KillerFrogs writers Carson Wersal and J.D. Andress host the post-game recap of the TCU loss to West Virginia, breaking down the defense and offense and venting some frustration.
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00:00 Hey everybody, welcome back to the Killer Frogs post game show, or maybe post post game
00:11 show this time around since we're doing it so late.
00:14 I'm here with JD Andres and we're just going to kind of summarize what we thought of the
00:19 TCU game this past Saturday.
00:21 TCU did end up losing 24 to 21 to West Virginia.
00:25 JD, just kind of give me your thoughts on the game overall real quick and then we'll
00:30 kind of jump into some more specific stuff.
00:33 I think it was definitely a deflating game.
00:37 I mean the fan base is definitely deflated but you got to think about those players.
00:40 I mean that that was I think that was more heartbreaking of a loss than losing to Colorado.
00:46 Losing to Colorado was you know, new team, new faces, you didn't really know much about
00:51 it.
00:52 West Virginia has been a team that always struggles against TCU.
00:54 I mean TCU has a losing record since they've been in the Big 12 to only two teams and it's
00:59 Oklahoma and West Virginia.
01:00 I mean every team kind of has a kryptonite and I think West Virginia has been ours and
01:05 I think anyone, I mean myself included, I was telling people I was like this isn't going
01:08 to be a blowout.
01:09 West Virginia, I mean Neil Brown, I don't know what happened between last year and this
01:13 year but West Virginia is looking a lot better and I think I think TCU is going to learn
01:17 a lot from this game.
01:19 Yeah, I definitely think that TCU learned a lot more about themselves than we learned
01:25 about West Virginia, maybe as a Big 12 conference because West Virginia, they, you have to remember
01:31 they hung with the number six team in the nation for almost three quarters.
01:37 I mean granted Penn State really pulled away in that very first game of the season in the
01:42 fourth quarter but I mean props to them for hanging with them and props to them for taking
01:47 down maybe not a an elite TCU defense but an extremely stingy one at that since the
01:55 Colorado game.
01:56 Yeah, what were your thoughts overall on the defense's performance?
02:02 I was not really displeased by it.
02:05 I think there were, the one thing I was a little bit upset by is how many scrambling
02:12 yards that Garrett Green was able to get with his legs.
02:15 I think he ended up having right around 90 yards on the ground and as a defense that
02:22 is supposed to be built on speed, that cannot happen.
02:27 Yeah, I think a lot of that was, there was no second half adjustment for it.
02:33 I mean up until the first half, Garrett Green had six or seven passes attempted for the
02:37 entire first half and majority of damage done was hit with his feet and there was no halftime
02:42 adjustment to say hey, you know what, let's keep a spy on him, our secondary's been able
02:48 to lock him down.
02:49 West Virginia doesn't really have a top half receiving group in the Big 12 and there was
02:54 no adjustment made for it for the second half and it burned us.
02:57 I think a lot of it also is, your defensive line isn't, Garrett Green wasn't rushing because
03:03 your defensive line was pressuring him.
03:04 Garrett Green was running because the secondary was locking him and he had to scrap and we
03:09 left the lane open every time and I think it's, you know, but overall I think the defense
03:15 played great.
03:16 I'd like to see more of a pass rush but that's something that, you know, we didn't have Johnny
03:20 Hodges who's a blitzing threat and Chad Banks has played well last week and is stepping
03:27 in his role.
03:28 Yeah, Chad Banks can like, I mean like a lot of other guys on the TCU, defense just continues
03:35 to get better every single week.
03:37 The thing with defense that I was most excited about, kind of on the flip side, is the red
03:42 zone defense.
03:44 I loved it.
03:46 I think it was two fourth down turnovers like inside our five yard line.
03:52 And those were in key moments of the game as well.
03:54 Like those are turnovers where, like, I mean those are huge momentum builders for your
04:02 offense especially.
04:03 And I think that's been a recurring theme so far this year is, you know, I've heard
04:08 from, me personally, I've heard from the pass rush and the non-existent pass rush essentially.
04:13 But when the defense needs to stop those, I mean our D line is getting their ears back
04:18 and winning.
04:19 I mean Chase Fox was good off the edge on that fourth down stop in the end zone.
04:25 And Demonic Williams is plugging up the hole on inside runs down there.
04:28 And I think, you know, to also be fair to the defense and to give them their flowers
04:32 for this is the amount of times that West Virginia got the ball either on the 50 yard
04:38 line or in TCU territory already because the offense was stopped in the end zone.
04:44 I mean the defense could have gave up a lot more points than they actually did.
04:47 To give your offense a fighting chance, that's all you can really ask for.
04:51 I mean West Virginia doesn't have the best offense in the Big 12.
04:55 But I still think, you know, the season model this season has been been down for it.
05:01 That yesterday amplified, or Saturday amplified that completely.
05:05 Yeah, I always, I've always kind of criticized the 353 defense that TCU throws out there
05:13 or the 334, whatever you want to call it.
05:16 He, like Joe Gillespie, continues to prove me wrong because TCU did not lose that game
05:27 based on our secondary or our defensive line.
05:32 It was a lack of game plan going into the second half.
05:36 Like you said, it was a lack of game plan.
05:37 And it also just seemed like a confidence thing.
05:40 Yeah, like there were a lot of throws that Chandler Morris had.
05:43 What was he 23 for 41?
05:45 Yeah, I mean, for a guy that has continued to get better every week, that's a huge step
05:52 backwards.
05:53 Right.
05:54 And it seems like on five or six of those deep throws, it seems like he's not confident
05:58 that he can make those throws.
06:00 Yeah, I mean, as far as Chandler Morris's overall performance, I think Sonny Dykes talked
06:08 about it in the postgame press conference is that because of the offensive line struggles,
06:13 which I'm sure we'll talk about after this, but Chandler Morris seemed to get skittish.
06:18 He was taking off when he didn't need to take off and he was staying in the pocket when
06:22 he did need to take off.
06:23 And I think it kind of messed with them mental wise.
06:26 And there were a lot of throws that if he had waited two more seconds when he had the
06:30 available time, he would have hit the receiver.
06:33 And it just I mean, due to the offensive lines play and West Virginia's defensive line, I
06:38 mean, they're rushing for and getting back there.
06:41 No problem.
06:42 So I think overall, Chandler Morris didn't have his best game, but he's given me no reason
06:48 to worry about the upcoming weeks.
06:51 Yeah, yeah.
06:52 I mean, again, what is the I think no interceptions that game yet.
06:57 No interceptions that game.
06:59 That's a huge thing.
07:00 No fumbles.
07:01 I mean, and that's that's honestly that's how you that's how you succeed as a quarterback.
07:06 Yeah.
07:07 And there are.
07:08 Good.
07:09 Sorry, go ahead.
07:10 I was just going to say that I think like we talked about, like his completion percentage
07:16 and everything almost is like 53 percent of the day.
07:20 There was a lot of that were just miscommunications that will get, you know, worked on throughout
07:25 the weeks.
07:26 Yeah.
07:27 I mean, I know we're in week four or week five now, but I think they'll get worked out
07:30 like there was a ball to chase Curtis in the end zone that chase Curtis beat his man on
07:35 the skinny post route to the corner.
07:37 Chandler Morris is on the run, rolling out to the right, made a beautiful throw.
07:40 And the issue was is Chandler Morris let him up build into the end zone to chase Curtis
07:44 cut it towards the corner.
07:45 I mean, and then you had the intentional grounding call that he had, which I still have no idea
07:50 how that's an intentional grounding call.
07:52 But well, receivers must run a go route and Chandler Morris through it and receiver and
07:56 a curl.
07:57 And I think that you just little things like that add up.
08:01 And, you know, you'd like to have had those worked out week three, week four.
08:05 But I don't I don't think as much of the blame is on Chandler Morris.
08:09 Yeah, I agree.
08:12 I kind of going back to that intentional grounding call that was questionable.
08:19 You will never hear me say on like a podcast like this or in any of my articles that the
08:25 referees blew the game.
08:26 TCU should have lost that game.
08:30 There is no universe where where the referees were the reason that TCU lost.
08:36 Right.
08:37 I will say that I believe the big 12 will look into that game because there are four
08:43 or five calls where they'll show the replay on TV or they'll show it on the big screen
08:49 at the game and there will be nothing going on.
08:53 Yeah.
08:54 I mean, big, huge, massive holding call inside the five yard line.
09:00 West Virginia has the ball and Dominic Williams gets called for holding.
09:05 They show it up on the video board Saturday night.
09:08 Dominic Dominic Williams doesn't even touch anybody.
09:11 Yeah, he actually doesn't touch anybody.
09:15 And so that's I mean, that's a huge call because that was on third down and they ended up getting
09:19 first down and they scored in two plays.
09:22 Yeah.
09:23 And I think, you know, alone for a player to get defensive holding, let alone a nose
09:28 nose tackle is pretty rare.
09:31 Yeah.
09:32 A nose tackle to get the same defensive holding call twice is kind of unheard of.
09:37 I mean, and then you had that.
09:38 And then for lack of sounding like a homer, West Virginia had a lot of holding going on
09:44 when Gary Green would start scrambling, which is not getting called.
09:47 And I was it was a perplexing game.
09:49 I mean, it's like you said, the TCU deserved to lose that.
09:53 The refs don't lose the game, but they sure can make it harder to win.
09:57 Absolutely.
09:58 So kind of switching to the offensive side, is there anything kind of that stuck out to
10:07 you in that whole game?
10:11 You know, as far as I did, I did have a few questions with we've seen a lot the last few
10:16 weeks that a lot of receivers are getting worked in.
10:20 I mean, Joe Jarrero would get worked in.
10:23 Jayler Robinson would get worked in.
10:24 There was a plethora of receivers coming in and out of the games every week.
10:28 And this week, we didn't really see that.
10:29 I don't know if that was a game plan script.
10:32 We saw a lot of JP Richardson, Jack Fesh, Savion Williams, and we didn't really see
10:37 Joe Jarrero out there.
10:39 Seeing Chase Curtis out there is nice.
10:42 I think he's a good secondary tight end to Jared Wiley, but Wiley had a quiet game too.
10:49 I don't know if that's all game plan or whatnot, but it just felt like Chandler Morris, you
10:55 know, every week before you were getting fresh legs in there.
10:58 You had those go-routes.
10:59 You had those options for Chandler Morris to throw, but this time, I mean, when you
11:02 leave receivers in a game for a while, they're going to get tired.
11:05 That's natural human ability.
11:06 And I just think we didn't exploit that enough to run, you know, you have JP Richardson and
11:12 Jack Fesh who are great at slant routes.
11:14 You have Joe Jarrero who's great at slant routes.
11:16 And when your offensive line is struggling as much as we were, I think you need to use
11:21 those options.
11:22 Yeah, it's definitely been uncharacteristic to see Joe Jarrero, who had a lot of success
11:30 at Alabama, struggle so much here in TCU.
11:37 I for one, so I graduated right before Joe Jarrero at Aledo High School, watched Joe
11:44 Jarrero play football at Aledo for three years.
11:48 The way that they utilized him was crossing routes over the middle and then kind of the
11:55 short check down stuff that they do.
11:57 They do with him at TCU, but I don't see really any of the slant routes that he's had so much
12:06 success with in the past.
12:09 So don't get me wrong, he has not been playing like a four star, five star candidate at all
12:18 this season, but I hope that they will try and utilize him a little bit more going forward.
12:26 Maybe not in the punt return and kick return, but just on the offensive side of the ball.
12:31 Yeah, I mean, to put it into perspective, Joe Jarrero had more rushing attempts than
12:35 he did receiving targets.
12:37 He had one rushing attempt, zero targets.
12:40 And I think that's not something that, you know, if you're losing and you want to look
12:47 at pinpoint stats and be like, he's not getting the ball.
12:50 When your offense struggles, like you just said perfectly, Joe Jarrero's great at slant
12:53 routes.
12:54 Jalen Robbins is great at slant routes.
12:55 We have a lot of receivers who really work well inside the house.
13:00 And I think we didn't use that this week.
13:02 Do you have anything else for the about the offense performance?
13:09 I do kind of want to talk about the third quarter, but I'm going to talk about it from
13:14 a fan perspective first, and then I'll let you kind of follow up on it on what you think.
13:22 So as so we were sitting in the student section and it's one thing if it's a few people in
13:31 the stand saying, oh, what's with the play calling right now?
13:35 It's a problem when the entire student section is saying the same thing over and over.
13:43 Why did we call that play?
13:46 Why are we why?
13:48 Why is why is this the play call?
13:50 Why in the third quarter have we suddenly gone away from everything that succeeded?
13:56 And I think that is a testament to Kendall Bryles, maybe not having the right feel for
14:04 this offense, and maybe not having a feel for momentum in this game.
14:10 Because going into the half, TCU had the momentum.
14:12 I mean, scoring on our pretty much the last play of the game, or last play the second
14:17 half, sorry about that.
14:20 And going into halftime with the lead.
14:24 Yeah, I think it's been every week now that I've kind of questioned at certain points
14:32 of the game, why the play calling is gone.
14:36 Normally, Kendall Bryles between the 20s has been great.
14:40 And it's just red zone that kind of frustrates me at times.
14:42 But that third quarter was one of those that it was like, I don't understand what we're
14:47 doing.
14:48 I am completely lost.
14:49 And it's not because Kendall Bryles doesn't have the pieces.
14:53 We have really, really great players everywhere on that field.
14:57 And I yeah, and I think I, I almost want to say that it's every team has adjusted at halftime
15:04 and I've yet to see the TCU offense adjust at halftime.
15:08 I mean, it gets SMU.
15:09 Offense was great.
15:10 They didn't stray away from it.
15:12 There was no need for adjustments.
15:13 Okay, cool.
15:14 I mean, Colorado, I didn't see any adjustments get made at halftime.
15:17 I mean, there's a lot so far that it's like, the defense is going to adjust.
15:22 They started, you know, bringing more blitzes in the second half right to start and TC never
15:28 adjusted once.
15:29 I know you have a struggling old line.
15:31 You don't have Brandon Coleman, and he's hurt.
15:34 You have Willis Patrick getting burned on the end.
15:37 Why aren't we running max protection at any point?
15:39 I mean, it's a lot of when you only get one yard of offense in an entire quarter, there's
15:46 something wrong.
15:47 And I don't think it was on the players.
15:49 I mean, you are struggling.
15:52 TCU allowed three sacks in the entire third quarter.
15:56 And it's I mean, the defense did all they could, but the offense oftentimes was coming
16:01 out of their own end zone.
16:02 West Virginia starting field average in the third quarter was starting at their own 47.
16:06 So almost barely 53 yards to be in zone.
16:09 Yeah, I mean, that's almost unacceptable.
16:11 I mean, and the fact that TCU was even in the game to start was, I mean, a blessing
16:18 in itself.
16:19 And then like, to go further on the play callings, we're in the fourth quarter.
16:24 We you know, we have two and a half minutes left.
16:27 I think it was like 158 on the clock.
16:30 Running the ball hasn't worked all day.
16:32 And then West Virginia is finally playing prevent defense.
16:37 We finally get the running game start working, then we abandon it.
16:41 Like, all we needed was a field goal.
16:43 Why are we playing for the win?
16:45 When your offense hasn't looked good all, you know, the whole time.
16:49 And over time, anything can happen.
16:50 At that point, you just keep giving if West Virginia is going to allow you to run seven,
16:54 eight yards every time, you'll take that all the time.
16:57 You know, your special teams can get out on the field in a hurry and kick a kick.
17:00 We saw it last year with Bazooka.
17:01 I think a lot of it is just questionable.
17:03 And, you know, I think it's just one of those that everyone's looking at themselves and
17:09 being like, why do we do that?
17:11 What happened?
17:12 And I mean, do you have anything else about the offense?
17:16 Because I just mentioned special teams.
17:17 And if you don't, I want to talk about them briefly.
17:23 You know, I, I'll say one last thing.
17:25 It's, it's kind of been the same song and dance for two weeks now.
17:30 And I've been saying it.
17:33 Kendall Bryles will have an amazing offensive drive going into the 20-yard line.
17:39 And then we automatically just change up everything that we're doing.
17:44 And it's like you saw kind of a large version of that this week.
17:48 But instead of for only one drive or two plays out of the drive, it was an entire court.
17:57 And I mean, like, like you said, I didn't I didn't even know it was one yard of offense
18:01 for that entire court.
18:03 That is, I mean, that's unacceptable.
18:06 There's not really another another word for that.
18:09 Yeah, I mean, I mentioned that the offense just needed to get down to the red zone and
18:14 kick a field goal.
18:15 And I'm not blaming this on any way, shape or form on Griffin Kell.
18:20 But Kell was automatic last year.
18:23 He finished 17 for 19 on the year.
18:25 He is seven for 13 this season so far.
18:28 And I understand the two kicks were blocked.
18:31 But I mean, Sonny Dykes even mentioned it in the press conference that the kicks were
18:34 low.
18:35 They almost hit our own players.
18:36 Like, regardless of if they were blocked or not, like, Griffin Kell knows to not kick
18:41 them that shallow.
18:42 They're at risk of getting blocked.
18:43 And Griffin Kell has the legs.
18:45 He had a 53 yarder that he missed.
18:47 Okay, you know what, 53 yarders tough.
18:49 I'd never even come close to making it.
18:50 So I understand you're not giving me 100% on that.
18:53 But two other field goal attempts in the 40 yards, within 40 yards that Griffin Kell's
18:57 normally good for.
18:59 It's just I hope that it doesn't lead to further problems down the road where he has, you know,
19:06 issues with making kicks because he lacks the confidence now.
19:10 Yeah, you mentioned kind of going up against like future teams and having that problem.
19:16 I mean, when we when we get into the gauntlet of this schedule, where it's Texas, OU, Kansas,
19:24 like those are those are mistakes that will make you lose games.
19:29 Yeah.
19:30 And you won't even have a chance.
19:32 Right?
19:33 Yeah.
19:34 I think special teams is a big part of the game.
19:37 I mean, JoJo Earl had almost gave the ball away on the 10 yard line.
19:41 The man's running backwards, looking behind his shoulder, trying to catch a punt.
19:45 And he ended up trying to catch it on the nine yard line.
19:48 Hey, and anyone will tell you, you let that ball go.
19:51 If you don't have a good handle on that, you're, you know, you just let it go.
19:55 If you get down to the one, you get down to the one, at least you have the ball.
19:58 If you try and catch that, you muffed it like he did.
20:01 Thankfully, TCU got it back.
20:03 But you get West Virginia the ball within, you know, within 10 yards of scoring.
20:07 And I don't understand why we don't have major Everhard back there.
20:12 I mean, I know, I know JoJo Earl is a good return man, but major Everhard is essentially
20:17 Darius Davis.
20:19 Like he's got the breakaway speed.
20:21 He's got the vision in lanes.
20:22 We've seen it on kickoff returns.
20:24 I think he should be back there fielding punts.
20:26 Yeah, I'm not entirely sure what TCU's starting field position was, but I know that it wasn't
20:36 good.
20:37 I mean, like last season when you had Darius Davis returning, I mean, I think TCU's average
20:44 starting field position was most likely TCU's, what, 35 yard line?
20:49 Yeah.
20:50 Like half the time he would run right across the 50 and we would just be like, oh, well,
20:54 that's another Darius Davis run.
20:56 Like it was common knowledge that TCU would have decent field position, but you kind of
21:01 saw it in the Colorado game where, I mean, we just, we don't have that guy right now
21:10 to make those big returns and give that TCU offense kind of a jumpstarted need to get
21:17 rolling.
21:18 Yeah.
21:19 TCU's average starting field position was at TCU's 21.
21:22 West Virginia's was at West Virginia's 39.
21:25 So I mean, that's a big disparity and you're already putting your defenses back against
21:29 the wall.
21:30 But I mean, I think overall TCU's going to learn a lot from this game.
21:34 I mean, it felt like we were not only playing West Virginia, we played well.
21:40 I mean, they're playing well so far to start the year and West Virginia continue to play
21:44 well.
21:45 But TCU played West Virginia, a little bit of the referees and they definitely played
21:48 themselves.
21:49 I mean, once they get out of their own way, this team has two more weeks.
21:52 They get, they're at Iowa State this weekend and then BYU comes into town and then they
21:56 have the bye week.
21:57 And after that it goes Kansas State, Texas Tech, Texas.
22:01 And it's a gauntlet coming up.
22:03 And these are issues that if TCU can't get figured out, I mean, at best right now, the
22:09 next two weeks they get a win.
22:11 They're at five wins.
22:12 I mean, is it crazy to say TCU is at risk of missing a bowl game?
22:19 Like with a gauntlet coming up?
22:22 Yeah, with an end of schedule rotation like that, that's not crazy.
22:30 I don't think, don't get me wrong, I don't think it's time to hit the panic button at
22:35 all yet.
22:36 No, yeah.
22:37 But say TCU wins these next two games, but say we only win both games by a combined total
22:45 of like 10 points.
22:48 What are we thinking then?
22:50 Because at that point I'm thinking, okay, we need to reevaluate everything that we stand
22:58 for right now.
22:59 The only thing I will say is the two defenses they are playing the next two weeks are, you
23:04 know, top six in the Big 12, which I mean, Iowa State has a really good defense.
23:09 Their offense lacks a lot.
23:11 And BYU, I mean, BYU always has a great defense.
23:14 So that's not going to change.
23:16 If TCU can get some offense going and I expect them to be close games, but TCU can even get
23:23 above, I'll say 30 points for both weeks.
23:27 I won't be that worried.
23:29 But if TCU still comes out struggling, then it might be time, like you said, to, hey,
23:34 you know what, let's take a step back.
23:35 Let's look at this season.
23:36 Maybe let's start some development for next year.
23:40 And that might be one of those.
23:42 But do you have anything else to add to this one?
23:46 I'm good.
23:47 I've said all I need to.
23:49 Yeah, I think it's not time to hit the panic button.
23:53 This isn't last year's team.
23:55 And a lot of people, you know, myself included, need to stop thinking at times like, hey,
23:59 this is, you know, we were in the national championship last year.
24:02 This is a new team, new expectations, new results.
24:07 You know, the last thing I want to say before I end this is, Sonny Dykes talked about this
24:11 postgame.
24:12 He goes, last year, the team found a way to win in games that they shouldn't have won.
24:16 When you're winning one, like almost every one score game that you play in, you know,
24:20 that's a little bit of luck.
24:21 And then this week, TCU's, you know, lost both their games by a combined six points.
24:27 Like sometimes, you know, you're not always going to come out in those one score games.
24:31 And I think this year we're seeing the regression from last year.
24:34 It's natural.
24:35 I still think TCU has a really good shot of finishing with eight wins, nine wins.
24:40 I just need to see a little bit more.
24:43 Yeah, I think you're, I think you're hitting it right on the money there.
24:48 All right.
24:49 Well, thank you for joining us.
24:51 Next week's podcast will be the same version because it's an away game.
24:56 TCU plays at Iowa State on Saturday.
24:59 And this was an episode of the Killer Frogs postgame, postgame podcast.
25:03 Thank you.
25:04 Thank you, guys.
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