Preview of SMU - TCU game from Killerfrogs.com

[PonySnob]

September 5, 2004 - By Shane Smith
SMU at TCU: Preview

Well, the season is underway and the TCU Horned Frogs are (1-0). Now most fans would be happy if their team was (1-0) but a lot of TCU fans are pretty angry. The TCU offense performed in wonders last week but their problem is their defensive secondary. Their secondary was supposed to be so much better this year but if you saw Northwestern passing all over TCU then you would have thought the secondary is worse. Now, the secondary may have had some early season glitches or are they just that bad? We will find out more on Saturday when the SMU Mustangs come to town to face the Fighten Frogs.

SMU:

SMU is (0-1) after starting the season in front of a sold out home crowd in Dallas, Texas last Saturday night. SMU took a tough (27-13) loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Texas Tech passed all over the SMU defense with Cumbie completing 40 of 66 passes for 470 yards. But the Texas Tech offensive line looks awful. The Tech running game was just as bad as their offense got 67 yards on 22 rushes.

The SMU defense played much better last night then they did anytime last season. The SMU offense looked great on the ground but seemed to struggle in the air. SMU's starting quarterback Chris Phillips completed 12 passes in 28 attempts for 109 yards and an interception. Phillips did better on the ground rushing for 75 yards on 21 attempts. Back up quarterback Kyle Eckert came into the game and scored on his first drive for SMU, he went 6 of 9 for 53 yards and a touchdown.

SMU's rushing game looked good as they had three different tailbacks getting the ball. Munlin, Dorsey, and Brown all rushed for double digit numbers with Munlin having the most with 42 yards. SMU will be a much tougher opponent for TCU this season but after playing a Tech team who is not going to be top notch this season, it makes it hard to say how good or bad the Mustangs really are.

WATCH OUT FOR - SMU quarterback Chris Phillips, he has the ability to step back and throw, but he is a great scrambler who is very difficult to face. Phillips can get over 100 yards rushing on any team if he decides to do so. The TCU defense needs to keep a close eye on Phillips or it could be a long night in Fort Worth.

TCU:

The TCU Horned Frogs were disappointing to most fans last week as they won a double overtime game against Northwestern (48-45). If Northwestern's place kicker would not have gone 1 for 6 on field goal attempts then the Wildcats would be celebrating a win right now. So TCU has a lot to be angry about. But the TCU offense performed great. The offense had 157 net rushing yards and 368 net passing yards. So the offense has improved tremendously compared to last season. The question mark is still the secondary of the TCU defense.

The defense gave up a total of 637 yards to the Wildcats last week but most of that was in the air with 513 passing yards. The Frogs defense looked good against the run but they had no chance stopping the quick passes from Northwestern.

TCU place kicker Peter LoCoco did not expect to have such an impact in his first college game of his career. It all came down to rookie kicker who performed just fine. He missed the first extra point of the game and had a 25 yard field goal attempt blocked. But overall LoCoco went 2 for 3 in field goal attempts making a 37 and 47 yarder. TCU fans can settle down, knowing that LoCoco is a fine kicker and will replace Nick Browne well. He is not yet an all-star like Nick Browne was at TCU but LoCoco did well in only his first college game, once he gets the hang of things, he will be just fine.

WATCH OUT FOR - TCU quarterback Tye Gunn is an awesome quarterback with a great throwing arm and good speed if he has to run on you. Gunn keeps his cool no matter what happens. He is very good at making decision and seeing the whole field which makes him deadly to secondaries.

Also watch out for Lonta Hobbs who looked good last week getting 142 yards in the game with an average of 6.2 yards per carry.

The whole TCU receiving core impressed me last week. These guys can catch anything thrown at them and have great speed once they get the ball.

My Score Prediction: TCU wins this game big-time with a 42-17 victory. I know the TCU offense will go crazy in the end zone. I also believe that the TCU secondary just had a bad week and they will be back and ready to play against SMU.

SHANE SMITH'S ALL TIME PREDICTION RECORD: 12-2

If you are looking for past Horned Frog Report articles please send me an email and I can email them to you. You can email me at [email protected]

[Corso]

I assume there's more there.

But kudos to the kf.com folks - sounds like a fair assesment on both sides.

Here's to a great game.

[PonySnob]

It's all there now.

[The PonyGrad]

Actually, no it is not. There is a max size. Try another message for the rest.

[PonySnob]

HERE IS THE REST OF IT:

The whole TCU receiving core impressed me last week. These guys can catch anything thrown at them and have great speed once they get the ball.

My Score Prediction: TCU wins this game big-time with a 42-17 victory. I know the TCU offense will go crazy in the end zone. I also believe that the TCU secondary just had a bad week and they will be back and ready to play against SMU.

SHANE SMITH'S ALL TIME PREDICTION RECORD: 12-2

If you are looking for past Horned Frog Report articles please send me an email and I can email them to you. You can email me at [email protected]

[WorldStang]

Just have to mention how TCU's kicker is absolutely awful. If we hold them outside of the 20.. this guy is going to struggle to get anything up and away. I'm sure our special teams will be all over this.. but just watch out for a fake of some sort.. really think they might try one based on how 50/50 this walk-on kicker is.

[The PonyGrad]

Shanes record 12-2! Isn't it interesting that is exactly TCU's W/L record over the last 14 games. LOL