View From The Cheap Seats: TCU

Each week, when I attend a game, I will post the good, bad and ugly of the things stat sheets do not necessarily show. These are the views from the cheap seats.

The Good

Halftime Adjustments: Its amazing what can happen when Greg Davis listens to bloggers everywhere. He gets it right. Well, okay, so maybe no one on the web had his ear, but changes were made at halftime and those brought back the Texas offense we know and love. The biggest beneficiary of this was Jamaal Charles, who rushed for 100 yards in the second half. Jamaal's runs were down field and less lateral and he took it right at the vaunted TCU defense. The revamped running game, set up Colt to have the field open up for the passing game. Nicely done, Greg. Nicely done.

The Linebackers: Scott Derry, Rashad Bobino, Roderick Muckelroy and Jared Norton were everywhere, making plays on the field. Solid tackles, forced fumbles and interceptions were the name of the game from the linebacking corp. This was something that was sorely missed against Arkansas State. TCU had only 43 yards rushing and 251 total yards (much of this after the game was iced). The linebackers were in the back field and covering passes well across the middle. This is the type of performance everyone expected from the talented and deep linebackers.

The Bad

The First Half Offense: Is was the same old struggles for half of this game. Lateral runs, predictable, short passes and an under-utilization of talented weapons. Colt had a costly interception that was returned for a TD and another that was able to set up a field goal. The offense actually scored 10 points for TCU in the first half. Luckily the defense only gave up 3 points all game.

More Injuries: Adam Ulatoski and Jermichael Finely went down with injuries in the game. While J-Mike came back into the game, Ulatoski looks to have dislocated his elbow and is likely to be out a few weeks at the latest. Ulatoski was one of the most experienced linemen on the Texas team. He stated all last year and has been able to provide good protection and some depth so far this year. Lets hope of the young guys can step up. One place Texas cannot afford to lose players is on the offensive line.

The Ugly

Not too much that I would say was ugly. While Texas didn't score in the first half, there was never really a time you could say that TCU was dominating the game. It should have been 0-0 at the half, had it not been for a tipped INT and a tremendously read INT that was returned for a TD. But Texas fixed all of their problems after the half. So not much ugly here to report. Hell, even the DB's played decently enough to stay off the Ugly list.

Aww. That's cute