TCU defensive coordinator: Baylor loss came down to too many snaps
Defensive coordinator Dick Bumpas said TCU has been better since the Baylor game because it hasn’t had to face triple-digit snaps again.
“That game, we played 109 or 112 snaps. I thought we were awfully tired,” he said Sunday at Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, where he met with reporters for the first time this season. “Turned into a long game.”
Bumpas called it “heartbreaking” for the players to lose a 21-point lead and frustrating for him because there was nothing he could do about the fatigue in the last 11 minutes of the 61-58 loss.
“It is a very frustrating thing from a defensive standpoint,” Bumpas said, “because it’s not unusual anymore for both offenses to have 110 plays.”
He said today’s college offenses are simply more difficult to prepare for.
“The amount of things you have to see and be able to respond to, it’s getting tougher,” he said. “Some teams may have upwards of 12 to 14 different personnel groups that they run a particular series of plays out of, and it’s just hard to get the kids all the looks.”
SEC types
Ole Miss offensive coordinator Dan Werner said TCU has SEC-style athleticism on defense.
“Some of the teams you see throughout the country just don’t have the athletic ability that most D-lines do in our league. But these guys obviously do,” he said. “Their linebackers are real physical, but can also run. And they’re good enough at corner to play a lot of man coverage, which allows them to do a lot of different things inside. And that’s basically what we see every week.”
Werner doesn’t hold the Baylor loss against TCU, attributing it to big plays from Baylor in a short amount of time. He said the stats from the rest of the season tell the story.
“You watch them on film, they’re an SEC-type defense,” Werner said. “That’s saying something, because we’re used to seeing great defenses every week. And these guys are right there with them.”
Replacement DEs
Without Mike Tuaua, the Horned Frogs will likely have to use a fourth defensive end they have not used all season. It could be Mansfield freshman Bryson Henderson, who has played in eight games, or freshman tackle Chris Bradley, who has played in all 12.
“Every person on our defensive line can go play anywhere, and we feed off each other,” defensive tackle Chucky Hunter said.
Tuaua, who has a shoulder injury suffered against Iowa State, was tied for second on the team in sacks with 5.0. James McFarland leads the Horned Frogs with six.
“Mike Tuaua was a big part of our defense,” McFarland said. “Very reliable D-end. But we know we’ve got people behind him who have to step up, who we have to rely on.”
Helpful loss
Hunter said the Baylor loss helped in a way.
“Some guys were kind of new to the situation,” he said. “We were up 21 or whatever in the fourth quarter, and we got satisfied. I feel like that helped us throughout the whole season to keep on pounding, keep on working. I don’t see it as a negative. I might say, ‘Thank you, Baylor,’ for being a positive. You learn from your mistakes. That’s why you live life.”
McFarland said the loss is still fresh for him.
“We could have prepared ourselves better for the tempo,” he said. “We loosened up. We didn’t finish in the fourth quarter, and it came back to haunt us. I think it was a good experience. Ever since then, we’ve been finishing.”
Growing corners
Senior cornerback Kevin White said the TCU defense forces players to grow up, which was the case with him and will be the case with freshman Ranthony Texada, who got his first interception in the regular-season finale against Iowa State.
“These last couple of games, you definitely started to see the light come on for him, start to get comfortable,” White said. “He has a bright future ahead of him.”
White, who gave up three touchdown passes in one game as a sophomore, is headed to the Senior Bowl next month.
“ “That was my game where I had to wake up and kind of grow up,” he said. “Just seeing how far I’ve come is a credit to Coach P and the staff working with me.”
Carlos Mendez, 817-390-7760
This story was originally published December 28, 2014 at 11:16 AM with the headline "TCU defensive coordinator: Baylor loss came down to too many snaps."