TCU Horned Frogs vs SMU Mustangs Football Preview

The time for fiddle-faddling is over in Fort Worth, Texas. If the Texas Christian Horned Frogs don’t begin to iron out their problems and their lingering bad habits, they’re going to run into a roadblock against a team that can actually make them pay.

The staging of the in-state rivalry between SMU and TCU this week will mark the fifth straight year for the long-running matchup, with TCU going 4-0 in the previous four. SMU hopes to end the streak this year on the road (just 40 miles away from its own campus), its previous win over the Horned Frogs coming in 2005. The 20th-ranked Frogs have looked alarmingly mediocre this year, and they have some distinct weaknesses the Mustangs hope to exploit.

After several years as one of the top—if not the first-ranked—defenses in the country, TCU’s defense is currently surrendering 398 yards per game, good for a ranking of 85th in the 120-member Football Bowl Subdivision. It’s a strange time in Fort Worth for the Frogs, a problem made worse now that All-American candidate at linebacker Tanner Brock is out with a season-ending injury. While the barrage of yards and points surrendered in the season-opening shootout with Baylor certainly skews the statistics, TCU still gave up plenty of yards to the likes of Louisiana-Monroe. Luckily for TCU, its offense, the unit expected to struggle before the season began, is quite strong. Quarterback Casey Pachall and running backs Matthew Tucker and Waymon James have led the Frogs to a perfectly-balanced offense, averaging 218 rushing and passing yards per game. With that having been said, however, TCU has still started very slowly in its past two games. It led Louisiana-Monroe by a paltry four points at halftime (on home turf, mind you), and it was tied with Portland State (3-3) well into the second quarter of last weekend’s cupcake game at Amon Carter Stadium. SMU is the defending champion of the West Division in Conference USA. If TCU dilly-dallies against the Ponies, it is asking for another shocking loss in the still-young season.

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SMU’s offense has come together a little bit – not fully – despite replacing the incumbent starter at quarterback, Kyle Padron, in the middle of the team’s first game at Texas A&M on September 4. New starter J.J. McDermott has found a groove with receivers Darius Johnson and Cole Beasley, while running back Zach Line is averaging 116 yards per game on the ground. However, it needs to be said in all this that the Mustangs’ success has come against vastly inferior competition. Even though TCU’s defense isn’t as typically dominant, it’s still much better than anything UTEP, Northwestern State, or Memphis threw at SMU. McDermott will likely need to have the offense clicking for all four quarters to keep up with TCU.

In the same breath, TCU will need to click for all four quarters if it wants a relatively drama-free afternoon at the ballyard.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer