LISTEN! KillerFrogs Podcast Episode 179: All Glory To The Hypnotoad

Shannon, Nathan, Nate, and Sean sit down to discuss TCU's victory over Kansas State and what to expect against West Virginia, with game predictions

Twitter: @TCUFootball

TCU becomes only the second team in the last 20 seasons to beat four ranked teams in four consecutive weeks, defeating Kansas State 38-28. ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD. Shannon (Brazzell), Nathan (Hernandez), Nate (Cross), and Sean (Foushee) discuss the game, how the grind of the Big 12 season might affect the final stretch of games, just how special is this team and the season they’re together, the upcoming matchup against West Virginia, and ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD.

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43:27

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Shannon begins the discussion by addressing the performance of the TCU defense against Kansas State. “I keep getting asked why you guys are playing such close games, and the answer is we are playing ranked teams. These are not easy games by any stretch of the imagination. Also, when you’re all over the media, you’re going to get people’s best shot. We’re going to get West Virginia’s very best, probably the best game they’ll play all year because they want to knock off the big dog.”

Foushee acknowledges “whatever corrections are happening at halftime is working, in every single game . . . which I’ll chalk up, totally, to the staff. But with the players, this is a different mentality than we’ve seen out of the last couple of years at TCU.”

Bringing Nate in, Foushee points out that some players have said “we really haven’t put together four straight quarters of football yet. There are plenty of areas for improvement on this.” Foushee asks what Nate what take he’s getting from the players week-to week. “It’s a completely different vibe than I’ve ever seen from a TCU team," Cross answers.  "They’ve very selfless. And they’re wanting to do it for each other. And that’s a mentality that Coach Dykes brought with him. But he can only do so much. The players have to accept it. I saw a quote from Max Duggan. He says ‘Nobody talked about us before the season. We don’t listen to them. We just keep on the game plan, working together.’”

The flipside of TCU’s heart and its media coverage is the question of whether it may be too dirty of a team, which Nathan Hernandez addresses, saying: “A lot of people, from what I’ve seen, it’s mostly Kansas State fans, with a couple Oklahoma State fans chiming in, a few Kansas people chiming in, saying TCU’s dirty. You go a little further into it and they’re like they’ve always been like that. It’s a culture thing. They pull out old articles from when Ty Summers hit Baker and got ejected from the game. People who you can tell have not played a lot of football in their life . . . One hit was called for “Targeting,” but he did look like he felt bad about the hit. It was a last minute decision, quarterback started to slide, they’re going to throw the flag anyway. The other two, Kansas landed on his shoulder. Bad luck. That’s football. Sometimes you have very talented people and people get hurt . . . You see it in the NFL all the time. They don’t want their quarterback running all the time, because they’re going to get hurt.”

Foushee brings up a question posed by KillerFrog forum commentator, Brewing Frog: “with the staff turnover and the new attitude in this philosophy, how long does that focus and magic stay in place?” Foushee looks to Nathan Hernandez, remembering 2013-14, to answer. Hernandez says: “Both, staff and players, have to come together to keep the magic going. Staff has to come in, do a good job of settling tempers. Because when you come in off a 4-8 season like we did in 2013, you know there was a lot of hostility within the team. You’ve got to get the egos in check. Which it looks like we’ve done a good job last year and this year. You’ve got to cut the fat, you’ve got to cut the bad apples and bad weeds. You’ve got to start over. I think that’s where it starts, and it continues as you build success.”

The Podcast ends with a discussion about what to expect in Morgantown, which Foushee says “has historically not been a great venue for us in the past. We’ve had some spectacular finishes but that’s how things go. Spectacular finishes, not a runaway kind of game for TCU. Playing a West Virginia team that on paper looks like it may be one of the easier of these last five games, but I think everyone knows you cannot take West Virginia for granted. These guys are really good, they’re dangerous and playing in Morgantown is not going to be an easy task for these Frogs.”

Cross initiates the discussion by saying “on paper it looks like it should be an easy game. But we know they’ve got a great quarterback who’s played in the SEC. And he can definitely sling it. And they’ve got great players that are making players. They’ve just got to limit errors. Being at home for them, that could be a challenging matchup for TCU . . . my hope is we take care of business like we have been doing. And I hope we get ahead early this time. If we get ahead early, I think it will run smoothly. Even if they’re scoring.”

Brazzell says: “It’s hard to go undefeated. When we started the season, I had us losing one game. I’m not saying we’re going to lose that game. But I think the two teams that are going to play in the Big 12 Championship will have at least one loss. Because it’s a grind, week in and week out. And to be honest with you, on our goal board, being undefeated is not on there. I think it will be a rough Saturday for us. I think we’ll go in and we’ll have to play. We’re going to get their best shot. Their fans are rough up there. I think there’s going to be some scoring. I hope we get it together before halftime this week . . . I think it’s going to be a ball game. We’re going to see how mentally tough this team is.”

Hernandez agrees: “You can’t come out the way we have the last two games this coming week. We’re capable of coming back and doing halftime adjustments. But it’s different at home than away. At home, you get a little momentum and the crowd starts to get into it and it gets a little easier. Away, you’ve got yourselves. You’ve got some fans. But for the most part its just you . . . You can’t do what we’ve done early this upcoming game because like Shannon says they’re going to give us their best shot. They want to beat the undefeated team. I’m nervous because it’s an away game and it’s Morgantown. It’s always either been a really close game or we got blown out.”

The podcast ends with predictions. Nate Cross chooses TCU: 38-21. Nathan Hernandez chooses TCU: 41-33. Shannon Brazzell chooses TCU: 41-21. Sean Foushee chooses TCU: 41-17. 

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