TCU Football: What Did We Learn Against SMU

Besides disappointment, what can Frog fans take away from this game, and where does the program go from here?

TCU quarterback Josh Hoover against SMU 9/21/24 / Tony Beblowski KillerFrogs

Leaving Highland Park after watching the TCU Horned Frogs get throttled by their cross-town rivals, the SMU Mustangs, I had an hour's drive home to sit with my thoughts on what to put in this article. "What could I possibly say to give TCU fans hope and something to take away from this game that could be seen as a positive?" I thought to myself, and it wasn't until I got home that I realized that maybe nothing positive needs to be said.

There is nothing I could put in this article that would make you think, "Yeah, that actually makes me feel better about the season," and why should there be? It's the beauty of sports—the highs and the lows—and right now, Frog fans are at their lowest level in a while.

There are only two things I want to discuss today: one is a subject TCU lacks a lot of, and the other is something that Frog fans are feeling in abundance about right now.

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Discipline

Before the SMU game, the Horned Frogs ranked 115th in the country in penalties per game with 8.3. Now, fresh off a game where the team had 14 penalties for 135 yards, including two on Head Coach Sonny Dykes, that saw him get ejected for the first time in his career.

It is nearly impossible to beat your opponent, no matter who they are, if you continue to beat yourself, and that's precisely what the team has done this season. The last time the Frogs had over 100 yards of penalties? 2023 season opener against Colorado. The last time TCU had ten or more penalties in a game? 2024 season opener against Stanford. Are you starting to see a theme? In 2022, when Dykes had his most success with TCU, the team was 26th in the country with 4.9 penalties per game. Last year, when TCU missed a bowl game, they were 87th in the country at 6.3 penalties per game.

It's tough to play disciplined, especially after your coach is ejected for back-to-back unsportsmanlike conduct penalties; just ask Abe Camara, who said after the game, "It hurt to see him [Dykes] get ejected; that is our leader, our coach." and it's true. If you saw your boss or your parents doing something that they told you was wrong, would you still believe them or listen to them?

Yes, the players' undisciplined play is also their fault, but that responsibility falls solely on the shoulders of the coaching staff. By now, fans' confidence level is at an all-time low, and why shouldn't it be? Which brings me to my second point...

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Disappointment

I wrote this same article only two weeks ago, saying that TCU fans should buy into this team's hype, and I am sorry for that. The second-half collapse against UCF and the entire game against SMU has left a sour taste in fans' mouths.

After going 5-7 last season, including the home opening loss to Colorado, the collapses against Iowa State and West Virginia, and the blowout against Kansas State, Dykes vowed all off-season that this year would be different. Still, it doesn't feel that way, does it? The same problem arises game after game: the inability to stop the run on defense and the inability to run the ball on offense.

Usually, a team would adapt or try to change something to fix its problems, but not the Frogs, nope, not the 2024 team. Teams are so unafraid of the rushing defense that on a third and fifteen on Saturday, SMU opted to hand the ball off to running back Brashard Smith, who not only got the first down but continued rushing the extra ten yards for a 25-yard rushing touchdown.

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While things could still go well this season, the confidence level is shallow. Now, the team enters conference play, facing tougher competition and teams that will be disciplined and well-coached.

The last thing I want fans to have learned from this game is that enjoying the highs of a season makes these lows pain as much as they do. No matter how bad it might get, it will turn around at some point, and who knows, maybe that point will be this week against Kansas.

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