Let me remind you that regardless of the loss, we played a very competitive game that TCU didn't seize until there were just over 3 minutes left in the game. Yes, TCU made a bunch of unforced errors that perhaps made it closer than it should have been. But good teams find a way to keep things close and give themselves a shot at the end. With a more seasoned O-line and better QB under center, it's not hard to envision that we could have driven the field and taken another lead with under a minute to go. We were that close.
Not writing off Troy Taylor just because we couldn't beat a Week 1 opponent that some consider a dark horse to win their conference. Given the results of last night's game, I doubt anyone still considers TCU to be a Big 12 dark horse. However, they looked the part of a surefire bowl team and by extension, we looked much improved as well (despite being smaller & less explosive than TCU). Daniels definitely ain't the guy but my goodness has Lamson taken a noticeable leap. If Elijah Brown can infuse the passing element that Daniels is clearly lacking, we may just have a heck of a 1-2 punch at QB with Brown & Lamson.
In the end, it wasn't the result I wanted but it also wasn't the train wreck that some here are suggesting it was. We played them close and found a way to cover the spread - last year's team would not have taken a single lead, let alone played TCU so close deep into the 4th. I already like our RB tandem of Ford & Irvin over Smith & Butler, I like our creative play-calling in critical moments, and even though 4th-and-16 call was ludicrously reckless, I liked Taylor's aggression and belief in the offense on all the other 4th down situations we faced. Unfortunately, this also speaks to a lack of trust in the defense, which despite getting a very fortunate turnover early in the game, didn't do much to inspire hope that our bottom-dwelling unit is any better than last year. Wright had a tough assignment and an up-and-down night overall but Manley just looks physically outmatched out there. I suspect our freshman CBs are going to get thrown into the mix sooner rather than later.
This was always going to be a rebuilding year - nothing has changed in that regard. But I can already see the pieces that will get us to become a much more competent, competitive team by year's end with the hope that we have enough to work with in 2025 to get back to a bowl game. If I'm Troy Taylor, here's my formula for the rest of the season:
1.) Pray for health along the O-line so they can gel over the course of the season. Baklenko appeared to acquit himself well against Osafo-Mensah (sorry, Gary) - gives us something to build around. Room for improvement but not hard to envision given their relative youth
2.) Give Brown some meaningful playing time next week and slowly ramp up his responsibilities until turning the reins over to him by midseason (I'd make the switch against SMU or Wake Forest at home). As much as I'd love for him to take over next week, subjecting a true freshman to that brutal stretch of Clemson-Virginia Tech-Notre Dame would just be flat-out cruel
3.) Design more plays to Ayomanor & Bachmeier. They're way too good to have as quiet of a 1st half as they both had. Harris getting so many targets early is a promising sign for a redshirt frosh but he's not there yet as a jump-ball specialist. Can't wait to see what this unit looks like once Moseley is back in action and fully healthy
4.) Run defense held it's own until the 4th. That's an enormous positive that I did not see coming. If we can get after the run game like we did last night and make that a focal point of the D, we'll have more 3rd down opportunities than we did last year (when opponents routinely converted within the first two downs). Guys were swarming to the ball early - we'll need plenty more of that this season
5.) Secondary needs some serious re-configuring. Wright is a mainstay even though he has a lot to clean up in his game. Manley, on the other hand, is out of excuses as a 6th year senior. If he is going to keep getting pushed around and give up soft-coverage completions like that, we need to see what Nicholson & Richardson can bring to the table. Scotty Edwards is a tackling machine but we need a ball-hawking safety across from him. Problem is I'm not sure we even have one of those on the roster (Ojarikre?)
6.) 4th & short: love the aggression. 4th & 10+: wtf are we doing out there?? Troy Taylor needs to cool it with the desperation heaves down the field with the game on the line. If we can establish a more consistent run game, I'm not sure he'll need to swing for the fences quite so often. Absolutely loved that 3rd & long designed run that caught the defense off guard. In my opinion, utilizing more 3rd down run plays and/or short passes to set up 4th & short is a much better formula for moving the sticks with Lamson being so clutch on 4th down. I'm hoping we see way more of that guy in the coming weeks - talk about a weapon!
7.) I noticed TCU had a boatload of transfers on their starting roster, including former Stanford recruits Tymon Mitchell & Nana Osafo-Mensah (I promise that's the last time, Gary). The portal will always be a marginal-at-best resource for us but I don't see any reason why we can't re-recruit some of the guys who were at least willing to give us a hard look out of high school. Until we can properly develop the freshmen + sophomores on the depth chart that will serve as the backbone of this team for the next 3-4 years, we need to do a better job identifying those old high school recruits and start beating out the TCU's of the world for their services once they jump into portal. Both of those guys would have made a big difference for us last night
8.) The season ahead is long & full of challenges and we're just getting started. Let's hold off on making proclamations on what are and aren't until at least midseason. We obviously have a ways to go until we become that team that Troy Taylor envisioned when he took this job. But if we can so much as make meaningful improvements over the course of the season, identify our QB of the future, and upset a team or two along the way that we have no business competing with, I'll count that as a win no matter what our final record indicates
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