Saturday Spotlight
(17) TCU Horned Frogs at (19) Kansas Jayhawks
TCU: The program decided to part ways with Head Coach Gary Patterson after 22 seasons. Some coaches are always going to be affiliated with 1 team and Gary was just that. I understand he resigned so I stand corrected, but I’m sure the university wanted to go in a completely different direction. In comes Sonny Dykes who came over from SMU to take over the job in Fort Worth. The Big-12 was expected to be a race between 3 teams. That’s the Baylor Bears (who I had taking the conference once again), the Oklahoma State Cowboys who were a runner up in the Big-12 title game last year and the Oklahoma Sooners who looked to be running away with things early on. I watched a lot of that game last week between those Sooners and these Horned Frogs. Wow was all I could say! This offense is special. They take such great care of the football first and foremost. This group hardly makes mistakes and they run the football, that’s their bread and butter. They average 7 yards per carry, only the Tennessee Volunteers more yards overall per game. This offense starts with Quarterback, Max Duggan. He fires that ball down the field with power. To survive in the Big-12, you must be able to score and they do that as they average 48.5 points per game. This is the beauty of football because you never know who will start off strong. This morning, they will travel to Lawrence.
Kansas: I said this about the Kentucky Wildcats last week and I can apply the same message to this team now. I thought this was only a basketball school. They’ve struggled for so long, so to see them playing at a high level is nice to see. It’s been a season of “wow” moments for them. After winning their first 4 games, the debate was circulating all over the media: Should they be ranked? The win over the Iowa State Cyclones solidified that and here we are almost a week later! The Jayhawks have been succeeding with an offense that was doing everything just about right. During this winning streak, I’ve noticed that both sides of the ball aren’t on the same page. The defense has been their downfall this year and I saw that in their games against the West Virginia Mountaineers and Duke Blue Devils because both of them moved the ball down the field on the Kansas defense. When they played the Houston Cougars, they struggled to stop the run. Last weekend against Iowa State, they stuffed the run and held the Cyclones to 26 yards rushing for the entire game. The strength of this entire team has been the Offensive Line and they’re providing Quarterback Jalon Daniels with more than enough time. If the season ended today, Lance Leipold would get my vote for Coach of the Year. Today, they will host a strong TCU team.
TCU X-Factor: Kendre Miller– I could watch him all day. Kendre can attack a defense as a runner out the backfield and as a receiver. He knows how to elevate himself into the next level with speed and power. Today, you see so many Running Backs try to get out to the edge. That’s not Kendre because he wants to run up the middle and initiate contact. I look for him to have a big impact in the game today.
Kansas X-Factor: Luke Grimm– Pay close attention to him. He’s Jalon Daniels go-to guy for a reason. Luke is built like a slot receiver, but he doesn’t play like an inside guy. Luke goes up the field, runs his routes as if he were a possession receiver and he’s a nice threat in the red area of the field. Luke runs his routes with consistency and fluidity every single play. What I enjoy about his game is how he makes those contested catches in traffic. He has no fear in going over the middle.
Final Thoughts: On a weekend where we have the Red River Rivalry and Jimbo Fisher vs Nick Saban featured on the schedule, whoever thought this would be 1 of the marquee matchups of the weekend? That’s football for you, expecting the unexpected as I always say. This should be a shootout and I see both teams moving the ball up the field, so don’t expect a t0n of defense to be played here. Look for TCU to run the football and control the clock. Exploit the weakness of that Jayhawks defense which is stopping the run. For Kansas, this is the biggest game in your football programs history, keeping your emotions in check will be huge today. Can the Jayhawks get home to Duggan? Even if they can, they will still need to try and limit the Horned Frogs ground attack which won’t be easy.
Prediction: TCU 41, Kansas 28
