TCU Football: What Did We Learn From The Utah Game?

The Horned Frogs escaped Utah with a 13-7 victory, but what can fans take away from this game that doesn't show up in the box score?

TCU defensive players Max Carroll and Jonathan Bax / Tony Beblowski, KillerFrogs

Well, the TCU Horned Frogs are back in the win column after a hard-fought defensive battle—well, or maybe it was a battle of two sloppy offenses. Regardless, there is a lot to take away from this game, and I'm here to break it down for TCU fans below.

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The Good

Andy Avalos and the Defense's Skilled Players

It took halfway through the season for the defense to finally look what fans expected, but they showed up when the team needed them most. It is to be expected that it will take a defensive coordinator a lot longer to get their team's defensive scheme down. After the loss to Houston, Nambdi Obiazor commented that the players were still grasping the scheme, but against Utah, it seemed as if they had mastered it. Devean Deal had the best game of his career with two sacks, and the combination of him and Marcel Brooks never allowed Utah quarterback Isaac Wilson to get comfortable in the pocket.

Getting off the Field on Third Down

All season, I have talked countless times in these weekly articles about the TCU defense struggling to get off the field on third-down conversions. The team entered, allowing a third-down conversion rate of nearly 49%. However, this week, the Horned Frogs' defense held the Utes to 2-15 on third downs and their average distance to over 10+ yards.

Is this the new-look defense that fans can expect? The jury is still out on that, and fans will learn more when Texas Tech comes to town with one of the most talented running backs from the conference, Tahj Brooks.

Trent Battle

Welcome back, Mr. Battle, and what a welcome sight it was to see him in the backfield! Finishing with eight rushes for 45 yards and two receptions for 19 yards, but that wasn't where he shined. Finishing with the third-highest offensive grade according to PFF, Battle also had the third-highest pass-blocking win rate, which allows Hoover more time in the pocket on blitzes from opposing defenses. With his return, it will be interesting to see how he will be used in the coming weeks and if it will open up more opportunities for him in the running game.

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The Bad

The Sloppiness and Lack of Punctuation

The game started in a trainwreck, with a fumble in the red zone on the opening drive and a blocked field goal in their ensuing offensive drive. The sloppiness, though, came from the coaching staff and head coach Sonny Dykes. With 14:44 left in the game, TCU took over the ball, hoping to add to their point total and make it a two-possession game; they would start the drive with a first down, and then after a second down incompletion, the Frogs would take their first time out of the half. Two timeouts remaining.

On a third and two, Briles put Hauss Hejny into the game, and a botched snap and three negative yards later, the offense was looking at a fourth and five and decided to go for it. Or, at least, they were going to until they had to burn a timeout to avoid a delay in the game and then, on the next play, took one anyway. Now, you have over 14 minutes left in a one-possession game and wasted two timeouts to punt the ball ultimately. It did not come back to hurt TCU, but had they lost this game, that would have been the talking point and absolutely cannot happen again.

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The offense was sloppy the entire game, and for the first time this season, the game was won by the defense and not lost by them. Does that mean this is the new normal? No. The offense has been trending down the last two weeks while the defense has trended up, but the offense is way too skilled to be struggling this much, and it will come down to execution and play-calling this week to get the team back on track.

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