Gary Patterson still looking for a fix for TCU’s defense as struggles mount
If you told TCU coach Gary Patterson before the season that his offense would average more than 37 points per game this season, he’d take it in a heartbeat.
Only one opponent scored 37 or more points on the Horned Frogs’ defense in 2020 — Iowa State with a 37-34 victory in the opener. Iowa State and SMU were the only schools that topped the 37-point mark in 2019. And the list goes on as Patterson has made a name for himself as one of the top defensive minds.
But TCU is struggling on defense this season. For a program that’s had the No. 1-ranked defense in the country five times in the past 20 years, it’s shocking to see TCU sitting at No. 111 in total defense (445.2 yards per game) at the midway point this season.
Nobody is more frustrated than Patterson.
“To be able to score points and move the ball like we’ve been able to do offensively, and not be able to hold our end up defensively ...” Patterson said.
Patterson paused, shook his head and said: “Just haven’t fixed it.”
“I’ve been doing it a long time, take a lot of pride in it,” Patterson said, “Right now, it’s not where I need it to be. But if you look at the history, at some point in time, it gets fixed. I’d just like to fix it sooner than later to be honest with you. We get some of these guys back and some of us play better and we go about our business.”
During his radio show Thursday night, Patterson expressed even more frustration with that side of the ball. He said the unit just stopped and watched practiced earlier in the day.
“We’re going to have a standard. We quit practicing on defense today,” Patterson told host Brian Estridge. “We’ll stand here until you guys want to decide you want to start playing like we’re used to playing defense. It’s easy. At some point in time, you’ve got to quit feeling sorry for yourself.”
The Horned Frogs (3-3, 1-2 Big 12) have disappointed, particularly in losing three of the last four games. No. 3 Oklahoma rolled to a 52-31 victory on Saturday. It marked the first time a team has hung 50 on TCU since OU did it in a 52-27 victory in 2018.
The Frogs have been without key defensive players much of the first half, including defensive tackle Corey Bethley, cornerback Noah Daniels and safeties Bud Clark and Deshawn McCuin.
Given the inexperience and youth, Patterson has kept it simple and played mostly out of his base defense. He vowed that will change in the second half of the season.
“I’m going to start calling this defense. We’ve got to blitz, that’s what makes us,” he said. “We can’t just do what I call ‘beer can’ defense where you just stand there and the offense can do whatever they want to do because you’re not giving them any other looks and you’re just playing base. That’s not what we are and what we’ve had to do.”
The good news for TCU is that it’s facing a reeling West Virginia (2-4, 0-3) team. The Mountaineers have lost three straight, failing to score more than 20 points in each of those games.
But WVU is coming off a bye week. And, despite ranking last in the Big 12 in rushing offense, Mountaineers running back Leddie Brown rushed for 156 yards against TCU last season. And the Mountaineers have one of the better passing offenses behind quarterback Jarret Doege, who leads the league in passing yards per game (240.7 yards).
TCU, meanwhile, must find ways to get more pressure on the quarterback. The Frogs have only eight sacks in six games, which is tied for 115th nationally.
But they hope players like junior defensive end Ochaun Mathis are finding their rhythm. Mathis had two sacks against OU and has proven to be a second-half player. He had eight sacks in the final five games of 2020.
Mathis is optimistic that better days are ahead for him and the Frogs. Much like Mathis, TCU has been a second-half team the last few seasons. The Frogs won five of their final six games last year, and four of their final five games in 2018.
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve always been a team that finishes strong,” he said. “We’re going to go out there and just do what we’ve got to do in the second half of the season to go out and ball out.”
TCU and WVU are set to kick off at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
This story was originally published October 22, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
