‘We have to take that one little step.’ TCU football still all-in down the stretch.
The TCU football team appeared to turn a corner just over two weeks ago.
The Frogs knocked off then-No. 15 Texas and were trending in the right direction. It didn’t seem too far-fetched to believe TCU could possibly back its way into the Big 12 title game, sitting at 2-2 in league play with five games left.
But things have unraveled quickly.
The Frogs lost their best offensive lineman, right tackle Lucas Niang, to season-ending hip surgery. Two quarterbacks, Justin Rogers and Alex Delton, left the program and another, Mike Collins, sustained an injury that has sidelined him at least one game.
Oh, and we’ve yet to mention TCU losing its last two games to Oklahoma State and Baylor, both by one score. All of it has left the Frogs (4-5) needing to win two of their final three games to become bowl eligible.
“We’ve just got to stick together,” senior cornerback Jeff Gladney said. “There’s four or five plays a game that we have to make. We just have to make our plays, and we’ll win our games.”
For as difficult as this recent stretch has been, TCU has players such as Gladney and senior left guard Cordel Iwuagwu to lean on. There’s no question they remain all-in, even if the season hasn’t gone as well as desired.
In talking about receiving an invite to the Senior Bowl, Gladney said: “It’s a pleasure — top guys in the country. I just want to go out and make a name for myself ... and TCU.”
Gladney wasn’t going to leave “TCU” out of his answer. He still wants to end his college career on a high note.
So does Iwuagwu, evident when talking about the disappointment of Saturday’s triple-overtime loss to Baylor.
“It’s pretty disappointing, honestly,” Iwuagwu said. “We were really close. Everybody was crying. It really hurt my heart as a senior. I want to put the team on my back and I knew I couldn’t, so it really hurt my heart.”
It comes down to TCU finishing games and, at this point, finishing a season off right.
The Frogs have lost all four of their games decided by one score this season. They are so close at times, yet also so far away.
On Saturday, the defense could’ve won the game in the second overtime. Baylor needed a touchdown to extend the game on a fourth and 5 from the 20, and did so with a TD pass from Charlie Brewer to Denzel Mims.
The offense could’ve extended the game, and possibly won it, in the third overtime. All they had to do was punch it in with a first and goal from the 1. But they failed.
“I feel like we just have to take that one little step,” Iwuagwu said. “It’s like, we keep hesitating to take that step every time we get really close. It’s really weird, but I feel like we can do it.”
TCU coach Gary Patterson hasn’t lost confidence in this team. He’s got veterans such as Gladney and Iwuagwu, and sees a future foundation being laid with the toughness and grit true freshman quarterback Max Duggan has displayed early in his career.
Duggan played through an injury to the middle finger of his right (throwing) hand Saturday.
“You want to be able to build a program, you want to build a program with someone that has an attitude,” Patterson said of Duggan. “He’s not making all the plays we want him to make, but the bottom line to it, the essential things, the ground foundation, is unbelievable.
“We need to just keep growing on that.”
TCU travels to Texas Tech on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. in Lubbock.
