What to watch for as TCU opens its football season against Iowa State
TCU football is finally back.
The Horned Frogs are scheduled to open their season against the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday afternoon. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Attendance is expected to be around 12,000 at the 46,000-seat stadium due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Here are the top story lines going into the game:
Quarterback watch
TCU is expected to start sophomore Matthew Downing at quarterback. The former walk-on has emerged as the top option after projected starter Max Duggan missed extended time after being diagnosed with a heart condition.
Duggan has returned to practice and is available to play in the game, but Downing has gotten the majority of first-team reps this camp. All eyes will be on Downing, who had a standout high school career in Georgia but was under-recruited because of his size.
Coaches and teammates have praised Downing’s competitive fire and ability to extend plays. Fans will get a firsthand look on Saturday.
Offensive changes?
Gary Patterson spent the offseason tweaking his offensive staff, bringing in longtime head coach Jerry Kill as a special assistant and handing over play-calling duties to Doug Meacham. The hope is that TCU’s offense returns to its 2014-15 form during Meacham’s first stint as play-caller.
Those seasons saw TCU boast one of the nation’s top offenses.
RB matters
TCU had a solid running game in 2019. That was one strength of the offense, courtesy of seniors Darius Anderson and Sewo Olonilua. With those two gone, as well as a revamped offensive line, there’s plenty of questions surrounding the running game.
But the Frogs feel good about the upside of the RB group, headlined by five-star recruit Zach Evans. Evans is starting the season as a third-string option but figures to play himself into the mix this season.
Another name to watch is redshirt freshman Darwin Barlow, the Newton product who received praise throughout training camp.
For now, though, the starting job belongs to junior Emari Demercado.
Containing Purdy
Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy had a forgettable 2020 opener against Louisiana two weeks ago. But Purdy’s track record suggests better games are on the horizon.
TCU struggled containing Purdy last season as Iowa State rolled to a 49-24 victory. Purdy threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for another 102 yards and two TDs. TCU sacked Purdy just once on the day.
The Frogs can’t let Purdy get comfortable and find a rhythm on Saturday.
Impact plays
TCU went 1-6 in one-score games last season. There’s a number of reasons for those struggles in close games, ranging from sacks to takeaways to big plays to red-zone offense and defense.
At the end of the day, it comes down to impact plays. The Frogs must have more impact plays, whether it’s improving upon the sack total from last season (which was the lowest of the Patterson era) or creating more takeaways (TCU didn’t recover a fumble until the ninth game of the season last year) or having more explosive plays on offense.
Speaking of those big plays, Patterson said this week: “We need to score more points. We need to be more uptempo and do the things we need to do. We have some guys that can really run. Not throwing anybody under the bus and not giving away any secrets, the one advantage we have is that nobody knows what we’re going to do on offense. I’d just as soon keep it that way.”
