Max Duggan or Chandler Morris? TCU football faces QB decision heading into Baylor game
All talk has been centered on TCU parting ways with coach Gary Patterson this week. After all, Patterson is the school’s all-time winningest coach and built the program into what it is today.
But, as the saying goes, the show must go on. And the college football season is going on with TCU returning to the field against No. 14 Baylor on Saturday.
One of the storylines facing TCU going into that game is who will be playing quarterback — Max Duggan or Chandler Morris.
TCU interim coach Jerry Kill didn’t have a definitive answer on Tuesday.
“I used to get asked that question every week at Minnesota on who was going to be the quarterback,” said Kill, who coached the Golden Gophers from 2011-15.
“I’m really not ready to answer that question but I’m not dodging that question either. Right now with Max, everyone knows he’s been playing with a bone fracture and it started to take its toll on him, there’s no question about that. But don’t rule him out or anything because we could’ve done that last week.”
As Kill alluded to, nobody is questioning Duggan’s toughness. He’s played through a broken bone in his foot since the Texas Tech game four weeks ago.
On Saturday at K-State, though, Duggan eventually found his way to the bench. Quite simply, TCU’s offense needs a quarterback with more mobility than Duggan can offer with his injury. That’s why backup Chandler Morris finished the game.
Duggan had minus-8 yards rushing on nine carries. He was sacked four times by K-State’s Felix Anudike-Uzomah. He played the entire first half and the first series of the second half with the Frogs scoring only a field goal in those seven drives.
TCU had two three-and-outs in that stretch, too. Duggan finished 9-of-13 passing for 73 yards.
Morris didn’t provide much more of a spark off the bench, although he led TCU’s only touchdown drive of the game late. The Frogs went 75 yards in six plays, scoring on a 3-yard run by Emari Demercado with 15 seconds left to avoid being shut out in the second half.
Morris finished 9-of-14 passing for 111 yards. He had 38 yards rushing on eight carries and avoided being sacked. However, Morris fumbled it away twice.
Kill said more would be determined on how both quarterbacks practiced on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
“(Duggan) is fighting and so forth, but we’re also not going to put anyone in harm’s way either,” Kill said. “Today is going to be an important day on that evaluation; Tuesday and Wednesday. Then we’ll make that decision and move on. That’s being as honest as I can tell you, I wish I can tell you. That’s an honest as I can say it right now because I need to see how Max is today.”
Duggan has been limited in the running game since injuring his foot. He had just six carries at Texas Tech followed by eight carries at Oklahoma and seven vs. West Virginia. He had double-digit carries over a three-game stretch against Cal, SMU and Texas.
The Bears have the Big 12’s top-ranked scoring defense, allowing just 19.4 points.
In other on-field news, Kill pointed to defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Chad Glasgow taking over defensive play-calling duties. Patterson had that responsibility since joining the program as Dennis Franchione’s defensive coordinator in 1998.
Glasgow was on Patterson’s first staff at TCU and, outside of a one-year stint at Texas Tech in 2012, has remained.
“We’ve visited about it, Chad is the defensive coordinator and has been,” Kill said. “We haven’t sat down and really spoke about where we’re at. We’ll try not to break too much of that up. There’s always been a couple of people involved.
“I think our coaches have been so well trained by coach (Patterson), they’ve been in there every day for I don’t know how many years. His blueprint is on that thing. I think we’ll be fine.”
