TCU Horned Frogs College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
TCU Horned Frogs Biggest Key: Offense
Run for 200 yards. TCU led the Big 12 in rushing offense thanks to a deep group of running backs and the mobility of QB Max Duggan, but when the O didn’t crank up big yards on the ground, the team lost.
The Horned Frogs don’t care all that much about ball control, but when they run well they’re able to dictate the tempo. The 200 yard mark showed it.
The Horned Frogs for more than 200 yards six times – and they went 6-0. They didn’t run for 200 yards four times – and they went 0-4. To take this further, TCU is 10-2 over the last two seasons when it hits the mark, and it’s 1-9 when it doesn’t.
For the puzzle to be put together, get the running game working and …
TCU Horned Frogs Biggest Key: Defense
Take the ball away more. The TCU defense is always going to be decent-to-great under Gary Patterson, but most of the time there isn’t much of a margin for error.
Everyone wants to win the turnover battle, but TCU hasn’t been too bad at overcoming mistakes by the offensive side. However, the D needs to generate takeaways.
The TCU D forced multiple takeaways seven times last season and in each of the last four games. Last season it came up with two ore more just three times and won all three games.
When it failed to get more than one takeaway the team was 3-4. And when it comes to turnover margin, TCU was 3-0 last year and 15-2 over the last four seasons when it was on the plus side.
TCU Horned Frogs Key Player To A Successful Season
LB Wyatt Harris, Jr.
Garret Wallow came up with close to 300 tackles with 8.5 tackles and 32.5 tackles for loss in his terrific Horned Frog career. Now he’s gone after being a fixture in the TCU linebacking corps for the last three seasons and the D needs to replace an important part in the 4-2-5 alignment.
The 6-3, 220-pound Harris only made three tackles last season, but TCU has a way of grooming defenders to be the Next Man Up. If it’s not Harris out there next to Dee Winters on the inside, it’s going to be an interesting fight in fall camp.
TCU Horned Frogs Key Game To The 2021 Season
Texas, Oct. 2
The Horned Frogs start the season with four straight home games, and this comes at the end of the run. They beat Texas in a 33-31 thriller last year and – shockingly – won six of the last seven.
It had better be seven of eight with three of the next four games and five of the last eight on the road. Lose, and those dates at Texas Tech and Oklahoma will be a problem.
2020 TCU Horned Frogs Fun Stats
– Rushing TDs: TCU 23 – Opponents 9
– Penalties: TCU 77 for 625 yards – Opponents 66 for 598 yards
– Fumbles: TCU 13 (lost 9) – Opponents 11 (lost 4)