Texas v. TCU: Preview

Just one week ago, this game was pretty simple. Texas will have a tough go of it on offense, but end the end, the defense would hold the game. Well, after last weeks Arkansas St. game, there are really no more easy answers for Texas. Poor offense and even worse defense rule the night as the Horns hobbled to a 21-13 squeaker against a far less talented opponent than TCU.

Texas Offense
While Colt and the Wide Outs seemed unstoppable on the first two drives of the year, the rest of the game was very, very average. Colt seemed a bit off most of the night and the running game struggled as it seemed to pick up where it left off last year. TCU does have a stacked defense, but Texas did show a great ability to pass protect and give McCoy the time he needed to compete passes. If they can do the same against TCU, Texas has a good chance of putting up some points. As good as the Frog defense is, they cannot keep up with the Texas receivers all game. Really, it may just come down to Greg Davis (yikes). If he shows a willingness to vary up the running scheme and mix in a few no-lateral runs, Texas should able able to score around 21-27 points. Texas MUST use Jermichael Finley. Period.

Texas Defense
Lets just be glad TCU has a young QB. Andy Dalton must be forced into mistakes by the Texas blitz. The secondary has shown an unwillingness to guard receivers. And the linebackers seem to be content on over running plays and missing tackles. If Texas Can hold TCU to less than 20, then Texas can win. The linebackers must play better. They are responsible for stopping the TCU running attack and covering the pass patterns across the middle. A young Dalton will be looking for short passes and the Texas backers need make them pay.

TCU Offense
TCU put up 27 on Baylor last week as freshman Andy Dalton passed for over 200 yards. He will be the keep to TCU's offense. Despite their struggles last week, Texas does have a pretty stout run defense and Dalton may have to pass to beat the Horns. If that is the case, TCU might be in trouble. But if the line can keep Texas away from Dalton, he may be able to exploit the weak pass coverage of the Longhorns.

TCU Defense
One of the top units in the nation gets star DE Tommy Blake back from his undisclosed injury. TCU does have the talent to slow, and maybe even stop, the powerful Texas offense. TCU may be able to put up 17-24 points, so TCU knows they need to keep Texas from getting into the zone more than 3 times. I think we saw McCoy play his worse game as a Longhorn, chance are he will not struggle on this accuracy as much this week. So TCU is going to need to be in the backfield, chasing him and making him throw on the run. If so, TCU might just pull off the upset.

Prediction: Texas 24 TCU 14