Week 11 of the college football season is here and despite there not being a ranked matchup this weekend in the Big 12, there is still plenty on the line with conference play in full swing. One of the most underrated games of the weekend took place in Fort Worth, Texas as the TCU Horned Frogs hosted the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Both teams are coming off of disappointing losses as TCU lost to Baylor last weekend while Oklahoma State got blown out by Arizona State. Each team is in desperate need of a win for bowl contention and in the end, TCU came out on top 38-13. Here are my top three takeaways from the game.
Another Week Another Disaster
I can honestly say that I have never seen a Mike Gundy coached team look this bad. Week after week this team continues to find ways to play bad football on both sides of the ball. Defensively, this team has struggled all season against the run and they did once against TCU. They allowed 175 yards on the ground and allowed TCU’s offense to convert 60% of their third down attempts. While the tackling was better, it still wasn’t good enough.
Offensively, this team is a complete mess. Alan Bowman got the start and couldn’t get the offense going through the air. The good news is that Ollie Gordon III went for over 100 yards but outside of him, there really was no positive takeaway for the Cowboys. Also, this was the first time we saw backup quarterback Maealiuaki Smith in action, and he ended up throwing an interception on his fourth pass attempt. At this point, he should be the starter moving forward since there’s nothing left for this team to play for.
TCU’s Defense
While the Horned Frogs put up 38 points, the one thing I came away impressed with was their defense. This team has struggled quite a bit defensively over the last few weeks and I thought they bounced back nicely. I know it was against a bad offense, but I still like what I saw from them. They were able to get some pressure up front and completely locked up the passing game from Oklahoma State. Plus, they were able to get three takeaways which was huge. I know this team has the offensive firepower to compete with anyone in the Big 12 but when they can play good defense to go with it, they can beat anyone in this conference. It’s just a matter of putting it all together.
Going Bowling
This may sound crazy, but this was a playoff game when it comes to bowl eligibility as both teams needed to win to keep their bowl hopes alive. With the win over Oklahoma State on Saturday night, TCU moved to 6-4 on the season to become bowl eligible. This was big for Sonny Dykes after finishing 5-7 last season because he couldn’t afford to miss a bowl game two seasons in a row. Obviously, just going to a bowl game isn’t the standard at a place like TCU but when I look at their remaining schedule (Arizona and Cincinnati), there is a chance they could finish with eight wins.
As for Oklahoma State, this was a very disappointing loss for two reasons. First off, they have extended their losing streak to seven games which is the longest in over 20 years. Secondly, the loss to TCU drops them to 3-7 on the year which means that their 18 year bowl streak under Mike Gundy is over. The last time the Oklahoma State didn’t make a bowl game was back in 2005, which was Mike Gundy’s first season as head coach.
