TCU’s offense trying to change its ‘culture,’ Gary Patterson says
TCU coach Gary Patterson has seen the criticism of his offensive line unit. He’s not happy to check the Big 12 stats and see TCU’s offense ranked ninth in scoring offense in the 10-team conference. He’s the first to say the offense is “not where we want it to be” through three games.
But Patterson also isn’t ready to make sweeping changes or draw conclusions off a small sample size. He believes the changes he made this offseason will produce the desired results, from bringing in Jerry Kill to oversee the entire offensive operation to handing over play-calling duties to Doug Meacham.
“One of the things we’re trying to change is the culture of how we think on offense and how we do things,” Patterson said on the Big 12 coaches teleconference Monday. “Getting back to more of a toughness attitude. We didn’t think we’d change it all in one year, but I think we’ve done some good things. ... You can’t really analyze a team and how you did things until you get to the end of the season.”
The good things start with the skill position players. Patterson continues to rave about the running back corps, which is a deep and young unit with redshirt freshmen Darwin Barlow and Daimarqua Foster and true freshmen Zach Evans and Kendre Miller.
Patterson also likes what he’s seen from the wide receiver corps, mentioning junior Te’Vailance Hunt as a guy who has worked his way back up the depth chart after being demoted. That unit also features promising freshmen in Blair Conwright (redshirt) and Quentin Johnston (true).
“Competition cures a lot of things,” Patterson said. “For us, we’re going to keep moving forward.”
Patterson pushed back on some of the criticism the offensive line has received early on this season, too. He issued a reminder that the unit had significant turnover with its top three tackles (Lucas Niang, Anthony McKinney and David Bolisomi), top interior lineman (Cordel Iwuagwu) and position coach (Chris Thomsen) all departing last offseason.
“I don’t pay a lot of attention [to outside noise], but I need to just because perception becomes reality and everybody has been on the offensive line,” Patterson said. “You’ve got to remember you’ve lost four of them. You’ve got a lot of guys who have never played. We’ve had some injuries. But there’s guys like Wes Harris who have played well.”
Outside of Harris, there have been few bright spots. Patterson has acknowledged that, and he knows the unit must show improvements soon.
TCU has given up 10 sacks and a number of pressures on quarterback Max Duggan, who endured enough pounding in the last game against Kansas State that he missed snaps while being evaluated for an injury in the locker room.
“We’ve got to keep Max healthy and doing things,” Patterson said.
The hope is that the bye week allowed TCU (1-2) to address the early-season struggles and be better prepared for its next stretch of games, starting with Oklahoma (2-2) on Saturday.
Kickoff is at 11 a.m. at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Briefly
▪ TCU wide receiver JD Spielman is questionable for an undisclosed reason for the Oklahoma game, Patterson said. Spielman, the Nebraska transfer, has five catches for 76 yards and four carries for 38 yards through three games. He’s also the Frogs’ primary punt returner.
▪ The Big 12 announced a 2:30 p.m. kickoff for TCU’s game at Baylor on Oct. 31 in Waco. It will be televised on ESPN 2.
