Offense needs to step up again
By John Ashley Menzies
Staff Reporter

One more week, one more win for the Frogs.

Head football coach Gary Patterson said Tuesday the TCU offense finally played the way it is capable of against Houston, but he also took the blame for the 55 points the defense allowed against the Cougars.

“I think a lot of people were shocked to see TCU score 62 points,” Patterson said.

Shortly after the Frogs jumped out to a 21-3 lead in the first quarter, the defense allowed Houston to climb back into the game.

“Our defense hasn’t been in that position before,” Patterson said. “Once we fell out of rhythm, we could never get back on.”

Patterson said the defense’s collapse was his fault because the team practiced to control the short game, but Houston was able to exploit the vertical game.

Junior quarterback Brandon Hassell took the reigns of the TCU offense that had been dormant for the first seven games of the season and exploded for a TCU record 782 yards against Houston.

“The bottom line is that our offense is finally healthy,” Patterson said. “We stepped up and did what we needed to do. Hassell did a good job of getting the ball in the hands of our receivers.”

Senior tight end Stanley Moss said the players have confidence in Hassell’s ability to continue to lead the Frogs offense.

“Everyone had confidence in Brandon,” Moss said. “When he steps onto the field, everyone’s like ‘let’s go’; he’s our leader.”

After Saturday’s game, TCU now has seven days left to get ready for Wednesday night’s showdown against Louisville.

Wednesday’s game will be the first played between two ranked teams in Amon Carter Stadium since the Frogs hosted Texas in 1984.

Patterson said Louisville is similar to the other teams TCU has played this year. He said the Cardinals are physical with good skill position players and will be looking to knock off TCU.

“Louisville’s whole skill package is scary,” Patterson said. “Besides Kentucky, this is the game they’ve wanted to play since the beginning of the season. I expect to see the best game out of them they’ve played all year long.”

Louisville is not a team TCU can go and shut out, Patterson said. He said he was glad to see the offense break out against Houston because it will have to put up points against Louisville.

Moss said the performance against Houston showed the potential the Frogs have on offense because the players are getting healthy and are starting to get into a rhythm on offense.

“It’s like a puzzle, and all the pieces are starting to come together,” Moss said.

Patterson said Louisville could try to exploit TCU’s defense in a similar fashion as Houston did but felt that he would be ready for them.

Hassell will start for the second straight week as sophomore quarterback Tye Gunn continues to doctor a pulled leg muscle sustained against Alabama-Birmingham.

“We’ll be lucky if he’s back for a bowl game,” Patterson said. “He took a pretty good shot against UAB. I will say this, though, that Tye Gunn is Tye Gunn, and he came back from that shoulder injury a lot faster than we thought.”