Last week, Oklahoma had a historic come-from-behind win over Baylor. This week, a matchup with 5-5 TCU.
But this game is just as important for their College Football Playoff hopes as the last. Here’s a statistical look at Gary Patterson’s Horned Frogs.
Keeping it close
The Horned Frogs are the kings of keeping it close. Excluding their 49-24 loss to Iowa State in early October, the rest of their losses have been within one score at an average of 5.75 points. Their games with SMU, Kansas State, Baylor and Oklahoma State have all come down to the wire. Oklahoma has had a history of letting teams hang around this season, and they’ll need to get up big early, or they might have their third shootout in a row on their hands.
Horned Frog Defense
With a 34-point performance on the Baylor defense, TCU has officially been made the top defense in the Big 12. Trevon Moehrig and Vernon Scott are two legit safeties, who are apart of a unit that allows just 209 passing yards per game. Jalen Hurts, who averages 304 passing yard per game, will need to fix last week’s mistakes to succeed against TCU.
Up-and-down offense
TCU’s offense has split their rushing and passing right down the middle. They average 223 passing yards and 215 rushing yards per game. Last week, Oklahoma finally showed some defensive adjustments, shutting down the Bears offense. This week, they’ll be facing an extremely balanced offense, that has struggled at times. This should be a tune-up game for the Sooners defense, but they can’t have another repeat of last week’s first half. TCU has also lost nine fumbles in 10 games this year, and quarterback Max Duggan nearly has a 2-1 touchdown to interception ration. It should be a perfect week to force some coveted turnovers for Alex Grinch.