Being just 8 days away from kickoff got me wanting to do a little bit of a deep dive on how TCU will look this year and the buffs chances of winning outright. Right off the bat what jumps out to me is that both RJ Sneed and Josh Chandler-Semedo played TCU last year, Baylor lost a close game they should have won, and WV took an easy W. I think this experience cannot be overlooked as although there was a coaching and player change, these players know how TCU plays and what kind of weapons they have. Important to note, Chandler-Semedo led WV will 11 total tackles, however Sneed was bottled up. Not sure what this impact would be, but TCU returns a lot of the same offensive weapons, and this experience could help shed light on certain player tendencies and give the buffs an edge.
TCU is going to pass the ball and pass it a lot which is definitely concerning, a good pass rush early on to disrupt Duggan from getting into a rhythm will be critical. As far as stopping the run, I think the buffs experience and new 4-3 defense will be able to contain TCU RBs and we will test our young secondary early on. On offense the buffs have the ability to have the upper hand, especially on the ground. TCU gave up an avg of 222 yards on the ground last year and lost 7 of their best front 7 defenders to the portal. We know the run game is going to be an emphasis this year and if we can get the ground game going, like in 2020, the buffs can control time of possession and keep the ball out of TCUs hands. Now I think Shrout will be the starter and if that's the case I think the play action pass will open up and the buffs will complete a 180 with the offense of last year and be able to keep up with TCU should they find success in the air.
Early stat predictions:
Shrout- 20-26 320, 2 td
D Smith- 75 yards, 1 td
A Fontenot-90 yards- 1 td
Stacks- 15 yards- 1 td
Arias- 6 rep, 125 yards, 1 td
Russell-5 rep, 75 yards
Sneed- 5 rep- 80yards, 1 td
Penry, 3 rep- 30
Craig- 1- 15 yards
TCU is going to pass the ball and pass it a lot which is definitely concerning, a good pass rush early on to disrupt Duggan from getting into a rhythm will be critical. As far as stopping the run, I think the buffs experience and new 4-3 defense will be able to contain TCU RBs and we will test our young secondary early on. On offense the buffs have the ability to have the upper hand, especially on the ground. TCU gave up an avg of 222 yards on the ground last year and lost 7 of their best front 7 defenders to the portal. We know the run game is going to be an emphasis this year and if we can get the ground game going, like in 2020, the buffs can control time of possession and keep the ball out of TCUs hands. Now I think Shrout will be the starter and if that's the case I think the play action pass will open up and the buffs will complete a 180 with the offense of last year and be able to keep up with TCU should they find success in the air.
Early stat predictions:
Shrout- 20-26 320, 2 td
D Smith- 75 yards, 1 td
A Fontenot-90 yards- 1 td
Stacks- 15 yards- 1 td
Arias- 6 rep, 125 yards, 1 td
Russell-5 rep, 75 yards
Sneed- 5 rep- 80yards, 1 td
Penry, 3 rep- 30
Craig- 1- 15 yards
