TCU defense

I'm not diminishing the great TCU defenses the past few years but I've noticed that when it comes to their defense the mental impact may contribute more than the actual phyical play. OC's feel they need to keep TCU's D honest so they come up with complicated gameplans. That's what TCU's defense thrives at stopping. Patterson's 4-2-5 is the anti-spread. They kill teams that try to get cute. I might be crazy but I've noticed when BYU has played them and starts to use our north-south power running game that vaunted D becomes a lot softer. Same thing in the last rose bowl vs Wisconsin. When Wisconsin started jamming the ball down TCU's throat they moved the ball then when they tried to keep TCU "honest" they got slaughtered. Just want to hear some oppinions on if TCU's defense is so good because it was built to conter the spread (which 90% of teams adopted it seems) and if a vertical/power running based O could beat it pretty easily.

Probably pretty fair. Although our offense has struggled mightily against them. In 2008, we had a 4 & 1 from the TCU 28, in the first quarter. Harvey was stuffed of 0 yards and TCU went down and scored to make it 14-0.



Only once against, TCU did BYU average more than 3.0 yards a carry. TCU was just an extremely bad matchup for us. We couldn't move the ball or hold onto the ball against TCU.



In the six games as MWC foes, we turned it over 13 times. Conversely, TCU only had four turnovers.



TCU's average starting field position the last four games was their own 35. Ours was our own 22.



We had 20 3 & outs vs TCU, and forced the Horned Frogs into just 11.



TCU did face 40 3rd & 7 or more, but the converted 16 of them (.400). BYU faced 50 3rd & 7 or more and we also converted 16 of them (.320).



Our problems were team wide against TCU. Neither side of the ball was able to find a gameplan that worked.

TCU adjusts its defense every year based upon the talent and so has earned the No. 1 defense title in many different ways. The 2008 defense was very, very strong up front. The 2009 defense lost 5 of the front 6 (all except 1st round draft pick Jerry Hughes) and was easier to run against but LB Daryl Washington (2nd round draft pick) was an absolute beast. The strength of the 2010 defense was the DBs --- Wisconsin was a very bad matchup for TCU given its strength on the ground. If BYU had a full offense for the 2010 game, it might have been a much closer outcome (especially with how well the BYU defense played in that game).



I expect the 2011 TCU defense to be stronger up front and dominated by the LBs. It should be more vulnerable to the pass than the 2009 and 2010 versions. Tank Carder and Tanner Brock are very good.