‘There’s no silver lining.’ TCU football isn’t playing ‘what-if’ on close losses.
TCU right tackle David Bolisomi isn’t a fan of the “what-if” game and has no delusions of what might have been.
The Horned Frogs have lost five games by one score or less, including against the Big 12’s top teams in Baylor and Oklahoma.
If TCU flips the script, it’s in the conversation for a conference championship.
“Would’ve, should’ve, could’ve doesn’t work,” Bolisomi said following TCU’s 28-24 loss at OU on Saturday night.
“It’s either you do or you don’t and we didn’t. There’s no silver lining in sports. You either win or you lose and we lost.
“The question is what are we going to do to make sure that we get ourselves in a position when the score gets tight? What do we need to do to make sure we end up with the W?”
Now TCU needs a “W’”in the regular-season finale to become bowl eligible for the 17th time in Gary Patterson’s 19 seasons. It’s a must-win situation for the second consecutive season as the Horned Frogs (5-6) host West Virginia (4-7) on Friday afternoon at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
For TCU, the close losses come down a handful of plays in each game.
At Kansas State last month, TCU’s defense gave up a game-changing QB draw to Skylar Thompson and then missed a tackle in the backfield on a fourth-down play late.
Against Oklahoma State, TCU turned it over four times and couldn’t stop home-run plays by Chuba Hubbard. Against Baylor, the offense and defense had opportunities to win the game during the overtime periods but failed.
A similar storyline unfolded on Saturday in Norman. TCU had multiple chances for a go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter, but simply fell short when it mattered most.
“At the end of the day we just have to finish and that’s the reality,” linebacker Garret Wallow said. “We have to come out stronger in the first half and finish strong. Any good football team that’s what you have to do to succeed.”
TCU has been inconsistent in starting fast and finishing fast all season. This is a team that has scored a touchdown on its opening drive just twice — wins over Kansas and Texas Tech.
Saturday night saw the Frogs get off to another slow start. The offense went backward on their opening two drives and OU capitalized by jumping out to a 21-0 lead.
TCU displayed resiliency in coming back and making it a game, but the early deficit proved to be too much to overcome. The Frogs went through a similar situation earlier this season when SMU jumped out to a 15-0 lead and held on for a 41-38 victory.
As Patterson said, “You can’t spot a team like that 21 points and win a ballgame. Simple as that.”
There isn’t much explanation for the slow starts and slow finishes. As the old saying goes, if TCU knew how to fix those issues, they’d be fixed.
“Every game we have to come out faster if we’re going to be successful,” Wallow said. “That’s something we try at practice. Start fast and finish fast. That’s something we need to set our mindset towards.”
Added Bolisomi: “That’s a very good question. When we get to the film tomorrow, we’ll see what the film says. The eyes in the sky never lie.”
Passing game issues
Dropped passes have been a season-long issue for TCU and were costly at OU.
Tight end Artayvious Lynn dropped a possible touchdown in the second quarter. Receiver Te’Vailance Hunt dropped a pass on a third-down play in the third quarter, and running back Sewo Olonilua also dropped a third-down pass in the fourth quarter.
There were other missed plays, as well, and it added up to TCU having its worst passing day of the season.
Freshman quarterback Max Duggan finished 7-of-21 passing for 65 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
The 65 yards passing are the fewest by a Big 12 team this season. In fact, Big 12 programs have thrown for fewer than 100 yards just three times this season and TCU is involved in all of them.
The Frogs finished with 75 yards passing in their early-season victory at Purdue. And TCU held KU to just 84 yards passing in the Big 12 opener on Sept. 28.
At the end of the day, Patterson would’ve liked to see the passing game connect on a deep ball at least once. The longest passing play ended up being 18 yards by the Frogs.
“We needed a couple more plays on offense. Simple,” Patterson said. “A couple of those deep balls that we were open, we’ve got to complete them because [Jalen] Reagor was open. You’ve got to complete them. You make one of those, this game changes.”
Briefly
▪ TCU running backs Darius Anderson and Sewo Olonilua combined for just 27 yards rushing on 10 carries. Duggan had 12 carries for 92 yards, including an 11-yard TD run, and led the team in rushing for the fourth time this season.
▪ Wallow had a team-leading 16 tackles, surpassing the 100-tackle mark for the season. He has 113 stops on the season, which is leading the Big 12.
▪ TCU punter Jordy Sandy averaged 45.5 yards on six punts, including three of at least 50 yards. Patterson felt it was one of Sandy’s better games.
This story was originally published November 24, 2019 at 3:44 PM.
