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Horned Frogs Face OU Road Warriors

October 23, 2020

The first cold front of the fall moved through Fort Worth Friday morning, bringing rain, high winds and cooler temps.

It also welcomes in a critical four-week stretch for TCU Football.

At 1-2, the Horned Frogs have shown flashes of brilliance to go along with some painful moments along the offensive line and uncharacteristic surrendering of big plays on defense.

  • Frustrated by Iowa State in the opener.
  • Awarded for great effort with a win on the road in Austin, Texas.
  • Shut down by a Kansas State team that played field position and took advantage of Frog miscues.

Now TCU gets ready to play four in a row — a challenge the team hasn’t faced yet this year. Two at home and two on the road. Staying healthy is the key, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Sometimes the home team has the advantage. Other times they play OU. The Sooners have won 24 of their last 26 true road games. Photo by Rodger Mallison

TCU can’t rely on a home team advantage. The Sooners won 24 of its last 26 true road games. Photo by Rodger Mallison

Oklahoma comes to the Metroplex for the second time in three weeks, coming off a hard-fought 4OT win over Texas. Although the Sooners come to The Carter unranked, they’re still OU: a card-carrying big boy of college football. OU is still the only Big 12 team to make it to the College Football Playoff (four times). OU is still the team that likes to rack up huge yardage and big points.

Freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler leads the Sooner offense. When he played well, the Sooners won (Missouri State and Texas). When he played like a freshman and got pressured and knocked around, OU lost (see Kansas State — 3 interceptions — and Iowa State — 1 interception). The Frogs have to figure out a way to get to him and they’ll have to take some chances.

Running back T.J. Pledger leads the ground effort for OU and is coming off a career-high 131 yards and two touchdowns against Texas. When they throw, the Sooners utilize wide receivers #14 Charleston Rambo and TD machine #17 Marvin Mims who has four touchdown catches (three of those on the last two games).

On defensive, OU has gone to what they call “Speed D” and employ three down linemen who are quick and a rush end in #11 Nik Bonitto, who makes a lot of plays in the backfield and gets to the QB. Linebacker #24 Brian Asamoah leads the Sooners in tackles and is great against the run.

The Frogs will have to slow down Oklahoma, especially on the ground. The Sooners have run for at least 200 yards in each of the last six games against TCU and averaged 283.3 in those games. On the offensive, TCU will have to sustain drives and get production to keep the OU offense off the field.

It’s important to be good in the first quarter as OU has a tendency to start fast and run away from teams.

Saturday’s forecast calls for a high of 62 degrees on campus. Just perfect for football.

We’re on the air with breakfast at 10 a.m. on the Horned Frogs Sports Network. Join us on WBAP 820, Sirius 135, XM199, TuneIn and the Riff Ram app.

Until then,

Kick ‘Em High!