Steven Johnson: A look at TCU’s next opponent, Tarleton
After a dominant second half led to a convincing win at Colorado last Friday, TCU will return to Amon G. Carter Stadium for its next opponent.
The Horned Frogs face Tarleton at 7 p.m. Saturday in their home opener. It’ll be the first opportunity for many TCU fans to see how the team looks under first-year head coach Sonny Dykes.
It’s also another chance for a lopsided victory before the Horned Frogs’ bye week. The betting line for this first matchup between the two schools has yet to be released, but expect TCU to be favored by a substantial margin.
The Texans recently made the jump up from Division II to Division I FCS and currently plays in the newly reformed Western Athletic Conference.
Tarleton opened the season with a 29-13 victory over Mississippi Valley State. Here’s what stands out about the Texans:
Led by former SEC quarterback
The Texans will be led by former Kentucky quarterback Beau Allen, who threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions against Mississippi Valley. Allen was rated a four-star recruit by Rivals and Top-20 pocket passer by 247Sports coming out of high school.
The talented signal caller will make things interesting for the TCU defense.
“He’s a big strong guy with a big arm. You can see why he was recruited as a SEC quarterback. He can make the throws and made some really impressive throws in the last game,” Dykes said. “He really throws a great deep ball. I really thought he and the receivers were on the same page with back shoulder and fade throws. You can tell those guys are really operating at a high level.”
Gabe Douglas and Jaden Smith were Allen’s go-to options last week. Douglas had five catches for 126 yards and Smith had 95 yards and caught all three touchdowns. Considering how poor Colorado’s passing attack was, the Texans could present a bigger challenge to the Horned Frogs’ secondary that could still be without Bud Clark.
Creativity on defense
The Texans’ defense is coordinated by Tyrone Nix. Nix has coached seemingly everywhere in the south from South Carolina and Ole Miss, to Tarleton after a one-year stint as the defensive coordinator at Texas-San Antonio. The Texans bring back an experienced chunk of their defense from last year and are known to throw numerous looks at offenses to try and confuse them.
“He’s more of a true 3-4 (defense). Tarleton is a little more traditional in the back end. They do enough stuff to keep you off balance. When you play an odd front, you have to protect your edges as you go into the game. You’re going to see a lot of edge pressure,” Dykes said. “That’s why so many people get into the odd front stuff. It allows you to do so much with the blitz game. They’ll have a great blitz package I’m sure.”
The Texans generated multiple sacks last week. Among the key names to watch is DJ Harris. The preseason All-WAC selection led Tarleton in tackles last year and had 13 in the season opener.
A look at the run defense
Mississippi Valley did most of its damage against the Texans on the ground. The Delta Devils rushed for 200 yards and averaged 4.3 yards per rush. Tarleton was able to offset some of the damage by generating tackles for loss as Mississippi Valley lost more than 30 yards rushing as a result of the Texans’ aggressiveness.
It was a similar story last year as opponents averaged 175 yards per game on the ground. TCU, which rushed for 275 in the opening win at Colorado, should be more than successful rushing against the Tarleton front. The main goal for the offensive line is to avoid negative plays in the backfield.
Balanced offense
Allen will get most of the attention due to his SEC background, but make no mistake, the Texans don’t want to just air it out all game. When things are clicking, Tarleton is a balanced offense. Against Mississippi Valley, Tarleton had 42 rushes compared to 38 passes.
The Texans had 20 touchdown passes and 16 on the ground last year. Redshirt freshman Deangelo Rosemond is the lead back this year and had 111 yards while averaging more than eight yards per carry. Whether it’s stopping him or pressuring Allen, TCU will try to make the Texans one-dimensional.
Other names to know
The Texans had five players that were preseason all-conference picks. One of them was Harris, the other names on defense were Donovan Banks and Javier Duran. Duran, a defensive lineman, is considered a potential NFL draft prospect by some.
On offense, lineman Kendall Dearth and Blake Haynes earned recognition for their play last year. Dearth is a four-year starter while Haynes started all 11 games last year.
