Game Thoughts TCU

[cyclone1209]

So happy to see an electric Jack Trice Stadium on TV during the win. The fans, Campbell and staff, and the players clearly wanted a W badly for the legacy of Jack Trice and his family. We didn't just beat anyone, we took a team to the woodshed that was in the playoff last year. I understand they lost a lot to the draft, but this was a key win for the confidence of the program. Here we are at 2-1 in the league, and we've already played Oklahoma fellas. Win next week and the bowl thing becomes real.

Offense
- 215 yards rushing, at 5.8 yds per attempt. I will submit with a healthy Stevo Klotz at H back, Tyler Moore/Dean blocking well, and Tyler Miller and Brendan Black on the right side, we are starting to kick some ass in run blocking. This is encouraging to see, and we are starting to run outside more which is helping too
- Abu Sama has home run ability, his 40 yard scamper had a big hole blocked but he can take house calls if blocked the right way. I'm also really optimistic on Carson Hansen and Eli Sanders, they both had some nice gains. Norton i'm just not as high on due to his less quick first two steps
- Rocco was not great but was accurate and mistake free. Interesting we won easily and he had to basically be a game manager tonight
- Nate Scheelhaase continues to find his groove and he's getting better and better guys. He has a good feel to his play calling.

Defense
- Beau Freyler have a frickin game dude, 2 int's
- Joey Peterson is starting to make more of a difference, had two tackles for loss tonight
- I think Zack Lovett needs to be playing on more 3rd and long situations. He has a knack for getting to the QB, and had a nice sack tonight.
- Will McLaughlin's best game as a Cyclone, to me he's our best LB'er right now.
- Dom Orange had a couple nice tackles at the end but has kind of gone quiet last two games (he has not been dominant since the UNI game).... JR Singleton was an animal tonight
- Malik Verdon is clearly one of our better players and I see the NFL potential in him, nice interception. 6"4' safeties that move like that do not grow on trees.

To quote the great Bill Belichick, "We're moving on to Cincinnatti." Time to go get another W.

 

[joefrog]

You should give props where due.

The entire coaching staff, including Campbell, deserves recognition and praise.

Team was prepared, fired-up, and in-game adjustments were fantastic.

Love the playing to win.

Going for it on 4th and 3 was huge.

 

[Cyched]

We beat that ass

 

[superiorcyclone]

Who is playing O-Line? Black, Bonifas, Hufford, Miller, Neal? Are Simmons and Trieber hurt?

 

[ZuriCyclone]

Hope that OHIO loss does not come to bite us at the end of the season. Really hope 3 points does not keep us out of a bowl game.

 

[OscarBerkshire]

Great game and we win that in Fort Worth. Bowl game is definitely achievable

 

[CyGuy5]

First time in a while we just beat up on someone, really fun to see. Feels like we finally took a step forward on offense, and have seemed to shore up our defensive issues (after a shaky first half). A win next week would be huge

 

[ghettocowboy4cy]

What’s it been? 20 years since we’ve blocked a kick?

 

[ISU_phoria]

I think the O-line improvement should be 1st in the list. They've made the biggest improvement, in my opinion.

 

[JM4CY]

First time in a while we just beat up on someone, really fun to see. Feels like we finally took a step forward on offense, and have seemed to shore up our defensive issues (after a shaky first half). A win next week would be huge

I agree but that was largely against a back up QB in the 2nd half. I think the can fix some things and would bet some of it gets resolved but D still doesn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy.

 

[madguy30]

I think the O-line improvement should be 1st in the list. They've made the biggest improvement, in my opinion.

It's kinda weird: many CFers basically said the team and OL couldn't improve.

Many of them haven't been around the last 24 hours.

 

[CloneLawman]

I agree but that was largely against a back up QB in the 2nd half. I think the can fix some things and would bet some of it gets resolved but D still doesn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy.

That's true, but I'd rather see a win and have some reservations on the D. The reason it was against a back up QB was because the D knocked the starting QB out of the game. That is an accomplishment.

Hopefully, the Professor can keep tinkering to deal with some of the problems. Some of the newer peeps don't seem to have caught on, yet.

 

[SolterraCyclone]

Pro:
- In-game management was much stronger tonight. They didn’t go into a shell once they had a lead (going for it on 4th and 3). I also loved Heacock laying into the D after our worst defensive possession of the year. They appeared to respond well after that. My only nitpick was timeout preservation. We are using too many timeouts to try and draw offsides or because the play clock is running down.
- OL and running game: agree with everyone here they had a good game. Keep it up!

Con:
- The tackling from our D was awful. The TCU RB absolutely gashed us. The DL had trouble finishing sacks, 2 times it led to a TD and a 4th and 12 conversion. Way too many arm tackles from our LBs and safeties too. On one Chandler Morris run, Cooper (who I love) just kind of threw an arm out there to try and trip him rather than try to tackle.
- Kickoffs. We need to get our kickoffs to the end zone. They had a couple big returns (at least one was called back for a hold fortunately). Just remove that possibility by blasting it through the end zone.

 

[NoCreativity]

I thought they played really well overall, the best I've seen since 2021.

Pros.....minimal stupid penalties, our running backs seem to be getting healthy finally, run blocking loomed improved, defense shut then down after Heacock lit into them, coach Campbell actually grew some balls and went for it on 4th.


Cons....more special teams blunders, receivers who continue to run 1 yard short of the sticks, that bizarre halftime show.

Overall I'd give then an A and it gives alot of hope that we can win 3 more games, especially how bad the Big 12 has looked.

 

[CycloneBamaFan]

Hope that OHIO loss does not come to bite us at the end of the season. Really hope 3 points does not keep us out of a bowl game.

Concur with you. We need 3 more wins. Cinn, BYU and Baylor are my targets.

 

[PredominantISU]

Is Porter playing at CB at all? The D in general has been very concerning but Purchase has really been getting exposed opposite of Tampa.

 

[dafarmer]

Is there an injury issue with the ISU punter? Seems like punts have dropped off.

 

[madguy30]

ISU got gashed a bit but they didn't give up 400 yards of offense and Bailey had 152 yards on 21 carries. ISU has been leaky off the edge a bit even since UNI so it was worse last night.

They tightened up overall and imo were going to even if Morris didn't get hurt.

 

[CloneIce]

Is Porter playing at CB at all? The D in general has been very concerning but Purchase has really been getting exposed opposite of Tampa.

I thought Purchase had a much better game against TCU.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

Great win, but you should win with 4 INTS and you block a punt. Like I said yesterday, we still have the same problems we had in the second half against OU, we are running on first down, with LBers coming up to fill and getting stoned at the LOS or taking a loss, we refuse to repeatedly blitz, even when we were going against the TCU backup QB.

We have to start throwing the ball more on first down out of play action and we have to start running the QB more off of fakes. Many times, Rocco would be running free if he kept the ball and just turned the corner after faking it to the running back going the other way. It seems like we only try to run the QB when the defense knows we are going to run the ball and everyone is staying at home, not flowing on 3rd downs.

This offense could be very good if we would just open it up, I like our young running backs, we have a couple good receivers and TEs but none of that is going to happen if we continue to pound the ball against teams that are playing run and run blitzing on first down.