LISTEN! KillerFrogs Podcast Episode 189: Maybe They Are Good
The Horned Frogs are one game away from reaching the top of College Football after defeating Michigan in the semi-finals at the Fiesta Bowl 51-45. Shannon, Nick, Nathan, and Sean are joined by special guest John Diarse to discuss the game and what the Frogs need to do to win against Georgia in the National Championship Game next Monday.
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1:13:08
The Podcast begins with celebration of the Horned Frogs’ triumphant victory over Michigan at the Fiesta Bowl. Responding to whether he felt nervous at all prior to the game, John Diarse says: “I honestly felt good the whole time. As soon as they announced it, I was like, ‘Yep, we’ve got a shot,’ and that’s no disrespect to Michigan, I think they have a great football team. But our style of play is different . . . we proved a point on Saturday. We play physical too. We run like track stars, but if you're gonna meet us head to head, we’re not backing up, we’re not slowing down, we’re going to run right through you.”
Brazzell adds his two cents: “We’re fast. We’re as fast as anyone in the country. Our defense is fast, our secondary’s fast. If you recall what I said, we jumped up pretty quick on this team. My thought was that we couldn’t be the team that starts off like we do most of the season. We won the first quarter in scoring, we won the second quarter in scoring. They won the third and the fourth. If we don’t do what we do in those first two quarters, I don’t think we win that football game. Michigan had to catch up with us and give us their best shot. They were able to outscore us but not by much. It was too much for them. They couldn’t handle us. Too much speed.”
Foushee contributes an anecdote about TCU’s speed. “I mentioned this was going to be the fastest team Michigan faced all year long. In fact, when we were in Phoenix talking to the some of the other media individuals before the game, I got to sit down and have a chat the night before with . . . their version of the Ticket, up in Ann Arbor. I got to talk to several of their hosts. I was just sitting there listening to them talk back and forth and kind of chuckling at some of the snide comments they were making about TCU until they finally got tired of me rolling my eyes and making comments under my breath in the corner. I said ‘You guys obviously haven’t been watching TCU because this is going to be the fastest team you’ve faced all year.’ And they laughed at that. And I said: ‘You faced Ohio State and Ohio State has great players and I’m sure they have some fast players. Emphasis on some. You’ve never met an entire unit as fast as the TCU defense. Especially after getting healthy.’ That was a huge thing.”
Regarding how TCU has been represented in the media, Foushee says: “We actually had a poster on the board make a point and I thought it was really good. This is not a Cinderella story. This is a redemption story. TCU started off as one of the originators of this sport. TCU has contributed to this sport more than most of the so-called ‘blue bloods.’ Yeah, we lost our way. This is quite literally the end of that redemption arc that started all the way back with Shannon’s group in 98.”
The podcast concludes with keys to TCU’s success with the team that is the defending National Champions. Hernandez opines: “They’re a really, really good team. It’s going to be a difficult game. We’ve got to play four quarters. We’ve got to be able to respond like we did with Michigan. They’re going to hit their plays, we’ve got to hit our plays . . . I hope they underestimate us, but I don’t think they will. We’ve got a lot to cover. Their tight end’s a beast, their quarterback’s a dog. It’s going to be a good game. They have a lot of speed too. I’m excited but I’m nervous.”
Diarse hearkens back to the notorious Liberty Bowl game: “They beat us on the ground. And I think we proved to everyone, not only the nation, but to ourselves, on Saturday, that we can stop a run game. Georgia’s not in the game for no reason. I think for us, if we can control their run game and make their quarterback throw it, we’re going to have quite the night. Offensively, for us, we’ve got to play fast, we’ve got to play up-tempo. We’ve got to make those guys tired.”
Brazzell adds a key point: “The difference between Michigan and Georgia is we’ve got to shut the run down. They don’t have a deep threat as Michigan did. I believe Georgia feels they’re good enough, even if it takes three quarters, they’re going to stick to the run. I think they’re going to think ‘Michigan got away from it too early, we know what our bread and butter is,’ and even though they see the film, in their heads they’re going to think: ‘I think we can get them. We’re going to run right at them.’ And I hope that’s what they do. Because they can’t stop our offense, and we have a run game too. But here’s the thing. We’ve got to go fast. They can’t beat us when we do that.”
Foushee concludes by asking everyone their game predictions. They are as follows:
Nick Howard: 34-31, TCU
John Diarse: 42-35, TCU
Nathan Hernandez: 48-41, TCU
Shannon Brazzell: 30-27, TCU
Sean Foushee: 54-42, TCU
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