INSIDER: E-Newsletter Game 7 – TCU

5 Questions – TCU

BY STEVE HABEL

Texas’ 30-7 weather-delayed win against TCU showcased an explosive offense and a fierce defense, [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] leaving many people surprised by the team’s sudden turnaround. But if the victory in Fort Worth on Oct. 26 proved anything, it was that the Longhorns were the sleeping giant of the 2013 football season. Before a crowd of 48,212 at Amon G. Carter Stadium, Texas brought the heat on both side of the ball for the fourth consecutive game.

For Mack Brown, his team’s execution since beginning conference play isn’t surprising.

“This is the team we thought we during the preseason,” Brown said. “Playing like this isn’t a surprise. To me the way we played against BYU [a 40-21 loss on Sept. 7] and Ole Miss [a 44-23 Sept. 16 setback] was a surprise. We knew this was a good team.”

The Longhorns (5-2, 4-0 Big 12) return to Austin carrying a four-game winning streak. Texas, along with Baylor, are the only undefeated teams in the conference.

In the team’s first trip to Fort Worth since 1994, Texas faced a well-coached and feisty Horned Frog team that usually gives its opponents fits.

Added to the mix came a 3-hour, 6-minute lightning delay that forced the teams to leave the field after the first 21 minutes of play. The weather posed an additional challenge for Texas — the storm halted the Longhorns’ momentum. Within those 21 minutes, the team had built a 17-7 lead over TCU.

“We handled the three-hour delay much better than the two-hour [pre-game] delay at BYU. We have experience now,” Brown said. “There are still things we can fix, but I’m proud of how they came back after the delay and played.”

The Longhorn’s offense — with quarterback Case McCoy at the helm — took advantage of a TCU defense hell-bent on stopping the run. Texas threw the ball down the field, hitting four pass plays of 30 yards or more. Even with the Horned Frogs crowding the line (and often-times putting nine defenders in the box to stop the run), Texas dominated at the line of scrimmage and rushed for 187 yards on 52 carries. Johnathan Gray gained 94 yards on 22 attempts, and Malcolm Brown added 51 yards and two TDs on 17 totes.

“We wanted to establish the run and try to exploit the match ups we had on their cornerbacks,” offensive coordinator Major Applewhite said. “Running the ball was going to be difficult because TCU played right on the line, but our offensive line was able to clear some room. The runners made the most of the space they had, especially in the third quarter.”

The Texas defense manhandled TCU and its two quarterbacks, allowing just 246 yards. The Horned Frogs’ lone score came on a nifty, double pass that stunned the Longhorns more than it hurt them. After that scoring play, TCU only ran two plays in Texas territory and was unable to cross midfield on its last 11 possessions.

“The team you saw out there [against TCU] is the team we know we can be in every game — one that’s determined and plays physical Texas football,” defensive tackle Chris Whaley said. “We wore them down and took away everything they tried to do.”

Texas took the lead on a 3-yard Malcolm Brown run at the 7:48 mark of the first quarter. The Longhorns’ defense created the scoring opportunity by forcing a fumble from TCU starting quarterback Trevone Boykins. The team added to its advantage late in the quarter after an eight-play drive that featured two McCoy-to-Jaxon Shipley hookups and two TCU penalties. Anthony Fera finished the drive with a 43-yard field goal.

The Horned Frogs (3-5, 1-4 Big 12) responded with their lone offensive highlight, a 38-yard pass from wide receiver Cameron Echols-Luper to LaDarius Brown after Echols-Luper caught a wide lateral from quarterback Casey Pachall.

On its next possession, Pachall (playing in his first game since breaking his left, non-throwing arm in the Frogs’ second game of the season) was intercepted by Texas linebacker Steve Edmond at the Texas 15. The Longhorns then converted a third-down-and-8 situation from their own 23. The play set the stage for McCoy, as he hit Marcus Johnson with a 65-yard scoring bomb down the left sideline, pushing the Texas lead to 17-7.

Then the storm rolled in with 6:08 remaining in the second quarter.

Once the game resumed, Texas added to its lead right before the half. The team’s biggest play came as a 44-yard pass from McCoy to Mike Davis, which led to a 37-yard Fera field goal. The Longhorns went into the truncated, three-minute halftime with a 20-7 lead.

The Longhorns added to their advantage on their first possession of the second half. The team used seven running plays, a 43-yard pass to Johnson and a defensive pass interference on the next play to set Brown up for a 3-yard touchdown run.

Saturday night rolled into Sunday morning as the Longhorns scored the final points of the game. The offense made a short fourth-quarter drive that setup Fera’s third field goal of the game — this one for 36 yards — with 11:55 to play.

The only true suspense in the fourth quarter came when true freshman quarterback Tyrone Swoopes entered the game for the Longhorns’ final drive. He carried the ball three times for minus-2 yards and handed off the ball five times to Joe Bergeron. The drive marked his first action of the season and perhaps was an indication of injured quarterback David Ash’s immediate future.

 

1. How did the Longhorns’ offense become so efficient?

Against a rough and tumble TCU defense, Texas took a page from its winning strategy against Oklahoma two weeks prior.

Applewhite called a game where the Longhorns hit the offense where they weren’t looking and took the big shots down the field.

TCU came into the game ranked first in the Big 12 and 17th nationally by allowing just 115.3 rushing yards per game. Texas ended up with 415 total yards of offense despite the fact that McCoy completed 9 of 19 passes.

McCoy suddenly looks like a mad bomber rather than the manage-the-game quarterback he’s been for the past three and a half seasons. At times against the Horned Frogs, McCoy looked more comfortable throwing the ball downfield than on short-range passes, although he did throw two third-quarter interceptions.

When asked after the game about his penchant for throwing the deep pass, McCoy had some fun with the press.

“Six months ago you guys said I couldn’t throw the ball that far,” he said with a smile. “Our plan was to take advantage of our match ups on the outside and hit them with some big plays. TCU stuck with its strategy to crowd our receivers at the line and do all they could to stop the run, so we took what they gave us.”

The maturation of the offensive line, which allowed McCoy ample time, is also a key to the improvement of the Texas offense.

 

2. Who’s the Longhorns’ latest playmaker?

The time has come for Johnson, a sophomore from League City, to take a bow.

Johnson had a career-high 120 receiving yards, hauling in receptions of 65, 43 and 12 yards against the Horned Frogs. All of this two weeks after burning Oklahoma with one of the year’s biggest plays — a 59-yard touchdown strike from McCoy.

Johnson made his initial highlight plays of the season in September against Kansas State when he picked up big first downs on catches of 14 and 21 yards along the sideline. He’s obviously found a comfort zone with McCoy.

“Marcus and I were second-team players so we worked together a lot,” McCoy said. “At times I’ll put the ball out there and Marcus will go make a play for it. I have a lot of confidence when I throw it to him. He’s a playmaker and he’s shown that from spring drills to tonight.”

Brown said the coaching staff knew that Johnson would figure heavily in the mix from his performance in fall drills.

“Marcus was doing so well, but then he got injured and had to work through that,” Brown said. “Now that he’s healthy and has had a chance to show what he can do, he’s always going to get the chance to make plays for us.”

 

3. How has Texas’ defense improved?

Whatever defensive coordinator Greg Robinson is saying to his players, it’s getting through. When compared the unit that barely beat Iowa State on Oct. 5, it’s difficult to recognize this bunch.

The defense looked at its best against the lethargic TCU attack. Texas had two of its three sacks against the Horned Frogs in the first seven defensive snaps and created three turnovers. Quandre Diggs forced the early Boykins fumble while on a safety blitz, which Adrian Phillips recovered.

Texas forced TCU to punt on nine of its final 11 possessions (the other two ended with a fumble on a punt return and the clock expiring at the end of the game). Of the Horned Frogs’ 246 total yards, just 80 yards came after the weather delay and two of TCU final possession resulted in negative yardage.

“We’re going out and playing the type of defense we’re supposed to play,” defensive end Cedric Reed said. “After the delay, some of TCU’s players started talking between plays and you could tell they were frustrated with the way we were beating them.”

Texas held Pachall to 13-of-34 passing for 139 yards and an interception. Aaron Green led TCU with 34 rushing yards.

Robinson has undoubtedly made a huge difference and the Longhorns are getting stronger on the defensive side of the ball. With another potential confidence-building game ahead this Saturday against woeful Kansas, the Texas defense should be at its peak when it will be needed the most.

 

4. How did the weather delay affect the game?

Because Texas went through a similar delay against BYU, the Longhorns’ coaching staff was prepared to deal with the situation.

“We knew the delay was going to be a long one, so we got the players out of their shoulder pads and got them something to eat,” Brown said. “We had the chance to make a few adjustments to the game plan, but mostly we tried to keep them off their feet and focus on the task at hand.”

The game couldn’t resume until reports indicated that lightning couldn’t be detected within a 10-mile radius of the stadium, for at least 30 minutes.

“We didn’t come back and play well after we got into the rain,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said. “We warmed them up and walked through [the game plan] with them, but Texas did a better job of that than we did.”

Applewhite said the adjustments to the game plan were minuscule because the Texas coaching staff saw that it was working. “We had to avoid tweaking much,” he said.

5. Why play Swoopes now?

With McCoy as Texas’ only healthy quarterback with any experience, Swoopes had to get on the field. The Longhorns are just a tweaked ankle away from turning over the offense to either Swoopes or Jalen Overstreet, who’s worked more at running back than at quarterback this season.

Brown said that part of that decision was because Ash, who’s been suffering from the lingering aftereffects of a concussion he suffered against BYU, hasn’t been cleared to practice. The reality is that he could not be available this Saturday against Kansas.

“We have to get Tyrone ready. We’re not going to redshirt him and he needed to get in the game and see what it was like, even at the end when just about everything had been decided,” Brown said. “Now that he’s been in a game, Tyrone will have to practice better and understand that he might be put in at any time.”

If the Texas staff was holding out even a remote chance that Ash could be ready for West Virginia — even as a backup or to start during the final stretch of the year — the coaches could’ve made do with playing McCoy or even Overstreet in the final minutes against TCU. However, Ash at quarterback may no be an option and Texas needs to start prepping McCoy’s backup.

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