TCU’s second-half meltdowns don’t sit well with Gary Patterson. How he plans to fix it
TCU has blown first-half leads in the past two games, and it’s not sitting well with coach Gary Patterson.
Patterson and his staff are looking into the reasons why it’s happened – and how to fix it – following losses to Ohio State and Texas.
“This is the second time, two weeks in a row against two good football teams, we turned the ball over and had 14-plus point swings in less than four minutes, this ballgame [against Texas] was in about 20 seconds, to where you let a ballgame get out of hand,” Patterson said on the Big 12 coaches teleconference on Monday.
“For me, I can’t really blame anybody else but myself. I think as a head coach, you’re the one supposed to be in charge of making sure all of that happens. We’ve gone back and examined how we practice, how we need to do things in terms of the second half of our practice and how we need to go about things to make sure we can change it so we can win some ballgames.”
The Buckeyes scored 20 unanswered in a four-minute stretch two weeks ago to turn a 21-13 deficit into a 33-21 lead. They scored on a 63-yard pass; a pick-six; and a blocked punt in TCU territory that put them in great position.
Texas flipped the game with two scores in less than 20 seconds late in the third quarter, connecting on a 31-yard TD pass and taking advantage of an interception returned to the TCU 2. TCU saw a 16-10 lead suddenly become a 24-16 deficit.
Outside of limiting the giveaways on offense, Patterson said the defense has to do a better job of limiting the big play. The Frogs have given up at least one big play in every game so far this season. Southern, SMU and Ohio State all scored touchdowns on plays of at least 50 yards, and Texas completed a 45-yard pass.
“You’ve got to communicate,” Patterson said. “You’ve got to get in position.”
Other takeaways from the teleconference –
▪ Patterson is excited the team is returning home after being away from Amon G. Carter Stadium the past three games. The Iowa State game on Saturday will begin a stretch of four of the next five games being at home for TCU.
“For us, we need a big crowd and we need to get ourselves going,” Patterson said. “We need to get back in the win column in the Big 12 conference, get ourselves 3-2 going into the break.”
▪ Patterson didn’t provide an update on left guard Cordel Iwuagwu or safety Niko Small. Each left the Texas game with first-half injuries and didn’t play in the second half.
▪ Iowa State coach Matt Campbell has been impressed with TCU quarterback Shawn Robinson’s tape. The Cyclones have faced dual-threat quarterbacks the past two weeks in Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray and Akron’s Kato Nelson.
“You watch Shawn, you watch his ability and he certainly ranks right up there with the last two that we played,” Campbell said. “It’s a constant game of how you can continue to get better, especially as you continue to face guys that have the ability not only to run it, but throw it. So certainly it’s been great challenges on our defense and it’ll be another great challenge again this week. We have to continue to find ways to be effective.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2018 at 1:48 PM.