TCU spirited after win, but Patterson still wants faster starts

It’s obviously Oklahoma week.

“A lot more people in here today than there was for SMU last week,” coach Gary Patterson said Tuesday, looking around the room at his weekly press conference. “Everybody does the same thing.”

By that, the veteran TCU coach meant that everyone pays attention to the big games, and with apologies to SMU and South Dakota State, this week’s matchup for the Horned Frogs against the Sooners easily falls into the category of “Big Game.”

For TCU, it means a chance to stay undefeated in the Big 12, claim a victory against the preseason favorite and elevate a national profile. For Oklahoma, it’s a shot at a road victory against a ranked team, an improved conference title outlook, and the opportunity to put the thumpings against Houston and Ohio State further and further behind.

No wonder all the faces.

“Yeah, I mean, I think to everybody else, you guys are always the ones that determine that,” Patterson said, asked if this qualifies as a big game. “ESPN, the writers, who’s in the room, you guys create that. The kids get the emotion from the fans, the kids across campus, people in town, the media. I think they feed off that much more than they feed off of what I tell them.”

Patterson would not mind if his team is feeding often and early this week, well before and in time for Saturday’s 4 p.m. kickoff at Amon G. Carter Stadium.

Slow starts have nagged TCU in all four games this season. The Frogs were tied at halftime against South Dakota State. Arkansas and SMU scored first. Only against Iowa State have the Frogs had more than a touchdown lead in the first half.

Against Oklahoma, like Arkansas, a slow start sounds like a bad idea.

“I thought defensively, we were ready to play before the ballgame,” Patterson said of last week’s 33-3 victory at SMU, in which the Frogs led 6-3 at halftime. “I didn’t think the offense was, and it pretty much played out until the second half. We’ve got to get away from just coming out of the gates like that. I’ve got to do a better job of helping them do that.”

Patterson has something that can help with that on Saturday — the home crowd. This is one of TCU’s seven home games this season. Before the Arkansas loss, TCU had won 14 straight at home.

“One of the things you can’t take for granted, the home crowd can give you emotion, but it can’t be your emotion,” Patterson said. “That’s one thing as a young football team you’ve got to learn. You can feed off of it, but you already have to have it.”

Patterson said the team got off to a good start with that on Sunday. He said practice was spirited after a day off on Saturday following the Friday night victory at SMU.

“It was a combination of a win, we played better, also getting a day off,” he said. “We all do better with that.”

But it is Oklahoma week. For the Frogs, winners just once against OU in their time in the Big 12, that’s bound to make a difference.

Patterson is expecting early and consistent energy on Saturday. This is one of those games where emotion takes care of itself. But it won’t last forever.

After all, it won’t be Oklahoma week next week. It will be Kansas. Patterson will once again have to look around at his Sunday practice. And later, at his Tuesday press conference.

Then he’ll have an idea of what to expect.

“Everybody wants to get ready to play Oklahoma or Arkansas,” he said. “How do you get ready to play everybody else?”

This story was originally published September 27, 2016 at 4:20 PM with the headline "TCU spirited after win, but Patterson still wants faster starts."