TCU coach Gary Patterson on struggling offense: All of us have to make more plays
TCU hasn’t found a rhythm offensively and there are no easy answers. Maybe it’s the amount of turnover along the offensive line. Maybe it’s changing quarterbacks in the middle of the season.
As sophomore receiver Jalen Reagor said after Saturday’s blowout loss to West Virginia, “We just can’t get into a rhythm right now. It’s no specific reason or specific person. It’s just we can’t get into a rhythm as an offense.”
TCU coach Gary Patterson touched on the offensive struggles during the Big 12 football coaches teleconference on Monday.
The Frogs had their worst offensive performance to date at West Virginia, managing season lows in points (10) and yards (222). They finished with minus-7 rushing yards and quarterback Mike Collins was sacked four times and under pressure seemingly all day.
“We have to do a better job with the pressure aspect of things,” Patterson said. “The answer really is our whole group, not just the quarterback, all of us have to make more plays. When we get a chance to have a critical catch, you can’t drop it on third down. Runs, we’ve got to make sure we do things. We can’t hurt ourselves with penalties.”
Collins finished his third start 22-for-37 passing for 229 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. For the season, he’s 75-for-134 (56 percent) for 1,045 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions.
Patterson said the team isn’t “displeased” with how Collins has fared so far. It’s just a matter of getting the entire offense on the same page and scoring points.
This is a unit that has scored 28 or fewer points in eight consecutive games, the first time that’s happened since the 1-10 season in 1997.
“We’ve got to do a better job of helping him [Collins],” Patterson said. “As far as him mentally and doing things, I think he’s been all right. He hasn’t been flustered. Obviously we need him to keep playing better for us to have an opportunity to win the next two ballgames. We haven’t been displeased with him.”
TCU should have an opportunity to get things going in the right direction against Baylor on Saturday. The Bears are among the worst defenses in the Big 12, at least statistically.
Baylor ranks last in rush defense, allowing 183.8 yards a game, and last in scoring defense, allowing 33.4 points a game.
Other notes from the teleconference –
▪ Patterson said the kickoff return game has to improve. TCU failed to recover a short kickoff on its own 17 that led to a WVU touchdown, and started on its own 4 to open the second half that led to a safety.
▪ TCU’s rash of injuries have made it a difficult season all the way around. Patterson said he feels bad for the seniors who are dealing with injuries such as Ty Summers and Niko Small, but refuses to blame that as a reason for the team’s struggles.
“You’ve got to teach it a little bit different as far as making sure you keep them up and doing the things you need to do,” Patterson said. “But also understanding this program is used to winning and you need to find a way and how are we going to grow up and improve so we don’t allow this to happen again?”
▪ Patterson isn’t surprised by the turnaround made by Baylor in Matt Rhule’s second season, going from a one-win team a season ago to on the brink of bowl eligibility this season at 5-5.
“Baylor had good players last year and they have good players this year,” Patterson said. “They’re playing a lot better together. They’re playing with a lot of intensity, so I wasn’t surprised.
“I watched when we played them at the end of the season last year, they were far improved from what they were beginning of last year. And far improved [this season], last week they gave Iowa State everything they wanted in Ames, which is a hard thing to do.”