FRISCO – If you thought Gary Patterson was satisfied with last year’s results, please, rethink that thought. The Horned Frogs went 6-7 in the midst of multiple injuries and close losses, including coming within a touchdown of upsetting Oklahoma and losing two overtime games to Texas Tech and Arkansas.
TCU’s defense, even though it was ranked highly in conference, was not up to typical Horned Frog standards. Patterson has made a name for himself with his 4-2-5 defense, and wasn’t particularly enthused with the defensive output.
“(And) We’ve got to play a lot better defense to help him out. We ended up, I think, statistically somewhere around second in the conference, but to be honest with you, it was very average for us,” Patterson said. “Our standards are a lot higher, football-wise, the way we want to play and how we want to do things. Because the ultimate goal is to get in the playoffs and win the Big 12 conference.”
Patterson also thinks Kenny Hill can excel with so many players returning.
“I gotta do a better job with helping him with his swagger. I was pretty tough early doing things,” said Patterson. “We’ve got to give him help. We’ve got to catch the ball better. I think we’re going to be better up front offensive line wise. We only lost one wide receiver. So I think all those things benefit him and then we’ve got to put him in an offense too that bends toward his strengths.”
The Horned Frogs have a tough opening slate with a trip to Arkansas in their second game of the year and a home game against a resurgent SMU team in their third game. Neither of those games are as big as some TCU openers have been in the past, the Horned Frogs opened their 2013 season against LSU and have played an underrated Minnesota team in pre-conference scheduling. If TCU can hit the ground running and most importantly, stay healthy, the Horned Frogs might be due for a resurgent season in 2017.
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