogs have won the last two meetings against SMU, but also are 2-4 in their last six road games going back to last season.
As weird as it sounds, SMU is the second member of the Atlantic Coast Conference to face TCU in the first four games; the Horned Frogs opened the season with a 34-27 victory at Stanford. Saturday’s matchup is the next-to-last scheduled clash between the Mustangs and Frogs in a series that began in 1915.
The most obvious subplot in the game will be the return of TCU head coach Sonny Dykes. The former SMU coach actually has been the winning coach in each of the last four matchups between the programs. Before moving to the other side of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, he and the Mustangs beat TCU in 2019 and 2021.
When asked about Saturday’s game, Dykes called SMU a “really talented football team. A lot of people picking them as a dark horse to win the ACC this year. (They are a) very talented football team, full of NFL players, so we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
Dykes was understandably disappointed to watch his team lose to UCF Saturday, but his reaction was not entirely negative, declaring that his team had “played that first half about as well as we’ve played, maybe since I’ve been at TCU — even in ’22,” a nod to the season in which the Horned Frogs reached the national championship game.
Sandwiched between Stanford and UCF, the Frogs enjoyed a 45-0 laugher over Long Island University. Through three games, TCU is outscoring its opponents by an average of 37.7-20.7 points per game.
When Dykes has insisted that he wants his team to establish a more potent and consistent running game, it’s not gratuitous coachspeak: thus far, the Frogs are averaging a healthy 447.3 yards of total offense per game (for context, the Mustangs are averaging 421.3 yards per game). But the difference lies in the offensive balance: SMU’s offense is averaging 226 yards (53.7 percent) through the air, compared to 195 (46.3 percent) on the ground. The Frogs, on the other hand, have thrived exclusively in the passing game, averaging 351 yards per game (78.5 percent) through the air, compared to just 96.1 yards per game (21.5 percent) on the ground.
Such numbers can be deceiving. Numbers that lopsided certainly can be viewed as an indictment of one side of the offense … but any deficiencies in the running game are only part of the reason the Frogs have leaned so heavily on the passing game. The other reason is the extraordinary start to the season of quarterback Josh Hoover, the 6-2, 200-pound sophomore who has completed 83 of his 119 pass attempts (69.7 percent) for 1,022 and eight passing touchdowns. Hoover leads the entire nation for the most passing attempts without an interception, and has thrown for at least 300 yards in seven of his nine career starts, including three games with more than passing 400 yards.
TCU often rolls out three wide receivers. Savion Williams, the 6-5, 225-pound senior, leads the Frogs with 20 receptions in three games; his two touchdowns against UCF marked the first game in his TCU career in which he had more than one scoring reception in a game. Jack Bech (6-2 / 215), who transferred from LSU before the 2023 season, had the best game of his career when he hauled in nine passes for 200 yards against the Golden Knights; he also had 139 receiving yards against Stanford. His 391 yards of total offense — 350 receiving, 34 on punt returns and 7 rushing yards — are 145 more than anyone else on the TCU roster.
The running game lost almost two-thirds of its yards from last year with the departure of former Frog Emani Bailey, who ran for 1,209 yards a year ago and now is on the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice squad. More important than the sheer total was his efficiency: Bailey averaged 5.4 yards per carry last season, while the Horned Frogs are averaging 3.3 yards per carry this season.
Four of the five starters (or projected starters) on TCU’s offensive line are transfers from other programs. Senior left tackle Bless Harris (6-5, 320) started five of his 11 games last year for Florida State, junior left guard Coltin Deery (6-4, 325) began his career at Maryland, center James Brockermeyer (6-3, 295) played in 14 games last season for Alabama, right guard Carson Bruno (6-4, 305) started all 24 games the last two seasons at Louisiana Tech. The only homegrown Frog on the offensive line is senior right tackle Mike Nichols, who started six games last year for TCU.
TCU traditionally has a strong defensive front, and this season is no different. The interior of the defensive line is manned by senior noseguard Tymon Mitchell (6-3, 320), who was a member of Georgia’s 2021 national champion team, has played in all 30 games the last three seasons at TCU and had a key interception in the win over Stanford; Mitchell is flanked by senior defensive tackle Caleb Fox, who played under defensive line coach JaMarkus McFarland when they both were at Stephen F. Austin. On the edge, TCU goes three- or even four-deep at defensive end in a group led by seniors NaNa Osafo-Mensah (6-3, 255) and Cooper McDonald (6-3, 240).
The heartbeat of the TCU defense is middle linebacker Johnny Hodges, who should be very familiar to the Mustangs (and PonyFans) after starting his career at the Naval Academy. Now a junior for the third time, Hodges (6-2, 240) is second on the team with 24 tackles in three games. When he arrived from Annapolis, he led the defense with 87 tackles in his (first) junior season. Last year, he tied for 10th on the team’s list of leading tacklers … despite being limited to just four games, which earned him a redshirt distinction last year and made 2024 his third junior season. Hodges is smart, tough and a punishing hitter who is joined in the starting lineup by senior WILL linebacker Namdi Obiazor (6-3, 220), who has a team-high four tackles for loss and is tied for the team lead with 1.5 sacks.
Another TCU defender who seemingly has been in Fort Worth forever is free safety Bud Clark (6-2, 185), a starter since his freshman season who, thanks to a redshirt season, also is somehow still only a junior. The owner of eight career interceptions, Clark is a team captain for the second consecutive season.
Many teams prioritize pass defense so much that they play most or all of the time with five defensive backs. But while many of those teams utilize three safeties in many alignments, the Frogs often will go with three cornerbacks. One impressive addition to the secondary this season has been senior LaMareon “Scud” James (5-10, 190), who transferred to TCU from Old Dominion, where he earned honorable mention All-Sun Belt Conference honors a year ago.
To Dykes, Saturday’s game is about more than facing his former employer or a team that shares the same geographic home. He said he is interested in seeing how his team bounces back after its first loss of the season.
“How do we bounce back?” Dykes said. “We lost Game 1 last year (to Colorado), and how it unfolded kind of rocked us for the rest of the year.”
The Frogs finished the season 5-7 and did not qualify for a bowl.
“We’ve got a good football team — we believe that,” he said. “We’ll see how Satirday plays out, howthe rest of the season plays out.”
Like many coaches, Dykes is adept at downplaying emotional significance of any game, especially early in the season. But his players expect a tough, intense game Saturday at SMU.
“It means a lot,” Fox said of the Battle for the Iron Skillet. “I like rivalry games. I’m not a big trash-talk guy … but it’s probably going to come out in this game.”
Mustangs, Horned Frogs both enter with 2-1 records
Posted on 09/17/2024 by PonyFans.com
The SMU Mustangs and TCU Horned Frogs both enter Saturday’s 103rd Battle for the Iron Skillet trying to get a bad taste out of their mouths. Each team carries a 2-1 record into the 4 p.m. game at Gerald J. Ford Stadium, with each suffering a loss after opening 2024 with a pair of victories.
The Ponies had a bye week after wasting a five-field goal performance by Collin Rogers in an 18-15 loss to BYU. The Horned Frogs, on the other hand, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory Saturday, coughing up an 11-point lead with four minutes left in the third quarter in what turned out to be a 35-34 home loss to UCF. The Horned Frogs have won the last two meetings against SMU, but also are 2-4 in their last six road games going back to last season.
As weird as it sounds, SMU is the second member of the Atlantic Coast Conference to face TCU in the first four games; the Horned Frogs opened the season with a 34-27 victory at Stanford. Saturday’s matchup is the next-to-last scheduled clash between the Mustangs and Frogs in a series that began in 1915.
The most obvious subplot in the game will be the return of TCU head coach Sonny Dykes. The former SMU coach actually has been the winning coach in each of the last four matchups between the programs. Before moving to the other side of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, he and the Mustangs beat TCU in 2019 and 2021.
When asked about Saturday’s game, Dykes called SMU a “really talented football team. A lot of people picking them as a dark horse to win the ACC this year. (They are a) very talented football team, full of NFL players, so we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
Dykes was understandably disappointed to watch his team lose to UCF Saturday, but his reaction was not entirely negative, declaring that his team had “played that first half about as well as we’ve played, maybe since I’ve been at TCU — even in ’22,” a nod to the season in which the Horned Frogs reached the national championship game.
Sandwiched between Stanford and UCF, the Frogs enjoyed a 45-0 laugher over Long Island University. Through three games, TCU is outscoring its opponents by an average of 37.7-20.7 points per game.
When Dykes has insisted that he wants his team to establish a more potent and consistent running game, it’s not gratuitous coachspeak: thus far, the Frogs are averaging a healthy 447.3 yards of total offense per game (for context, the Mustangs are averaging 421.3 yards per game). But the difference lies in the offensive balance: SMU’s offense is averaging 226 yards (53.7 percent) through the air, compared to 195 (46.3 percent) on the ground. The Frogs, on the other hand, have thrived exclusively in the passing game, averaging 351 yards per game (78.5 percent) through the air, compared to just 96.1 yards per game (21.5 percent) on the ground.
Such numbers can be deceiving. Numbers that lopsided certainly can be viewed as an indictment of one side of the offense … but any deficiencies in the running game are only part of the reason the Frogs have leaned so heavily on the passing game. The other reason is the extraordinary start to the season of quarterback Josh Hoover, the 6-2, 200-pound sophomore who has completed 83 of his 119 pass attempts (69.7 percent) for 1,022 and eight passing touchdowns. Hoover leads the entire nation for the most passing attempts without an interception, and has thrown for at least 300 yards in seven of his nine career starts, including three games with more than passing 400 yards.
TCU often rolls out three wide receivers. Savion Williams, the 6-5, 225-pound senior, leads the Frogs with 20 receptions in three games; his two touchdowns against UCF marked the first game in his TCU career in which he had more than one scoring reception in a game. Jack Bech (6-2 / 215), who transferred from LSU before the 2023 season, had the best game of his career when he hauled in nine passes for 200 yards against the Golden Knights; he also had 139 receiving yards against Stanford. His 391 yards of total offense — 350 receiving, 34 on punt returns and 7 rushing yards — are 145 more than anyone else on the TCU roster.
The running game lost almost two-thirds of its yards from last year with the departure of former Frog Emani Bailey, who ran for 1,209 yards a year ago and now is on the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice squad. More important than the sheer total was his efficiency: Bailey averaged 5.4 yards per carry last season, while the Horned Frogs are averaging 3.3 yards per carry this season.
Four of the five starters (or projected starters) on TCU’s offensive line are transfers from other programs. Senior left tackle Bless Harris (6-5, 320) started five of his 11 games last year for Florida State, junior left guard Coltin Deery (6-4, 325) began his career at Maryland, center James Brockermeyer (6-3, 295) played in 14 games last season for Alabama, right guard Carson Bruno (6-4, 305) started all 24 games the last two seasons at Louisiana Tech. The only homegrown Frog on the offensive line is senior right tackle Mike Nichols, who started six games last year for TCU.
TCU traditionally has a strong defensive front, and this season is no different. The interior of the defensive line is manned by senior noseguard Tymon Mitchell (6-3, 320), who was a member of Georgia’s 2021 national champion team, has played in all 30 games the last three seasons at TCU and had a key interception in the win over Stanford; Mitchell is flanked by senior defensive tackle Caleb Fox, who played under defensive line coach JaMarkus McFarland when they both were at Stephen F. Austin. On the edge, TCU goes three- or even four-deep at defensive end in a group led by seniors NaNa Osafo-Mensah (6-3, 255) and Cooper McDonald (6-3, 240).
The heartbeat of the TCU defense is middle linebacker Johnny Hodges, who should be very familiar to the Mustangs (and PonyFans) after starting his career at the Naval Academy. Now a junior for the third time, Hodges (6-2, 240) is second on the team with 24 tackles in three games. When he arrived from Annapolis, he led the defense with 87 tackles in his (first) junior season. Last year, he tied for 10th on the team’s list of leading tacklers … despite being limited to just four games, which earned him a redshirt distinction last year and made 2024 his third junior season. Hodges is smart, tough and a punishing hitter who is joined in the starting lineup by senior WILL linebacker Namdi Obiazor (6-3, 220), who has a team-high four tackles for loss and is tied for the team lead with 1.5 sacks.
Another TCU defender who seemingly has been in Fort Worth forever is free safety Bud Clark (6-2, 185), a starter since his freshman season who, thanks to a redshirt season, also is somehow still only a junior. The owner of eight career interceptions, Clark is a team captain for the second consecutive season.
Many teams prioritize pass defense so much that they play most or all of the time with five defensive backs. But while many of those teams utilize three safeties in many alignments, the Frogs often will go with three cornerbacks. One impressive addition to the secondary this season has been senior LaMareon “Scud” James (5-10, 190), who transferred to TCU from Old Dominion, where he earned honorable mention All-Sun Belt Conference honors a year ago.
To Dykes, Saturday’s game is about more than facing his former employer or a team that shares the same geographic home. He said he is interested in seeing how his team bounces back after its first loss of the season.
“How do we bounce back?” Dykes said. “We lost Game 1 last year (to Colorado), and how it unfolded kind of rocked us for the rest of the year.”
The Frogs finished the season 5-7 and did not qualify for a bowl.
“We’ve got a good football team — we believe that,” he said. “We’ll see how Satirday plays out, howthe rest of the season plays out.”
Like many coaches, Dykes is adept at downplaying emotional significance of any game, especially early in the season. But his players expect a tough, intense game Saturday at SMU.
“It means a lot,” Fox said of the Battle for the Iron Skillet. “I like rivalry games. I’m not a big trash-talk guy … but it’s probably going to come out in this game.”