Editor’s note: Offensive lineman Andrew Coker played Sept. 16 at Houston, near his hometown of Katy, and TCU rolled to a 36-13 victory. Up next on Sept. 23 is the Battle for the Iron Skillet against an improved SMU team. The rivalry game always features some trash talk, and usually the team that wins is the one that stays the most composed.

It was good to be back in Houston. It was good to be home. A lot of those guys who played for Houston, especially on their defensive line, I knew. I talked to them throughout the game, going back and forth. It was fun.

That’s the best game we’ve played so far. We’ve just got to keep on stacking games and stacking games. In all honesty, as a team we felt like we left so much out there, especially on offense.

Photo by Precise Windom

We had three drives in a row where the first play was a penalty or big negative play. We feel like, as a team, if this is what we can do when we play decent, imagine what we can do when we play great and when we play mistake-free. So that’s the goal — to keep on chipping away, aiming toward that goal of playing perfect. That’s always the goal. Even though it’s never happened, that’s always the goal.

I think we’ve proven to everybody in this country that if we do what we’re supposed to do, we can beat anybody on our schedule. It’s that simple. If you do your job and have 11 guys pulling in the same direction at the same time, we’ll get where we want to get to.

SMU is a really good team. They’re always going to be excited to play us in a crosstown rivalry. We need to be excited to play them. It might be the best team that I’ve seen them have ever since I’ve been here. It’s going to be a good test for us.

They’re a lot better defensively this year than they were last year. Absolutely. They got a lot of transfers. They fly around. You can tell that they enjoy playing football and enjoy playing football together. It’s a good thing to see. But we enjoy playing good competition.

Usually when we play SMU, it’s about the time when the turning point of the season is — game three or game four. It’s at the time where if we win this game, a lot of good things can happen. I’m excited for it.

Courtesy of TCU Athletics

These rivalries are the games that you look forward to, that are exciting. It’s going to be a great atmosphere, a lot of talking back and forth. It’s going to be fun.

In our situation, there’s a lot of transfers. They don’t understand the rivalry as much as a guy like me would. I’ve been here for five years. Some guys are going to talk more than others. Some guys are going to talk all game. Some guys are going to stop talking. The last game I wasn’t a talker. Some games I am a talker. It just depends on what kind of switch gets hit that day, but it will come out of me sometimes. I’ve got to keep myself in check.

You want to say make no mistakes, but it’s football. We’re going to make mistakes. It’s how we respond to the mistakes, how we respond to adversity. We’re going to start fast, we’re going to get into the flow in the game, and then it’s about how we respond.  

Editor’s note: TCU Football improved to 1-1 on Sept. 9 with a home victory against Nicholls State, and the Horned Frogs open play Sept. 16 in the Big 12 Conference at Houston. Offensive lineman Andrew Coker is from Katy, just outside of Houston, and his Nigeria-born father came to the United States to study at Houston. This game has special meaning for Coker. 

We can’t get caught up by talking about last year. Last year’s team is last year’s team. We’re a totally different group. 

One thing that we did last season and that we do well is we try to take everything one week at a time. Don’t get caught looking ahead, don’t start circling games on the schedule, and I think we’ve done a good job with that. I think we should keep going, keep moving forward with that. This week we’ve got Houston in Houston, and that’s all we’re focusing on. 

Photo by Percise Windom

We’ve had two games where, as an offensive line, I think sometimes, “We didn’t play very well.” There’s an urgency that comes from us trying to feel that desire, that want-to, that attention to detail to be great, because we know if we could put it together on both sides, offense and defense, nobody’s going to stop us. 

I think that’s the big urgency, the big selling point. We’re going on the road. It’s going to be a great atmosphere going into the University of Houston. We have a lot of kids on this team from Houston. I’m from the Houston area, so it means a lot to me and I can’t wait to get down there and play. 

I have as many people coming to the game as I can. I had so many people reach out for tickets, and I didn’t want to tell anybody no. I got my immediate family, and anybody who was wanting to come to the game, I was like, “Listen, I don’t know if I can help you, but I’ll do my best.” But I do have a good number, 12 or 13. 

My dad is a football fan because all of us, his kids, play it. But if we didn’t play, football would be in the back of his mind. He came to America when he was 21 years old and went to the University of Houston and studied accounting, so this game’s going to be pretty special for him. I remember asking him, did he go to any U of H football games when he was at college, and he said no. I think this is the first time he’s going to be in the stadium. It’ll be pretty cool. 

Photo by Percise Windom

He just always tells me good job, no matter what. That’s just the dad in him. In my family my mom’s the critic. My mom’s the one going, “Yeah, that wasn’t very good” or “You could have done this better.” My dad is like, “Don’t listen to your mom. You were great.” 

It’s a really big game for me, and I think I felt myself have a little bit of extra juice in practice today. And I don’t know why, but I would almost say it’s because we’re going to be playing the University of Houston. 

Houston’s coach, Dana Holgorsen — his nephews all went to my high school. We’ve known their family for a while. This was back when he was at West Virginia. I have a lot of respect for Coach Holgorsen. 

Houston recruited me. It was Tom Herman and then Major Applewhite. The one thing about Houston is they really want to try to get guys in the Houston area, and they’ve done a good job doing it. 

Three of their defensive linemen I played in high school, so it’s going to be fun. Another defensive lineman went to one of the schools in my district. I just didn’t play him because I think I was two years older. 

I’m excited. I’m excited for this one not only because I’m playing at the University of Houston but we’re playing Houston and they have a good defensive line. It’s going to be a good game, good for me in all phases. I can’t wait. 

Editor’s note: Things didn’t go as planned for TCU Football in its season opener, but the Horned Frogs have 11 games remaining and can still reach their goals for the 2023 season. However, they can’t overlook Nicholls State, a Football Championship Series (formerly Division I-AA) team.

Andrew Coker looks back at the Sept. 2 game and dials in on the focus for the Sept. 9 contest, also at Amon G. Carter Stadium.

It’s football. It happens. It does us no good to just sit there and feel sorry for ourselves. It’s all about the next one and moving forward. We still have 11 more left. We can still do what we want. All of our goals are in front of us.

I wouldn’t say that it has to be explained. I think it’s my job to be a leader and help us bounce back. I think “explain” is like, it happened already. Why it happened? It doesn’t matter why it happened. I’m here to try to lead guys and get guys back into the mindset that we need to go win this thing.

Photo by Percise Windom

I’m a firm believer in that the most improvement is made from Week 1 to Week 2. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. A lot of those first-game miscues get cleaned up by Game 2. The false starts, running the wrong routes, formation issues, communication issues, those normally get cleaned up now in practice before the next week. So, I feel good about it. I feel good about us getting those things cleaned up so we can go out and play Nicholls State and play fast.

It’s one of those things where, yeah, you watch film and you see technical things wrong. When you see false starts, that’s just attention to detail and focus. Whenever you see we’re messing up formations or running wrong routes or missing assignments up front, that is just focus, attention to detail, being locked in, knowing what you’re doing and communicating. We get a lot of things cleaned up in the film room. Out at practice is where we make the most improvement.

I don’t think it really matters who we’re playing, honestly. It really just matters that, like with me, and I know a lot of the guys on the team, we’re just ready to get back on the field. We’re just ready to get this taste out of our mouths. It’s such a sour taste, and we all hate it. We’re ready to get back out there. Nicholls State is just next on the schedule.

Photo by Percise Windom

Whenever I watched them on film yesterday and I watched their last game against Sacramento State, I was like, “These guys aren’t bad ballplayers at all.”

It’s one of those things where I could feel today in practice that we weren’t taking them lightly, at least as an offense. We got in the offensive team meeting, and we basically just said, ‘These guys are DI-AA, but these guys are good ballplayers and they’re good enough to embarrass you if you don’t have the right technique and you don’t know what you’re doing.’

And teams like that have nothing to lose. They’re trying to come in here and do whatever they’ve got, all the wrinkles, to try to beat us.

I think that we have to, as a team, adjust to being hunted. We’ve always been hunters. We have to realize how excited and how much teams want to beat us, and we’re going to get everybody’s best every single week. Week in and week out, no matter who we’re playing, bigger schools or smaller schools, we’re going to get everybody’s best.

We have to adjust to them and match where they’re at. Obviously, we didn’t do that very well against Colorado, but it is what it is. It’s in the past, and we just have to learn from it. 

Photo by Percise Windom

Editor’s note: Fall camp is over, and it’s time for TCU players to hit somebody else. The Horned Frogs open the season Sept. 2 against Colorado, which comes to Amon G. Carter Stadium with new coach Deion Sanders and essentially a completely new roster from the one TCU beat 38-13 to open last season. Oh, and a lot of hype. 

 Andrew Coker, in his diary debut, breaks down the game and what he might be feeling as he takes the field. 

We knew this was going to be a big game as soon as we started to have success last year, and it became an even bigger game whenever Deion got hired as the head coach. And it became even a bigger game whenever Colorado decided they were coming to the Big 12. So, at different instances it just became bigger and bigger and a more anticipated game.

Colorado is just completely different from last season. Wholesale changes. They have more than 50 players they’ve added after spring. That’s just unheard of. They’ve probably got a lot to figure out who they are as a team, but it’s hard to game plan.

It’s a lot easier as the season goes on. You can turn on the tape, you can watch personnel and watch the scheme. Now, it’s a little bit harder. You have to dig to find different things, to find personnel and then the tactics. Alabama is who we’ve really been watching. It’s where their defensive coordinator came from. It’s a little bit more difficult, but it’s just a task. It’s something we have to do.

We need to execute at a high level. That’s what we really need to do from an offensive perspective. We’re going to have to push the tempo. We have to go fast. That’s something we pride ourselves on. That’s one of the things we’re going to have to do from the get-go. 

So, playing fast and executing are the two most important things, and eliminating the little mistakes that we can eliminate. The stuff that we do to ourselves, try to eliminate that or keep it to a minimum because it’s probably going to happen. It’s football, it’s inevitable, we’re humans, but keep it to a minimum.

I might be a little bit nostalgic for my fifth season opener. But that’s something I’ve got to get over real quick, right? Maybe my last game here I can live in the moment a little bit longer. But for that first game, I’ll be like, ‘Wow, this might be my last here. OK, time to play.’ It’s going be really quick and back to the point.

Whenever people ask me about my college experience, this is the place where I found out who Andrew Coker was. I’ve loved every single second of it. If I could go back and do it all over again, I’d do the same thing. There’s nothing that I regret here. Just meeting people and growing as people and being around, even two different coaching staffs. The relationships are most important, my teammates especially. I met my hope-to-be-wife here, and my best friends are here. It’s just been an awesome experience.

I’ve learned since I’ve been here that Andrew Coker is a very hard-working individual that will do whatever it takes to get the job done. He’s determined. He’s a guy that whenever things get tough, he’s going to persevere, and he’s a guy who loves people and loves relationships. There’s nothing more important to me in life, really, than relationships and memories, and I figured it out while being here.

I’m so blessed to be able to play for this team for five years, and I’m so honored. I love the black and purple with all my heart. I’ve seen a lot of guys come in and out, I’ve seen a lot of players grow. I’ve seen a lot of players develop it. It’s awesome to see boys turn into men.

You see a lot of young kids come in and they’re not sure really what the world is or what football really is. They come here, and by the third or fourth year you can see how far they’ve come, and that process is just amazing. It’s great to see. It’s going to keep going even whenever I leave here. 

We’ll fight ’em ’til hell freezes over, then we’ll fight ’em on the ice,
Fight TCU, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT,
Fight ’til blood shoots from our eyes,
Fight for the small so the mighty despise,
Fearless purple warriors at the gates of the West,
Whose will to win will silence the best,
Tomlinson, Lilly, Gary and Dutch,
Where the will to win never meant as much,
We are the spirit that never rings the bell,
Who prey upon victory to the depths of hell,
Whose blood in the war is cold as ice,
Fight TCU, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT,
Take the toad to a timeless glory,
Down your rivals with righteous fury,
Build a nation through the soul of the fight,
The warrior cries, “Fight TCU, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!”

John Nix ’93 is the owner of Law Offices of John Houston Nix, P.C.

Courtesy of TCU Athletics | Photo by Gregg Ellman

As we get deeper into November and Saturdays’ Senior Day home finale for this year, the over-arching thought comes to mind as I think of TCU vs. Kansas.

Who’s got what?

TCU is coming off a 63-17 blowout loss to a very good Oklahoma State team. Better than the CFP committee has them ranked.

Quentin Johnston had five receptions for 152 yards for his third 100-yard game in the last four contests. Courtesy of TCU Athletics | Photo by Ellman Photography

What will the Frogs have in the tank emotionally this Saturday and who will play? Interim Coach Jerry Kill said he’s never seen anything like the injury flu that the Frogs have suffered through this season. That’s 40 years of coaching experience saying that and the Frogs will likely have to move some players around to get through this one. Last week, they had to move Ahmonte Watkins from cornerback to running and he did pretty well: four carries for 21 yards and he caught two passes. Coach Kill said he and his staff may have to get creative again this week just to have decent depth at quarterback. The list of the injured/not available is long, but those who can go have to get up off the mat and get ready. What will the Frogs have?

Kansas is coming off its biggest win in forever. A 57-56 basketball on grass OT win over Texas. In Austin. With two wins all year, fans are starting to believe what new coach Lance Leipold is saying. If you’re not familiar with Coach Leipold, then Google him and give him a listen. He’s Jim Wacker-ish with his message and his delivery and, like Wacker, has won everywhere he’s coached. He won at Wisconsin-Whitewater, his alma mater, and at Buffalo. He’s now taken on a mess at Kansas and seems to be moving Kansas in the right direction one play at a time. He reminds me of my old coach. The only thing missing is a “Sonuvagun!” or an “Unbeleeevable!!”

The question again is what will Kansas have left after the emotionally draining extended game at Texas?

Kansas has been working through the depth chart all year trying to find the right combination.

On offense, Kansas has played two quarterbacks, #17 Jason Bean and #6 Jalon Daniels. It’s Daniels who had the hot hand at Texas last week and led the Jayhawks to the upset. KU got a big recruiting prize with freshman running back #4 Devin Neal. He’s run for 648 yards and has three 100-yard games this year (Duke, Oklahoma, Texas). Slot receiver #8 Kwamie Lassiter is slippery and he has 1404 career receiving yards. He showed up in a big way last week, tying his career high with eight catches at Texas to go along with his third TD of the season.

Defensively, Kansas is still trying to figure it out. At Texas, it gave up 574 yards and 56 points after giving up close to 500 yards to Kansas State and 535 to Oklahoma State. The Jayhawks are allowing close to 500 yards per game, they’re last in the nation in scoring defense, and they’re not very effective on third downs. There’s work to do here and it probably won’t be solved without some recruiting to find larger, better defensive linemen. The Jayhawks get no pressure.

Frog fans, as a former player I can tell you that Senior Day is an emotional time. For most of the players, this is it. Their organized football career is coming to an end. You hug your coach and run out on the field and five minutes later you have to have your tears dried, your breath caught and go play. This has been an excruciating couple of years for these 18 TCU seniors who’ll take a bow Saturday for the last time at The Carter. Between the pandemic and a disappointing season, they’ve been through it. Perhaps no class in TCU Football history has had to go through so much just to get to the field. Come out and support them and say thanks. And be a part of their “what.”

We’ll be on the air LIVE on the Horned Frog Sports Network at 2 p.m. CT for what should be a beautiful day. Great weather and 72 degrees at kickoff.

Until then,

Kick ‘Em High!

Imagine walking into a candlelit dinner party with Caribbean-inspired food spread across an intricately decorated table while the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack plays. Lobster tails, coconut shrimp and Captain Jack Sparrow chocolate rum cupcakes were all part of a themed Disney Dinner made by Katie-Rose Watson ’11.

Katie-Rose Watson’s first cookbook, The Rose Table (HP Custom Content, 2021), published in October. Courtesy of Katie-Rose Watson

Watson, the creator of The Rose Table blog, draws inspiration from Disney classics to craft menus and host dinner guests. She often dresses in the fashion of characters from the films and sets the room accordingly. She shares the recipes, gardening tips and more on her blog.

“Just thinking that people are out there having these magical nights with their friends because of something they saw on my blog really makes me so incredibly happy,” she said.

With a Facebook following of more than 110,000, Watson published The Rose Table: Easy, Elegant Recipes for Entertaining & Every Day (HP Custom Content, 2021) in October.

Watson’s cookbook features meals she has made at her own dinner parties.

“It’s a collection of a lot of my favorite recipes that I feel like I make in my real life for my family and friends all the time,” Watson said.

She said she has been passionate about food and cooking since she was young. When HP Custom Content reached out to her to publish her work in print, she accepted without hesitation.

“This is such a dream come true. I’ve always been such a cookbook person,” Watson said. “Even when I was a little girl I would flip through my mom’s cookbooks and just thought that was the end-all-be-all cool.”

The season rolls on. And what a difference a win makes.

After an entertaining, breath-taking, unexpected and energizing win over No. 12 Baylor last week, the Frogs get a reward.

The prize? No. 10 Oklahoma State in Stillwater at night.

One of the toughest places to play in the Big 12 will be packed and loaded. Boone Pickens Stadium, once known as Lewis Field, was renovated several years ago. The late, great T. Boone Pickens, an oil tycoon who loved Oklahoma A&M (that’s the original name), paid for the renovation. The most notable factoid about the stadium is that the field runs east to west. It was built that way years ago so the stands could protect the field from the fierce winds that often pepper Stillwater. Most fields are built to run north to south.

Oklahoma State starts with defense. And it’s good. OSU is No. 3 in the nation in total defense, allowing just 277 yards per game. The team is No. 2 in 3rd down defense, with opponents converting just 26 percent. Add to that the Cowboys are allowing just 16 points per game, good enough for No. 9 in the country.

Chandler Morris, making his first career start against Baylor, totaled 531 yards of offense (461 passing, 70 rushing). The Horned Frogs had 562 as a team, their most since 2019. Courtesy of TCU Athletics | Photo by Ellman Photography

Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles runs a multiple, attacking defense that comes at offenses from all angles and uses five defensive backs and two linebackers in ways that smother and confuse opposing quarterbacks. They swirl around like a dust devil and Frogs’ trigger man Chandler Morris will have to have his radar on, much like he did last week when he “Houdini’d” the Frogs to a win in his first start.

To put it in perspective, last week Oklahoma State had 8 sacks and 12 tackles for loss against West Virginia and held the Mountaineers to 17 net yards rushing. The same West Virginia team that ran for 229 yards on TCU.

Quick throws and being secure with the football will be key as OSU does a great job stripping the ball and creating turnovers. Last year, the Frogs turned it over five times against OSU.

TCU’s offensive line will be in for a test and will have to give Morris some time and protection if the Frogs are to have a chance.

On offense, the Cowboys have had to reload and, as usual, head coach Mike Gundy has done just that. Gone are running back Chubba Hubbard, WR Tylan Hubbard and some great offensive linemen. Not to worry as Utah State transfer #7 Jaylen Warren has moved in at running back and has put up some huge numbers, including a 218 yard performance against Boise State. Tay Martin (#1) has taken over as the class of wide receivers and have scored at least one touchdown in each of the last three games and has taken over as the go-to wideout.

Quarterback Spencer Sanders (#3) is now a junior and is one of three players in OSU history with more than 4,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in his career. His best game this year was against Kansas State, when he threw for 344 yards and 2 TDs while completing 65 percent. The OSU offense isn’t dynamic, but they are sound and take what opponents give them. They’ll slow it down, run it and then hit you with a deep ball. Mike Gundy knows what he’s doing and he’ll have a great game plan.

The scary part for Oklahoma State is what will they see out of TCU. Lots of new players appeared on defense and the offense was completely different from an efficiency standpoint with TCU quarterback Morris at the controls.

A fast start and an early lead will serve the Frogs well as OSU’s offense is not super dynamic and haven’t played from a behind much this year. The Frogs can put pressure on Oklahoma State by getting a lead early and keeping the chains moving. Taking advantage of OSU’s speed and over-pursuit with screens and misdirection have worked for other teams. It will work for Meacham & Co.

Did You Know?

• Oklahoma State have won five of the last six games vs. TCU in Stillwater. The Frogs lone win in Stillwater in the Big 12 era came in 2017, a 44-31 win for TCU.
• TCU Interim head coach Jerry Kill was a young coach on the staff at Midwest City High School in 1984. The quarterback on that team was current OSU head coach Mike Gundy.
• Mike Gundy has been the head coach at OSU since 2005

We’re on the air live from Stillwater on the Horned Frogs Sports Network at 6 p.m. CT. Join us on WBAP 820 AM, XM 381, the Riff Ram and Varsity Network apps.

Until then,

Kick ‘Em High!

This has been a week. A week to reflect. A week to be thankful. A week that made us pause.

And a week to get over.

Coach Gary Patterson speaks to media at the Big 12 Media Days. Courtesy of TCU Athletics | Photo by Ellman Photography

For the first time since December 2000, Gary Patterson will not lead the Frogs onto the field. And what a run it has been.

We’ve all reeled in the years since the news broke late Sunday that TCU and its winningest coach in school history were parting ways.

And there’s lots to review.

The file is large, the successes larger. Iconic wins in Pasadena, Atlanta, Norman, Austin, just to name of few of the 181 joyous game days that he gave us over a 21-year reign.

Seniors this year at TCU were infants when the news came down in December 2000 that Coach Dennis Franchione would not coach the Frogs on the Mobile Bowl (he had taken the Alabama job) and Frogs Defensive Coordinator Gary Patterson was THE man. A generation of Frog fans have known nothing but winning and bowl games and championships and the coach with the shoe-tying, pants-hitching magic.

Contrast the last 21 years with any 21 years in the history of program football and the impact is unmistakable. Take, for instance the 21 football seasons from 1971 to 1991, when TCU won a total of 68 games, including a run of eight straight years when the Frogs won two or fewer games each year. Old-timers remember the lean years and relish in the last 20+ years of those nightmares from the ’70s and ’80s being buried by a ton of winning.

The bar had been set high. Thank you, Coach P.

That high standard of winning became the expected and, ultimately, Patterson was measured against the standard that he set. Winning is fragile and Patterson knew it. That’s why he was so vigilant throughout his tenure as head coach at TCU.

No year showed the fragile nature of winning more than this year, when the Frogs’ injuries mixed with untimely mistakes in games leading to a streak of losses, punctuated by meltdowns on offense, and big-play yielding on the defensive side of the ball. It has not been the season we were expecting. When I left the spring game on April 17th, I thought this was going to be 2014 all over again. I was enthused. Now as I prep for tomorrow’s Baylor game, my game chart and the players on it are a shadow of the 2-deep chart the Frogs came out of spring ball sporting.

Such is college football. A game of attrition, a game of collisions. This week, TCU’s expectations for this season collided with reality.

We now must move on.

Moving on involves the Baylor Bears, a “came out of nowhere” team that won all of two games last year. The Bears have re-tooled and brought in seasoned transfers in key positions to add to the already “old” players they had on the roster. Baylor is one of the most experienced teams in the nation — tons of career starts along the offensive line and in the secondary. The revival started when head coach Dave Aranda cleaned out his offensive staff and started over, bringing in OC Jeff Grimes from BYU. The “Reliable Violent Offense” features a power running game (watch out for #7 Abram Smith, a converted contact-happy linebacker, who’s run for 930 yards and 11 touchdowns) and short passes that I call extended handoffs that go for big yards.

On defense, a grown up group of defenders are led by gigantic LSU transfer #62 nose tackle Apu Ika, who rolls in a 350 pounds. Frogs center Steve Avila will need to have an epic day to neutralize Baylor’s man in the middle.

Baylor features some of the best special teams in the nation and the Frogs will have to work hard for return yards. Punter Isaac Power is in the Top 3 in the nation in net punting at 42.2 yards per punt, and kickoff man Noah Rauschenberg has had 7 kickoffs returned all year. Both these guys sport big league legs.

The key for TCU is to go play and have fun. The interim head coach said the Frogs will “play for Gary Patterson” this week, and I suspect the play book will be wide open for this one. Open it up, take chances, have fun. What has TCU got to lose?

I hope you’ll show up. The Frogs need you.

We’re on the air on the Horned Frogs Sports Network at 1:30 p.m. CT on WBAP 820 AM, Sirius 98, XM200 and the Varsity and Riff Ram apps. Until air time, here’s to Coach P! We won’t forget.

Kick ‘Em High!

Another Friday has sneaked up on us and the Frogs are headed to Manhattan, Kansas, and an appointment with Kansas State.

A critical appointment.

The Frogs are 3-4 after a disappointing Saturday last week that saw West Virginia knock over the Homecoming punch bowl and crash the party with a running game that kept the ball away from the Frogs.

This week has to be different if the Frogs are to keep bowl hopes alive. Five games left with three of those on the road at K-State on Saturday, then Oklahoma State followed by Iowa State the day after Thanksgiving. Baylor and Kansas come to visit The Carter. The Frogs are going to have to be road warriors to get to six wins.

The game plan for Kansas State involves resolve and courage.

The resolve to be physical and disruptive on defense and the courage to dig in and rely on the run game when it counts.

Kansas State is the same ol’ lunch pail program. Plan on a long drawn out battle.

The Wildcats, like TCU, have a quarterback who is gutsy and critical to their success. QB #7 Spencer Thompson has been around a while — this is his 6th year, and he played well (and on one leg) last week on the comeback win in Lubbock over Texas Tech. He makes the offense go.

Kansas State is 4-3, but with the same 1-3 conference record as the Frogs. After early season success with wins over Stanford and Nevada, they’ve lost three of their last four (two of those games without the services of Thompson), but are looking to reap momentum from their win last week. The key to the offense is running back Deuce Vaughn #22 who’s as dangerous catching the ball as he is running it. Last year he had the best freshman year ever by a running back at KSU. (Yes, even better than Darren Sproles.)

TCU won’t have the home-team advantage Saturday. Courtesy of TCU Athletics | Photo by Ellman Photography

Defensively, the 4-2-5 defense that the Wildcats run out is retooling and has reloaded after several key losses to graduation and the NFL.

Watch out for #91 Felix Anudike-Uzomah, a sack machine at defensive end. Linebacker #22 Daniel Green brings 234 pounds to every hit and means it. He’s been DQ’d twice this year for targeting, yet still leads KSU in tackles. Transfers fill the secondary with strong safety #31 Jahron McPherson in charge in the back half with Louisville transfer #2 Russ Yeast coming off a great game last week in Lubbock.

The weather will be great in Manhattan with highs in the upper 60’s and the wind forecasted to be light. (RIGHT!)

This will be the Frogs’ eighth trip to the Flint Hills, with TCU looking for its fourth win at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

We’re on the air on the Horned Frog Sports Network at 1:30 pm CT with a great opportunity for the Frogs. It is time to step up.

Until then,

Kick ‘Em High!