Time is coming for TCU to make a call on Casey Pachall

According to a pair of sources, former TCU quarterback Casey Pachall has completed the necessary paper work process to re-enroll at TCU in the spring. According to a source, all of the necessary requirements for Pachall to return to TCU have been met.

As far as Pachall actually returning to the TCU football team, however, no decision has been made - that's according to TCU media relations director Mark Cohen. TCU's fall semester is about to end, students have already enrolled for spring classes, so an announcement should be coming sooner rather than later.

On Oct. 9, TCU head coach Gary Patterson announced that Pachall was going to disenroll from the university to enter a treatment facility. Patterson left open the possibility of Pachall returning and re-joining the football team in the spring. That announcement came after Pachall had been arrested for driving while intoxicated a few days prior. According to Patterson on Oct. 9, Pachall needed about two semesters worth of credits to graduate.

The question now becomes whether Pachall returning is the best move for both parties. You want to do right by the kid, who appears to be trying to do right by his school and his team but … there is the distraction element, not to mention Trevone Boykin, too.

No way will, or should, Pachall return to TCU if he is not playing football. And does he return if he thinks there is even a chance he is not the starting quarterback?

Provided Pachall has satisfied whatever requirements were set, he should come back and compete for the starting quarterback job with Boykin. May the best man win.

At the time of Pachall left TCU was 4-0 and Boykin was preparing to play running back for a home game against Iowa State.

Since then Boykin, who is a redshirt freshman, has done about as well as a player could be asked given the circumstances. Boykin completed 58.6 percent of passes (154-263) with 15 TDs and 9 Ints. He had huge wins at Baylor, West Virginia and Texas, and he has TCU in a bowl game against Michigan State.

Boykin is a superior runner, has a big arm and can throw the deep ball but he is not as accurate as Pachall. 

Pachall is a better pocket passer, but his return will bring a certain distraction element that GP can't be excited about dealing with. How will his teammates react to it? Pachall is going to be a rather large story. And handing Pachall his starting job back would nearly be impossible given what Boykin has done.

He was thrown into a very difficult situation, won some big games, took more than his share of hits, and demonstrated durability and toughness. Those are endearing qualities to teammates. 

Clearly his coaches don't trust him on certain throws. If TCU is going to make a run at 10 wins next season Boykin will have to be the player who makes the biggest improvement.

Are 10 wins more realistic under Pachall or Boykin? This is not an easy call either way, and feelings are going to be hurt.

If Pachall does return to the school and the team he should have the right to compete for the starting job. And so does Boykin.

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Another crack: Highly ranked recruit switches from Texas to TCU

This has probably happened before but the timing can't be a coincidence: A few weeks after TCU went into to Austin and defeated the Texas Longhorns a high school recruit changed his mind.

Arlington Martin senior running back Kyle Hicks has switched his commitment from the University of Texas to TCU. Hicks announced this decision on Twitter. He wrote from his Twitter account, @K_Hicks22: "That's is the hardest thing I ever had to do"

I am sure Johnathan Gray's heart broken.

According to Rivals, Hicks is a four-star recruit and ranked as the 21st best running back in the country.

Hicks sounds like a redshirt candidate; he suffered a torn ACL during the season.

 

 

 

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2 coaches ranked Texas 16th in their final top 25 rankings

The people in and around Austin who fancy themselves as Texas Longhorn powerbrokers who are tired of Mack Brown can't be happy with the final USA Today college coaches' poll. Despite a third-straight blah year from Los Horns, the Fightin' Macks finished No. 25 in the final USA Today Coaches' Poll.

Don't ask how. I gave up long ago how this Texas team managed to remain ranked despite four unimpressive losses.

Click here for the link on USA Today see how the voting coaches ranked the top 25.

Of the Big 12 coaches with a vote, only one gave a final ranking to the Texas Longhorns. Art Briles (Baylor), Bob Stoops (Oklahoma) and Tommy Tuberville (Texas Tech) did not vote UT in their respective Top 25. The only Big 12 coach who did was Paul Rhodes of Iowa State, who ranked the Horns 22nd.

Also of the notables who did not vote for The Macks: Nick Saban (Alabama), Bo Pelini (Nebraska), Dan McCarney (North Texas)

Be leery of these college coach rankings - a lot of voting coaches will admit they don't have the time to do this poll right, and this is often a last-minute procedure.

Here is where Texas received its votes:

25th
Dana Holgersen (West Virginia), Rick Stockstill (Middle Tenn.), Dabo Sweeney (Clemson), Jeff Tedford (California)

24th
Frank Beamer (Virginia Tech), Troy Calhoun (Air Force), Terry Bowden (Akron), Dave Christensen (Wyoming), Mark Dantonio (Mich Stat), Kevin Wilson (Indiana) 

23rd
Skip Holtz (South Florida), Mike Leach (Wash St.), Pete Lembo (Ball St.), Mike London (Virginia), Les Miles (LSU), Paul Pasqualoni (UConn), Joker Phillips (Kentucky), Rich Rodriguez (Arizona) 

22nd
Gene Chizik (Auburn), Paul Rhodes (Iowa State), Steve Sarkisian (Washington) 

21st
Dave Doeren (Northern Ill.), Ruffin McNeill (East Carolina) 

19th
Mike Riley (Ore. State)

18th
Jim Grobe (Wake Forest)

16th
Darrell Hazell (Kent State), Brady Hoke (Michigan)

 

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Time for TCU to no longer just be happy about being here

FORT WORTH, Texas - TCU finished its 2012 conference home schedule without a win for the first time since 1986. The prevailing feeling generated by fans and players etc. is that this first season in the Big 12 was a massive success.

If you look at the numbers - 7-5 record, 4-5 conference - this is TCU's worst season since 2007. The string of double-digit win seasons has been snapped at four. TCU will likely finish unranked for the first time since 2004.

Look past the numbers and this may have been one of the best seasons ever coached by Gary Patterson, and easily the most entertaining TCU regular season in decades. The scene and the crowds at Amon G. Carter Stadium this season were fun, and a place to be.

Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Kansas State and the rest coming to Fort Worth was laughably better than Colorado State, UNLV or New Mexico.

That said, enough with the "Thank yous, we're so happy to be invited to the cool kids' party" from GP and all of TCU nation. This school has tripped over itself in thanking de facto Big 12 commissioner DeLoss Dodds and everyone else associated with the conference. TCU proved it can hang and it belongs in the Big 12, and no one was embarrassed by adding the Horned Frogs to this league. 

Gratitude and humility are always appreciated, but TCU earned this. They were invited for a reason.

In this first season of the Big 12, TCU should have been happy to be invited to the cool kids' party. Now go find the homecoming queen and take her out.

 

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TCU commitment envisions playing as a freshman

ARLINGTON, Texas - Arlington Bowie senior cornerback Steven Wesley said he had formal scholarships from West Virginia, Iowa State, Wake Forest, Rice, TCU and a few others he was unable to think of off the top of his head.

If Rice calls that means Wesley is no dope.

He selected TCU.

"It's close to home," Wesley told me before a Bowie practice on Wednesday. "They are a young team but I can tell they are going to be great and I want to be a part of it. Also the fact that I might be able to play as a freshman really brought me over."

Another freshman playing for TCU? Is this something he was told, or assumed?

"It's something they told me that they could see me playing as a freshman," Wesley said.

Hmmm ... go with Wesley as a nickel guy. Starting corners Jason Verrett (jr.) and Kevin White  (soph.) should be return next season in their same roles.

Either way, Wesley is juiced about playing for TCU.

"I do find myself excited, especially the fans there," he said. "I just want to be a part of it."

 

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How Johnny Football could help Texas establish a Heisman first

After much internal debate, Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M should win the Heisman Trophy over Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o.

Te'o is the best defensive player on a defensive-oriented team that won games specifically because of stopping the other guy, but Manziel has been the best college player this season. Texas A&M is not having this season without Johnny Football. Notre Dame may not be undefeated, but the Irish would still have had a very good season without Te'o.

When the Heisman Trophy is awarded on Dec. 8 in New York City, Manziel should be there. He should win.

If he does win he will make history not only for his university, but the great state a Texas.

The Heisman trophy has been awarded since 1935 and seven times it has gone to players from Texas schools. While the trophy has been awarded to native Texans in consecutive years (Earl Campbell in '77, Billy Simms in '78, etc.) never has the Heisman trophy gone to a Texas school in consecutive seasons.

Baylor's Robert Griffin III won the award last season, meaning Johnny Football could give the Heisman a Texas Two Year Step.

Here are the Heisman winners from Texas:

1938 Davey O'Brien, TCU
1948 Doak Walker, SMU
1957 John David Crow, Texas A&M
1977 Earl Campbell, Texas
1989 Andre Ware, Houston 
1998 Ricky Williams, Texas
2011 Robert Griffin III, Baylor 

 

 

 

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Why Gary Patterson may scrap the 'Frog Walk'

FORT WORTH, Texas - Trying to establish a new tradition, Gary Patterson and TCU have done a 'Frog Walk' before every home game. Just as many college teams do elsewhere, the players and staff walk as a team through the tailgate scene/campus to the stadium. It may be fun. It may be a way to connect with fans. It was also new, and thus far at the renovated Amon G. Carter Stadium the Frog Walk has yielded nothing.

"I'm superstitous. We may cut that out," Gary Patterson said on Tuesday. 

Why? Despite playing in a wonderfully renovated stadium, the team has been dramatically better on the road than at home. There is a very good chance all of TCU's wins in the Big 12 will have come on the road, and not a one will be at home.

TCU HOME BIG 12
Oct. 6 v. Iowa State, L 37-23
Oct. 20 v. No. 17 Texas Tech, L 56-53 (3 ot)
Nov. 10 v. No. 1 Kansas State, L 23-10
Dec. 1 v. No. 11 Oklahoma 

TCU AWAY BIG 12
Sept. 15 at Kansas, W 20-6
Oct. 13 at Baylor, W 49-21
Oct. 27 at Okie State, L 36-14
Nov. 3 at No. 21 West Virginia, W 39-38 (2 ot)
Nov. 22 at No. 16 Texas, W 20-13 

The Oklahoma Sooners amateur football team is favored by 6.5 points to win on Saturday against TCU. If that holds, TCU would finish a conference home record without a win for the first time in ... forever.

"It's never happened while I've been here," GP said.

The last time TCU finished without a home win in a conference schedule was 1986 when the Frogs finished 3-8 overall, and 1-7 in the Southwest Conference under coach Jim Wacker. Their lone conference win that season was 30-14 at Houston on Nov. 1, 1986.

"If you don't win at home you'll never win a championship," GP said. 

TCU's first season in the Big 12 has to be classified a success. All things considered - a new conference, the February drug bust, the departure of quarterback Casey Pachall and the need to start Trevone Boykin, relying on so many freshman to play - this was a good year.

It would be just a little bizarre to finish a season with so much process without at least one home Big 12 win.

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Johnny Football wanted to be a Horned Frog

It was only a matter of time, and it was not like TCU was the only school to say no, but Johnny Football could have been a Horned Frog. He really wanted to be a Horned Frog.

"TCU was a school I visited multiple times," Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel said during a conference call on Monday afternoon. It was the first time Manziel was allowed to talk to reporters this season. "I was intrigued by them, like every other school."

Manziel said he attended camps at TCU the summer before his senior season. He said he tried to get an offer but nothing ever came.

That would mean TCU offered Trevone Boykin a scholarship rather than Manziel. As much as Boykin has progressed this season, he is not Johnny Football.

For years TCU was the school that took those who were blown off by Texas or Texas A&M and developed them into high college or even pro-caliber players. Remember, no one wanted LaDainian Tomlinson.

This may be the first time a player the Frogs passed on has morphed into something like this - a national phenom.

Manziel is likely going to finish either first or second in the Heisman trophy voting.

In fairness, just about every other major FBS level college football program took a pass on Johnny Football, too.

Good for former A&M coach Mike Sherman for offering Manziel the scholarship. Good for current coach Kevin Sumlin for making him the starter.
Good for Manziel for becoming Johnny Football. 

 

 

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TCU's win in Austin is fun but it is not bigger than this ...

Back from a week off ...

Even if TCU defeats No. 11 Oklahoma on Saturday in Fort Worth on Saturday it will not trump the Frogs' most recent win in Austin against Texas on Thanksgiving.
Even if TCU defeats TBD Team in the SomethingWhateverCorporateSellout.Com Bowl in December it will not trump the Frogs' most recent win in Austin against Texas on Thanksgiving.

That 20-13 win against UT will be the biggest highlight of TCU's first season in the Big 12.

But stop any chatter about that win being the biggest in the Gary Patterson era. Texas may have been ranked No. 18, but that is an average team. These are not your Vince Young or Colt McCoy Horns. The Frogs may have been the underdog entering that game, but it should not be a huge surprise they won.

The Frogs are better than the Horns, and they probably will be for the next few seasons.

Nothing should diminish the significance of a TCU team going to Austin and winning for the first time there since 1967. From a regional rival perspective, it is big. It is fun. It gives TCU its 7th win of the season, improves bowl positioning, etc.

But this is not bigger than TCU defeating Wisconsin in the 2011 Rose Bowl. Until TCU wins the national title, nothing will be bigger than that win.

Other than the national title game, the Rose Bowl is the biggest college game of the season. Countless moons, planets, stars and other variables had to break just right for TCU to even be in that game. That Wisconsin team had been rolling teams by absurd margins, and was stacked.

If TCU goes to the Rose Bowl and is blown out - like Hawaii against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl a few years previously - perhaps this conference promotion never occurs. TCU earned that win, and in doing so opened countless doors for the football team, and the entire university.

Without that win against Wisconsin, TCU may never have had the chance to again play Texas as a conference rival on Thanksigiving.

 

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The pain of TCU basketball continues

FORT WORTH, Texas – TCU’s first season under Trent Johnson and in the Big 12 was never going to be much in the way of wins but rather landing recruits.

TCU did that on Wednesday, but any chance of gathering a few unexpected wins took a massive shot when junior forward Amric Fields blew out his knee in the early moment’s of TCU’s loss against SMU on Thursday night.

At first it was scary to watch Fields go down. Then it was depressing to watch him helped off the court by his teammates.

This was TCU’s best player, and easily its top scorer. The Frogs roster really had two Big 12 caliber players – Fields, and guard Kyan Anderson.
Now Fields is probably out for the season. The good news, if there is any in a situation like this, is that TCU can redshirt him. That would mean he would have two years of eligibility remaining when Johnson’s first recruiting class arrives.

In the meantime, it does look like Johnson has his team playing hard. They do defend. They just can't score.

They kept after SMU throughout but were never able to take the lead, and eventually lost 64-61. The Frogs had a chance to tie the game at the end but Anderson's 3-point attempt was blocked.

TCU probably defeats SMU had Fields played. Senior Garlon Greene looks like he has developed into a nice college player.

The roster was not built for the Big 12. It was built for the Mountain West, and even then it was going to be thin after guard Hank Thorns was finished.

The men’s basketball program needs at least three years under Johnson to determine anything. The interest level in this program is so low - Daniel-Meyer Coliseum was maybe half-full for the SMU game - he is going to have time. This photo was taken a few seconds before tip-off before the SMU/TCU game. Johnson probably needs to have a winning record in his third season.

No one thought TCU was going to win this season. Without Fields any expectations of stealing a few wins in the Big 12 should be even less.

The team plays hard and the first recruiting class under Johnson is promising. Maybe TCU can add a decent Division I transfer in the spring. Center Karviar Shepherd from Dallas is arguably the best recruit this progam has landed since Damion Walker in the '90s. 

Even with the losses that are coming, the program is off to a good start. The real evaluation begins next year.

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