TCU serves as yet another program litmus test

AUSTIN, TX — 48-10. 50-7. 31-9. 24-7.

Texas’ current losing streak to the No. 17 TCU Horned Frogs is indicative of a couple different things.

First and foremost, it is reflective of the consistent success achieved by TCU head coach Gary Patterson since the Horned Frogs joined the Big 12. It’s indicative of the general aimlessness the Texas football program has found itself in since 2011. Texas and Longhorns head coach Tom Herman have a chance to both end the streak on Saturday, and prove the program is on its way out of its almost decade of mediocrity.

Oddly enough, UT’s lone win against TCU with both schools as Big 12 members came in 2013 under Mack Brown. Texas pushed TCU around before and after a lengthy rain delay to win, 30-7. The next four games in the series looked just like that, except with the roles reversed.

48-10 came in the year TCU shared the Big 12 championship with Baylor. 50-7 could have been the most demoralizing Longhorn loss of 2015, but the following week’s Texas upset of Oklahoma and the eventual shutout suffered on the road at Iowa State helped to undo that. 31-9 served as the bookend of the Charlie Strong era, while 24-7 briefly told the tale of 2017 Texas; solid defense, horrid offense.

Herman knows there might be a bigger challenge this Saturday in Patterson and his team than the one he successfully navigated on the previous Saturday against USC.

“A tremendous defensive coach, a tremendous head coach,” Herman said of Patterson Monday. “The guy has won the Big 12. He’s won four straight against the University of Texas, so a ton of respect for him.”

Despite coming off a tough loss to Ohio State, TCU remains one of the favorites to find itself in the Big 12 Championship Game in early December. They have several offensive weapons like KaVontae Turpin, Jalen Reagor, Darius Anderson (who had a 94-yard touchdown run against OSU), Sewu Olonilua, and Shawn Robinson all under the direction of offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie.

“TCU has speed everywhere,” Herman said. “Their skilled guys on offense are fast in terms of wide receivers and running backs.”

They also have one of the fastest and more disciplined defenses in the conference under Patterson’s leadership. Despite a 40-28 score line, the TCU defense allowed 26 points to a Buckeye offense that scored 122 points over its first two games.

“He’s going to scout you until his eyeballs come out,” Herman said of Patterson. “He’s going to know when the back is six centimeters shaded to the left, you’re 92 percent likely to get this run or this pass or whatever it is. You’ve got to be cognizant of all your tendencies.”

TCU’s run of dominance over Texas in the past four years has been a result of the Horned Frogs using their speed to run past undisciplined defenses and to wreak havoc on offenses TCU had heavily prepared for.

Herman isn’t at Texas because of a losing streak to TCU, but rather to attempt to solve the deficiencies that resulted in that losing streak to a program that admittedly has less resources than the Longhorns.

A win over TCU would show that Texas is capable of effectively utilizing talent and strategy in order to counter the attempts by TCU to force teams to essentially play “left handed.” A win over TCU would likely result from Texas playing at its best.

“I think our best is good enough to win, but we’ve got to play our best.” Herman said. “There are teams out there — we’re not there yet, where they can play their C+ game and still win versus a lot of opponents. We’re not there. We need to play our best every week to win, especially now that we are starting conference, or starting in a conference where we play everybody.”

A win over TCU would stop the Horned Frogs current winning streak of handling the Horns. Herman claims there isn’t an emphasis on ending that streak, but rather on winning to continue to show the upward trajectory of the program.

“The motivation of the previous four, it’s inconsequential,” Herman said. “They care about this year and they care about this week and they care about going 1-0 this week and that’s all the motivation they need, really.”

Despite that, there is some extra motivation. They are, as Herman mentioned, an in-state school in the same conference that Texas recruits against. A win would show so many different things. For Herman it boils down to one simple number.

“There’s a lot of added benefit to winning this football game, but the biggest one is that we get an opportunity to go 1-0 in the Big 12.”