Can One Guy Make That Much Difference?

College football is a team game.  One hundred guys sticking together as a group, playing for each other.   You’ve heard it 1,000 times from Gary Patterson:  Each player doing his 1/11^th.

As we say hello to the 11^th month of the year and Thanksgiving looms just 27 days away, we get into the wheelhouse of college football.  Players lost for the year to injury and some coming back from injury. Some teams up, some teams down. Surprise teams and a few team buses with flat tires along the side of the college football road looking for help.

Speaking of help, I ask the question, “Can one guy make THAT much difference?” The answer is yes. One example is Texas new Defensive Coordinator Greg Robinson. Nowhere mentioned in relation to UTex football at the beginning of the year. Mack Brown when to the bullpen phone and brought Robinson out of the shadows to revamp Bevo’s defense and fix the leaks, while standing in waist deep water, extension cords dangerously close to the surface. Robinson grabbed a wrench and fixed the leaks, went back to the basics.  He has done more than fix the defense at UT. He has reinstalled attitude and swagger throughout the UT program. And saved Mack Brown.

   

The Texas defense I saw last Saturday night has come light years since BYU made hamburger out of them earlier in the year.

Here’s another guy. Casey Pachall. With a presence and an arm to go with it, Pachall is now the difference maker for this TCU team. What a story if he can lead the Frogs to three more wins, get them to a bowl and leave TCU on the upswing. Pachall adds another gear to the TCU offense and gets rid of the ball in a hurry. His arm is strong and accurate. So strong, in fact, that TCU’s wideouts didn’t look ready for the delivery velocity that No. 4 gave them last week. Casey also delivered a heartfelt assessment of the offense in the wee hours postgame media session, basically saying that the offense needs to look inside and get it fixed. Casey Pachall can make THE DIFFERENCE. I’m pulling for him and you should be, too.

West Virginia comes to town with the same record as the Frogs — 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the Big 12. Look for a lot of motion and screens from the Mountaineers. They are last in the Big 12 in total defense, so the Frog offense should have some room to work. Both teams are missing their big offensive weapons from 2012, WVU's Tavon Austin and TCU’s Josh Boyce. Both of those guys put on a show last year in TCU’s 39-38 overtime win. Each team needs someone to step up as a playmaker. It’s time.

Brian and I are on the air tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 p.m. on the TCU Sports Network. It’s Frogs For The Cure Day at Amon G. Carter Stadium.

And, Trent Johnson’s new, young Frogs open their season tonight with an exhibition game with Arkansas-Fort Smith at 7 p.m. at DMC.  This is an athletic and talented group that features some of the best scoring talent that TCU has put on the floor in a while. Catch them in action tonight and next week at the AAC in Dallas against SMU.

Kick Em High!