TCU defense has come long way, Patterson says
TCU football coach Gary Patterson said the defense came a long way in fall practice, but now he wants to see how fast it gets going.
“That’s been one of our sticking points since the beginning of spring and then going into two-a-days, is being able to handle the speed of the game from the very first whistle,” Patterson said Monday during the weekly Big 12 coaches conference call. “We’ll find out this Saturday if we’ve improved on that. I think we have.”
The Frogs gave up 16.9 first-half points per game last year and 9.8 after halftime (not counting one interception return for a touchdown).
“Which means we really caught up to the speed of the game, because we were so young,” Patterson said. “They knew how to make adjustments, and we were able to go play. We’ve got to play better in the first half starting out of the gate.”
TCU allowed four touchdowns and a field goal in the last four second halves last season, including two overtimes against Baylor and three against Oregon. The Horned Frogs shut out Iowa State and West Virginia in the second half.
On defense, TCU gave up 55 points in the third quarter, 55 points in the fourth quarter and 17 points in five overtime periods last season. That does not count one interception return for a touchdown.
This story was originally published August 29, 2016 at 1:25 PM with the headline "TCU defense has come long way, Patterson says."