TCU Riff Ram Recap – Game 1 – TCU vs. Samford

There were many questions being asked before the Horned Frogs kicked off against the Samford Bulldogs on Saturday evening. Which Quarterback would start, Trevone Boykin or Matt Joeckel?

What can we expect out of the new offense? How will the Offensive Line hold up in a fast-paced scheme? Well, the Frogs new Air-Raid offense led by Trevone Boykin came out blazing, mixing up the run and pass all evening en route to the 48-14 win in front of 40,000+ at Amon G. Carter Stadium. The final stats don’t even tell the whole story. Let’s look at the different phases of the game.

The Horned Frogs ran 96 plays on Offense, 44 rushes for 200 yards and 52 passes for 355 yards, but Boykin was sacked twice for negative 16 yards and 4 penalties against the Offensive Line for 45 yards that eliminated other chances in this game. Trevone Boykin wasn’t great, still struggling on crossing routes and missing on deep throws down the middle; twice over-throwing Kolby Listenbee and not seeing a wide open Deante Gray in the 3^rd Quarter, but was a completely different Quarterback than the one we saw in 6 starts last year. He was confident and was out there having fun; and most of all, he didn’t turn the ball over. Boykin finished 29-41 for 320 yards and 2 TD’s and ran for another 29 and a TD. Matt Joeckel didn’t even make his TCU debut until the 4^th Quarter and threw a 2 yard fade route to Kolby Listenbee for a TD on his first attempt as a Frog. The Offensive Line was shaky at times but they ran 96 total plays on offense and only had 4 penalties on a humid night so it’s hard to complain when they churned out 555 total yards. 

You can’t talk about TCU and not mention the Defense. The Frogs held Samford to 143 Total Yards and only 9 First Downs in the game. 46 of the rushing yards were on scrambles by Samford Starting QB Michael Eubank. Both starting Linebackers, Marcus Mallet 10 tackles (1 for loss) and Paul Dawson (9 tackles, 1 Pass Breakup, 1 INT) were stellar in this one. All five Defensive Backs were around the ball and had great coverage which forced Michael Eubank to have to scramble more than he would have liked and Redshirt Freshman Cornerback Ranthany Texada nearly had an interception in the 2^nd Quarter. While the Linebackers and the DB's were great, the Star of the evening on defense was Mike Tuaua. The Junior Defensive End finished with 7 tackles (3.5 for loss), 2 Sacks, and 2 Forced Fumbles. 

The Special Teams were great as Jaden Oberkrom was perfect on the night (6-6 XP, 2-2 FG) and boomed the kickoffs through the end zone both with and against the wind. Ethan Perry averaged 48.2 yds/punt with two inside the 20 and the lone touchback was shown on replay to have been a bad call by the official. He was kicking deep and high, which is a dangerous combo when you’re the man waiting for it to come down and have players the speed of TCU barreling down on you.

The biggest takeaway from this game was the amount of big plays by the new offense. 6 players had runs of 10 or more yards for TCU (Boykin, Gray, Catalon, Hicks, Green, Johnson).  Kolby Listenbee and Deante Gray showed off their speed on deep balls, while Ty Slanina and David Porter were great in the slot. Also, 13 different players caught a pass for the Frogs including Kyle Hicks, Trevorris Johnson, Emmanuel Porter and Desmon White who caught their first career passes.

Defensive End Josh Carraway, Right Guard Brady Foltz, Wide Receiver Kolby Listenbee and Cornerback Ranthony Texada made their first career starts, while seven true Freshman played for the Frogs: Defensive Tackle Chris Bradley, Safety Travin Howard, Cornerback Nick Orr, Wide Receivers Emmanuel Porter and Desmon White, Center Austin Schlottman, Linebacker Ty Summers. The Horned Frogs played 68 total players including first career game action for Wide Receivers Daniel Walsh, Charlie Reid and Phil Taylor, Quarterback Zach Allen, Defensive Backs Steve Wesley and Cyd Calvin, Linebacker Paul Whitmill, Running Backs Kyle Hicks and Trevorris Johnson, Tight End Bryson Burnett, and Offensive Linemen Matt Pryor and Joseph Noteboom.

Up next for the Horned Frogs is Minnesota on September 13^th at 3 pm at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Remember to White Out The Carter and #AmpItUp.

See you there and #GoFrogs!

Geoff Craig

@geoffrey_craig

300: Rise of an Empire

No, I’m not talking about another film about the Roman Empire; I’m talking about the legacy of TCU’s most successful Head Coach. Nope, it’s not Gary Patterson either; I’m talking about TCU Women’s Basketball Head Coach Jeff Mittie. With his win against Kansas State on February 19^th, Coach Mittie reached 300 wins as Head Coach at TCU. Mittie joins fellow Big 12 coaches Kim Mulkey (Baylor), Bill Fennelly (Iowa State), Sherri Coale (Oklahoma) and Deb Patterson (K-State) with 300 wins at their current institution. 

Appointed to the TCU post Aug. 19, 1999, Mittie is the sixth head coach to guide the Frog women's basketball program since the 1977-78 season. Prior to Mittie's arrival, TCU owned a 208-402 (.340) mark. He is also the all-time winningest coach in program history, a distinction he claimed with a 74-49 victory over UAB on Feb. 28, 2003. Remarkably, it took Mittie less than four seasons to better Hall of Famer Fran Garmon, who spent 10 years at the helm.

How did he feel about getting his 300^th victory?

"I'll be honest, 300 is a big milestone to TCU, but 15 wins is bigger for us. That's the way it is. A lot of people contributed to the 300."

Coach Mittie has never been one to want to bask in the spotlight, this is exactly why he has flown under the radar for so long at TCU. It’s about time the students and fans of TCU understood how lucky they have been for the last 15 years. Here are some Coach Mittie’s accomplishments since being hired back in ’99:

• Guided TCU to 11 postseason appearances in 14 years
• Nine NCAA Tournament berths
• TCU's leader in career wins
• Five-time Conference Coach of the Year

Boasting one of the youngest and most talented rosters he has ever had at TCU, look for Coach Mittie to continue to add to these accolades in the near future. Congrats on win #300 Coach! Go Frogs!

Cowboys Classic Recap

Here is a my recap of TCU’s loss to LSU on Saturday and my keys to the game.

There was some concern with how the inexperienced TCU Offensive Line would deal with one of the SEC’s best defensive fronts. How did TCU respond? By throwing on 6 of their first 7 plays. Offensive play calling by TCU was just that, Offensive. TCU ran the ball 25 times and passed 29. No attempt to establish the run against a team playing without their top linebacker. When TCU did attempt to run, they were pretty successful.

•  B.J Catalon 8 carries for 53 yards (6.5 per carry)

•  Waymon James 6 for 33 (5.5 per carry)

•  Casey Pachall 2 for 16 (8.0 per carry)

This needs to change. By contrast, LSU ran 80 Offensive plays (46 runs, 34 passes) The ability to run the ball wears down a defense and causes the linebackers to cheat up  to stop the run. This leads directly to my next point.

The LSU receiving tandem of Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry had good stats but upon further review, the TCU secondary was pretty good. Here is the breakdown:

•  Kevin White was the focus of much of the LSU targeting but only gave up 4 receptions while defending 4 passes.

•  Jason Verrett had 3 passes defended while only giving up 2 receptions for 18 yards.

•  Sam Carter only allowed a 20 yard TD to Landry, although it was a 7 yard route and a missed tackle.

•  Chris Hackett allowed 2 receptions for 27 yards.

•  Elisha Olabode allowed 3 receptions for 46 yards.

TCU was playing a soft zone for much of the game. This was more conservative than normally seen under Coach Patterson. Most of these passes were in the zone just over the Linebackers and in front of the Safeties.

I fully expect this team to bounce back this Saturday when TCU hosts Southeastern Louisiana at 11 am at Amon G. Carter Stadium. I fully expect TCU to bounce back from this loss and show the rest of the Big 12 who they really are. Expect 100 yard rushing games from BOTH Waymon James and B.J. Catalon. 

Until next time....
Geoff
@geoffrey_craig

Prime Prep: The School of Hard Knocks

Deion Sanders is back in the headlines again. Not surprisingly, it’s not for a good reason. It seems as though Deion’s Charter School, Prime Prep was not fully qualified by the NCAA academically and now two of its stars from last season, Forwards Karviar Shepherd and Jordan Mickey have been ruled ineligible for the upcoming season for TCU and LSU, respectfully.

I feel bad for both of the kids because they were just following their Head Coach, Ray Forsett from Grace Prep over to Prime Prep. In January, Prime Prep announced that it had completed “all the preliminary steps necessary” to ensure that its student-athletes would be eligible to receive scholarships from NCAA institutions according to the report.

“We are pleased to announce that Prime Prep Academy has successfully completed all preliminary steps necessary for NCAA membership! As a result of this milestone, all prospective student athletes are eligible for individual review through the NCAA initial eligibility process. This will enable students to attend and receive scholarships from Division 1 and Division 2 college institutions. Once again, Prime Prep Academy continues to make strides for students both academically and in the athletic department. We anticipate a great partnership with the NCAA.”

Well now we find out this may not be the case. Both players were ruled as non-qualifiers by the NCAA even though they were both told prior to transferring that they would be eligible.

John Infante at the Bylaw Blog breaks down all of the details: 

 “Part of the answer is in Prime Prep's January statement. Note that it does not say it has taken care of everything with the NCAA. It has completed "preliminary steps" with the NCAA that allow for "individual review" of prospects at the Eligibility Center. Prime Prep's Approved Core Course List at the EC backs this up. All the courses submitted by the academy have been approved except for one (Sociology/Social Problems). That means based on reviewing things like course descriptions, syllabi, and course flowcharts, the Eligibility Center determined that most of Prime Prep's catalog fits the definition of a core course.”

 But the list includes this notice right at the top:

“This program is under an extended evaluation period to determine if it meets the academic requirements for NCAA cleared status. During this evaluation period, the courses listed below may be subject to further review on a case-by-case basis, which will require additional academic documentation.”

That means when prospective student-athletes from Prime Prep submits their transcripts to the Eligibility Center, they likely also have to submit additional information, such as grade books, course stop-start dates and assignment dates, detailed course outlines, even copies of assignments, quizzes, and exams completed by the student.

What the NCAA is trying to determine is that the courses it has approved are being taught in an academically sound manner. When a school submits a new course or especially when a new school establishes its list for the first time, all the NCAA has is how the school plans to teach the course. The PSA Review process is then used to determine if the course is actually being taught according to the approved plan.

Well, there you have it. Prime Prep may not have been entirely truthful in their January statement. Now we have two kids who have just had their dreams of playing Division 1 basketball taken away from them because Deion Sanders and his school, in their haste to steal talent from the area, didn’t go through all of the proper channels before starting their basketball program. The coaches at TCU and LSU are surely upset by this ruling by the NCAA, and all Division 1 programs might want to rethink their dealings with Prime Prep athletes going forward.

Like I said, I feel bad for Karviar and Jordan, they didn’t do anything wrong and they are the ones being punished. Shame on you for always needing to be in the headlines, Mr. Sanders. Mr. Prime Time, Neon Deion. You should have to wear a Neon sign that reads “Do not trust this person”. But you don’t care, Deion. It’s always about Deion, he doesn’t care about these kids. Hopefully the NCAA does and Jordan and Karviar aren’t punished for the likes of Deion Sanders.

Until next time...

Geoff

@geoffrey_craig