Horns247 Board

Have you seen Texas and TCU play the last two years

Gotta agree that DCTF has TCU ranked too high. While I appreciate that TCU had good teams the past several years, the primary question is what will occur in 2012-13. In that regard, I see TCU trending down while Texas trends up. I like TCU's QB and RBs and Patterson's a great coach, but that team lost about 9 starters off a squad that lost to SMU and had to come from behind in a bowl game against Louisiana Tech for chrissake. Yes, I know they beat Boise State, but that was clearly the high point of TCU's season and my gut feeling is that if TCU and Boise had played 10 times on a neutral field last season, Boise probably would have won 7 or 8 of those.

TCU lost 3 of its starting O-linemen, its best defensive player (Carder), and three quarters of its secondary (including two pretty good players in McCoy and Cuba). They also had the big drug scandal which has injected off-field distractions into the program and caused the loss of another good LB (Brock). The only player on that defense who concerns me is Maponga. And while I like their skill guys in the offensive backfield, I think Texas and other athletic defenses will be able to neutralize them in big games, esp. if the TCU O-line fails to gel. You also can't overstate the fact that TCU will be playing in a much tougher conference -- they'll be challenged on a weekly basis once they get into conference play, even when they're playing the likes of Iowa State. The 5-game run to end their season is brutal --K-State, OU and roadies against WVU, Okie State and Texas. Barring disastrous injuries for the Horns between now and gameday, I'd bet that Texas beats TCU this fall. I'm also pretty confident that TCU will struggle more than the other newcomer (WVU).