Editor’s note: Offensive lineman Andrew Coker will be squaring off Nov. 11 against Texas for the fifth time in his TCU career, and he’s 3-1 against the Longhorns. The Frogs, though, are 4-5 and looking for the right formula to turn close losses into victories. 

Growing up there were only three teams I was really watching. I don’t know why, but it was Texas, LSU and the University of Florida. As a kid, my two favorite schools were Texas and Florida. Actually, I was originally committed to the University of Florida in my sophomore year in high school.

As I started to get older and grow up a little more, I start learning about more college football teams. Texas recruited me and wanted me. I took an official visit to Austin right before signing day, but I still ended up coming here. That should tell you about my loyalty to TCU.  

Photo by Percise Windom

Everybody is excited to play, especially since we’re playing not only Texas but we’re playing a top-10 team. Everything, the attention to detail, is a little bit tighter. The excitement is up a little bit higher. 

We have played well against Texas. I wish I could tell you the secret. I don’t know it, though. This is my fifth year here, I’ve played them four times and lost once, and even that game was close. I don’t know what the secret is.

We know what’s in front of us now. I think looking at it as a three-game season is the best way. It’s really one week, one play, one rep at a time. When we start looking ahead, we start getting caught up in who we’re playing, when we’re playing and what we’re playing for and we lose our focus. What we try not to do that is say, “Oh, we’ve definitely got to beat these guys” or “we might not be beat them.” It’s just one week at a time. 

Photo by Precise Wisdom

It’s also how can we get better one rep at a time. That’s one of the things that we’re trying to get back to. Last year we did such a great job with that that. It didn’t matter who we were playing or where we were playing them. We played one game, and it was like, “Who do we have next week?” It wasn’t looking ahead like, “Oh, we’ve got these guys. It’s going to be a marquee matchup.” There wasn’t any of that. We’re trying to get back to that. We kind of lost our way a little bit, and that’s OK. That’s part of life. That’s part of sports. It happens. It’s how do we get back. 

This is what I’ve learned about football. We’re going to take everything one rep at a time until probably halfway through the third quarter. By then, the game’s probably going to be close. Someone’s got to make a play. And, then, going into the fourth quarter we’re going to have to execute in pressure situations and critical situations. That’s football. When you have two good teams play — I know our record might not show it, but we’re a good football team — it comes down to whichever team can execute in critical situations down the stretch. 

Courtesy of TCU Athletics