Make your
TCU game pick!
Bill
Frisbie, Inside Texas Lead Writer - Welcome to the New Normal: it’s
called Thanksgiving without Texas A&M.
Just three months ago, replacing the Aggies with TCU on
Texas’ Turkey Day menu looked like an upgrade.
These days, TCU looks a lot like Texas did last year. TCU’s combination of youth, injuries,
attrition and lack of depth resulted in a freshman QB thrust into the fray,
O-line inconsistencies and running back-by-committee. Coach Gary Patterson’s
calling card remains his defense, but that side of the ball took a hit earlier
year when off-the-field issues resulted in several dismissals. Still, this is a fiercely competitive Horned
Frog team that will be no push-over.
Texas’ rear view mirror now includes the league’s up-tempo
offenses predicated upon timing and spacing.
TCU and Kansas State are more of the blue collar variety, and that may
be a better matchup for a Longhorn defense that is finding its traction.
A Texas win assures it of no worse than an Alamo Bowl
invite, probably punches its ticket for the Cotton Bowl and keeps alive its
hopes for an at-large BCS bid
Texas 38 – TCU 20
Eric Nahlin, Inside Texas Recruiting Editor
- Thanksgiving. The old in-laws, the ones from
the country, have been divorced out. In their stead come the high fallutin
pseudo pious folks from TCU.
Meh, and yeah!, at the
same time. The change of scenery is welcomed, even if it means ending a long
lasting tradition. On second thought, I'm not sure the tradition has changed.
I'm used to the Texas Longhorns playing on Thanksgiving in accordance to
tradition, and they still are.
The more things change,
the more they stay the same.
In walks a proud, perhaps
over proud fan base, with the type of issues Napoleon would go on to be known
for. In comes a Horned Frog program lead by one of the most competent men to
don headsets in the state of Texas in quite some time. His team will be ready.
As I watch TCU play
defense I marvel at their capacity to stop the run despite a starting eleven in
the same weight range as Rice. Not only are they athletic, but they're schematically
sound and aggressive. Even in their trademark 4-2-5 formation, or perhaps
because of it, TCU flies to the ball. But with the possibility of having to
dedicate numbers to the run game comes UT's opportunities to exploit the
passing game over the top and down the sideline.
That's where Texas wins
this game, 31-24.
Getting that 24 for TCU
will be hard to come by. They're not running the ball exceptionally well, and
redshirt freshman Trevone Boykin has proven to be just as unreliable for keeping
TCU on schedule has he has proven to keep defenses off schedule. He's
talented. He's capable of prolonging plays and making a game altering
difference, but not yet.
Texas is hitting its
stride. Whether you agree with the timing is up to you, I don't, but I'll take
it as it comes.
Screw it, Texas 38, TCU
24. Ash just went over the top once more.
Happy Thanksgiving, all.
Enjoy your family.
Jesus Shuttlesworth, Inside Texas Special Contributor
- TCU brings a defensive group worthy of the
cockroach moniker. This will be the best defense Texas faces all season
with the exception of perhaps Oklahoma. Protecting the football and
staying in manageable down and distances will be the order of the day because
it will allow Coach Harsin to employ some deep play action and game changing
FUNK. The game plan will be to ground and pound then run counters until TCU is
susceptible to a gadget or a deep ball. Anything less allows TCU's
talented defensive line to pin its ears back and tee off on the biggest
match-up deficiency Texas has--Longhorn offensive tackles vs. Horned Frog ends.
TCU's
offense on the other hand is nothing to write home about. They'll have to
play mistake free football if they want to punish a Longhorn defense that has
had trouble getting off the field. The Frogs return just two starters on
the O-line and they start a true freshman at one offensive tackle spot.
If the Longhorns can continue the trend of playing more sound in their
front 7, it's going to be tough for TCU to move the football consistently on
the arm of first year starter Boykin.
I think the Longhorns continue to show
improvement on defense and find just enough offense against a salty TCU stop
unit to win somewhat comfortably. Call it 35 to 24 Texas.
Mike
Blackwell, Inside Texas Magazine Editor - Where are the Aggies?
Where are all of those dudes in white, running around and grunting and making
hand gestures to the sky? Where's that dog? Are the girls in the stands kissing
those guys in the tall boots because they want to, or because it's a
requirement each time the Aggies cross the goal line? I want my Aggies back. I've
got my potato salad and turkey and chicken and dressing and pecan pie...and I still
want my Aggies back!
But it's not happening, and like it or not, I might
very well get my Aggies back at some point this season, though under a very
different set of circumstances than in College Station or Austin on
Thanksgiving night. That's too bad, but sometimes life is too bad, and you just
have to move on.
Now that I'm past my angst, sort of, let's consider
the TCU Horned Frogs, Texas' opponent this year on Thanksgiving night. I don't
have the same intensity for this game as last year's game in Aggieland, but
it's a very important game, indeed, for the Longhorns. Mack Brown's team has
plenty to play for - possibly even a BCS bowl game berth, as absurd as that
would've sounded a month ago.
Because of that, I really believe the Longhorns will
win fairly handily on Thursday night. The Horned Frogs' offense is a wreck, and
will be going against an improving Texas defense. They won't be able to run,
and the TCU quarterback has not shown the ability to throw effectively as a
first-year player. On the other side of the ball, the TCU defense is a good one
- easily the best that Texas has faced since Oklahoma - but the Longhorns'
offense has been excellent, so I don't anticipate too many problems moving the
football. Texas will scored 28 points, minimum, against the Horned Frogs. The
running game for Texas will have to work for its yards, but David Ash should be
able to gouge some holes through the air.
I want my Aggies back, but that's not happening, so I
will just go back to the kitchen and get another plate of food. Texas 28, TCU
14.
Michael
Pearle, Inside Texas Co-Publisher - Yes, it will
be strange watching the Longhorns lineup against somebody other than A&M on
Thanksgiving day. But I for one am looking forward to it. Watching the game
without the stress of possibly losing to the Aggies, and without the
aggravation of 3+ hours of shots of corps members strutting and fans and
yell leaders whooping, will be just dandy for me. TCU, Texas Tech, whoever,
welcome to Thanksgiving in Austin!
As for the game, somewhere in the aftermath of
the OU disaster, the Longhorns appear to have turned into a pretty good
football team. After playing tough and winning in Lubbock, a place where Texas
teams have traditionally struggled, and after cruising to a fairly easy win
against an Iowa State team that has been competitive this season, the Longhorns
have gotten on something of a roll. And they have a lot to play for, with a
conference championship and a BCS bowl appearance still a possibility.
TCU, on the other hand, has been pretty mediocre
this season, at least by their standards. Nice wins against Baylor and West
Virginia have been more than balanced out by losses to Oklahoma State, Texas
Tech, Kansas State and even Iowa State. Although backup quarterback Trevone
Boykin has played decently, the loss of starter Casey Paschall obviously has
hurt the Frogs. Without him, I just don't see TCU being a team that can come in
to Royal Memorial and knock off a surging, confident Texas. Sure Gary
Patterson has done wonders with the program, but this just looks like a down
year for TCU.
The Longhorns may find the going a little tough
early, but as the game wears on, they will get out to a comfortable lead and
keep it. Like the good ole days of the SWC, Texas wins big against the Toads.
Texas 38, TCU 20.
Clendon Ross, Inside Texas Co-Publisher - This Texas team, left for dead five
weeks ago after the debacle in Dallas, and a fourth down conversion away from
one of the most embarrassing losses in school history just three weeks ago in
Lawrence, is just two wins away from a 10-win regular season (which many of us
predicted heading into 2012) and possible BCS bowl berth (still a long shot,
but within the realm of possibility). It certainly hasn’t been pretty, and the
wins haven’t exactly come against a murderer’s row, but it’s hard to argue that
the team hasn’t made progress over the last two weeks. It’s arguable, even,
that the team we saw in Lubbock vs. Texas Tech and in Austin vs. Iowa State is
the team we expected to see all season.
Over the last two weeks, Mack Brown has stopped meddling
with Bryan Harsin’s offense, and we’ve seen a rejuvenated David Ash as a
result. Opening up the playbook and getting the ball in the hands of this
team’s multiple playmakers in any number of ways around the line of scrimmage
has in turned opened up the downfield passing game. TCU’s edge rushers will
present a challenge for Harsin’s play calling and those playmakers’ execution
but there should be more opportunities down the field to Mike Davis if
Johnathan Gray, Daje Johnson, Joe Bergeron and maybe even Malcolm Brown present
a credible running threat.
On the other side of the ball, Manny Diaz’s defense has
played better the last two weeks following the post-Kansas simplification and,
dare I say, looked fairly sound against the Cyclones two Saturdays ago. In
terms of productivity, offensively the Horned Frogs are more akin to ISU than
OSU, WVU, OU or Baylor, offenses that abused the Longhorn D. I expect another
good, bend-but-don’t-break performance from the Horns.
So, if that same team shows up Thursday night at DKR that
has shown up the last two games – and I expect that it will – UT will begin its
new post-A&M Thanksgiving tradition with another stepping stone win. Texas
34, TCU 17.
Pat Culpepper, Inside Texas Special Contributor - Texas 24, TCU 10.
Click here to read his take: http://www.insidetexas.com/news/story.php?article=4111
Average of IT Members' picks: Texas 35, TCU 22
