TCU Is On Upset Alert In Week 1

Last year was a magical season for the TCU Horn Frogs. They won the Mountain West with a perfect 8-0 record and went on to finish the year ranked #2 in both the AP and coaches' poll after beating the Big Ten Champion Wisconsin Badgers in the Rose Bowl 21-19. They became the first TCU team to ever win a BCS Bowl game. It was just the second time in school history that the team finished with an undefeated and untied record. The first time was in 1938 when legendary quarterback Davey O'Brien won the Heisman Trophy and led the team to a National Championship.

TCU is under an immense amount of pressure to follow up their great season last year with another one just like it this year. This is going to be a very difficult task for the Horn Frogs because they are losing so much of their offensive firepower from last season. TCU no longer has one of the greatest quarterbacks in the programs decorated history, as Andy Dalton has graduated and is now expected to be the starting quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals. Dalton was one of the most successful quarterbacks in college football history as his record in four years as a starter for TCU was an incredible 42-8, including 34-3 in his final three years. Dalton's 42 wins with TCU are more than Horn Frog greats Davey O'Brien and Sammy Baugh. Dalton was the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year in 2009 and 2010, and he holds a majority of the school records in passing. The Horn Frogs have to replace three of their top four receivers. Jeremy Kerley, who had 575 receiving yards last year and a conference leading 10 touchdown grabs as well, and Jimmy Young and Bart Johnson, who both had over 400 yards for the Horn Frogs last season, have all graduated. The Horn Frogs will also be without their All-American starting left tackle Marcus Cannon, who anchored the TCU offensive line that allowed a total of just 9 sacks all of the 2010 season.

With all of the spots that TCU have to fill on the offensive side of the ball, the Horn Frogs are definitely on upset alert when they face the high flying Baylor Bears in Waco in week one. A lot of the pressure will be on sophomore Casey Pachall, who will be the starting quarterback for the Horn Frogs opening night. The young quarterback is very inexperienced, as he threw just 9 passes all of last season. Pachall acknowledges that he has not had much time under center saying, "Being in there, usually at the end of the game, didn't really help too much because I'm just running the clock out and getting the game over with." The Horn Frogs will rely heavily on Ed Wesley to provide the bulk of their offense. Wesley led the team with 1,078 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns last year. The Baylor defense is very venerable and is very easy to score on. They allowed an average of 435.4 yards per game last year. In the Bears final 8 games in 2010, they didn't hold any team to under 20 points and their opponents scored an average of 40.25 points in those 8 games.

Although TCU has lost so many key players on the offense side of the ball, their biggest concern against the Bears will likely be on the defensive end of the field. Last year Baylor averaged 31.15 points per game and they are not afraid to get into high scoring battles, like when they beat Kansas St. at home 47 to 42 last year. The TCU defense will have to slow down the Baylor attack because the Horn Frog offense will not be able to keep up with the Baylor offense if the game is a shootout. All-American linebacker and Mountain West defensive player of the year Tank Carder will have the challenge of containing one of the most dynamic and underrated quarterbacks in all of college football. Robert Griffin III is one of the best dual threat quarterbacks in the nation and he can do it all. Griffin had the 2nd best completion percentage and passer rating in the Big 12 last year, he threw for 3,501 yards and 22 touchdowns, and also ran for 635 yards and 8 touchdowns. Griffin's 3,501 yards was a school record, and if he is able to sling the ball around the field against the Horn Frogs, it is going to be a long night for TCU fans.