Thursday, June 28, 2007

A survey of pre-season rankings

TCU comes in 17th, and is predicted to win the MWC by every listed ranking service.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

CFN's weekly favorite MWC games

Week 1 - Utah at Oregon State: A battle between two of the better under-the-radar, top 25-caliber teams around, this will be Ute QB Brian Johnson’s first game back after missing all of last year with a knee injury.
Week 2 - TCU at Texas: It’s dream shot time. TCU should have the Mountain West’s best team and should roll through the rest of its schedule. Don’t laugh; a win here might start legitimate national title talk.
Week 3 - UCLA at Utah: Utah had a chance to make a statement last year in L.A. and got blasted. This year, UCLA will be among the 10-to-15 best teams in America and the Utes get the game in Salt Lake City.
Week 4 - Air Force at BYU: The best in a bad week of games, this ends the murderer’s row of Mountain West games with a trip to Utah and a battle with TCU before the date in Provo.
Week 5 - BYU at New Mexico: The Lobos can’t afford to give away home games and might need to win its opening conference game with three road trips in the following four games.
Week 6 - Utah at Louisville: A terrific Friday night showdown, the Utes will get a chance to see just how good they really are against a legitimate national title contender.
Week 7 - New Mexico at Wyoming: Air Force at Colorado State will be interesting, but the Lobos and Cowboys should put on the better show with two of the league’s best young quarterbacks, UNM’s Donovan Porterie and UW’s Karsten Sween.
Week 8 - Utah at TCU: The first installment of the Mountain West title battle trilogy between the three superpowers, Utah can’t afford a loss with its date with BYU on the road.
Week 9 - Utah at Colorado State: Will Utah be flying high or down in the dumps after the date with TCU? This ends a nasty stretch of three road games in four weeks. BYU at San Diego State has the potential to be more interesting.
Week 10 - New Mexico at TCU: BYU at Wyoming will be a good enough game to go out of your way to watch, but this could be more important as TCU’s letdown sandwich game between Utah and BYU.
Week 11 - TCU at BYU:
Each team will only have four days to prepare for the Thursday night showdown. If TCU beats Utah on October 18th, it should effectively be able to wrap up the title with a win over the Cougars.
Week 12 - New Mexico at Utah: Utah can’t be looking ahead to BYU while New Mexico could close out the year on a run with UNLV at home to finish.
Week 13 - Utah at BYU: Even if TCU has the title won, this will still be worth watching if only to hope it’s half as good as last year’s last-second thriller. This might be the nation’s best unnoticed rivalry.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Analyzing the '07 schedule, predicting the outcomes.

9/1 BAYLOR- the Bears will bring a hungry, but sadly under-talented, under-experienced team to Fort Worth for the season opener. Coach Patterson's game-plan will feature running, short passes, and more running, as he breaks Marcus Jackson into the starting role under center, and Andy Dalton takes his first college snaps; Coach P won't want to give anything away for Texas's scout team, either- not that anyone is sure TCU's new QBs could handle difficult plays, anyway. TCU's marquee defense will stifle Baylor; Frogs win with a low score.
9/8 at Texas- Not since Texas Tech came to town early last year has an opponent fired the competitive juices in Fort Worth like the Longhorns. TCU will turn in a tremendous defensive performance, and might pull off an upset. A Frog win would be just that, however: an upset. More likely, Colt McCoy will find just enough room to lead a balanced attack, and will win a close game. Horns win with a close, and probably low, score.
9/13 at Air Force- On four days' rest, the Frogs begin conference play at Colorado Springs, facing their second veteran quarterback of the season, Shawn Carney. Air Force's rebuilt offense won't find any traction against the Frogs' defense, however, which will have Carney on his back time and time again. Either Jackson will cement his starting role with a solid performance, or lose it to Dalton, who will have pressured Jackson in every game so far. In the first case, Frogs will easily. In the second case, Frogs win in another low scoring tilt.
9/22 SMU- As Tech learned last year, nothing motivates TCU like revenge, and the Frogs' kitchen has embarassingly been short one iron skillet for two years too many. SMU will bring a good crowd, but they'll have nothing to cheer about. TCU blasts SMU relentlessly.
9/29 COLORADO STATE- If winning generates momentum, TCU will have plenty of it by now. Sonny Lubick's Rams will come to Amon Carter Stadium for their second time, and their second slaughter in Cowtown. TCU wins in style.
10/6 at Wyoming- TCU will fly to Laramie ranked again, and Wyoming either will be ranked also, or flirting with the polls, having upset Boise State a few weeks earlier. The Frogs win this one, but barely. Jeff Ballard's toughest game as a new starter came in Wyoming; Jackson or Dalton's toughest as a newbie under center will be there, too.
10/13 at Stanford- The bottom-feeder of the PAC 10 will consider breaking its contract for a second game with TCU before this one's over; TCU will decimate the Cardinals.
10/18 UTAH- On a short week, Utah and TCU will square off in a battle to each others' strengths: the Utes will bring a national top-five offense to Fort Worth, facing the Frogs' national top-five defense. If Utah has won two or three of its non-conference games, this will be a clash of titans. The Frogs are likely to win in a close, hard-fought game.
11/3 NEW MEXICO- Like Wyoming, New Mexico may surprise in the Mountain West this year, especially after their re-tooled offense and offensive line gels. They won't be able to surprise the Horned Frogs, however, who will be well rested, and will turn in their first complete game against the a bowl team, winning by a large margin.
11/8 at Brigham Young- The Cougars are in a similar position as TCU and Utah: if they can win most of their non-conference matches, they'll garner a great deal of media attention. If BYU and TCU bring significant winning streaks to this game, the match-up may be the most anticipated game in MWC history. If the game features two unbeaten teams, then a BCS berth, and unbelieving discussion about a national title will echo from the Wasatch Front. Both teams will boast first-season, but very experienced quarterbacks, strong lines, and budding stars. Expect an emotional triumph, but don't expect a score prediction from me this far out from the contest.
11/17 UNLV- TCU wins this one easily, and Mike Sanford's seat begins to get warmer than its Las Vegas surroundings...
11/24 at San Diego State- TCU finishes the regular season with another win, although it may be more difficult to come by than last season's record-setting demolition of the Aztecs.
BOWL- TCU, if 10-2, will tie for first place in the conference, and likely play in the Armed Forced Bowl against Arizona, UCLA, or Oregon. The Frogs will win, and finish the season ranked between 14 and 21.

Monday, June 11, 2007

'07 early honors and watch-lists


Athlon lists TCU's defensive front seven the pre-season's best;
O-lineman Matty Lindner is on the Outland Trophy watchlist;
DEs Chase Ortiz and Tommy Blake are listed on the Nagurski, Hendricks, and Bednarik watchlists;
Tommy Blake is Dave Campbell's Texas Football defensive player of the year, and is on the Lott and Lombardi watchlists.
Blake, Ortiz, Brian Bonner, Jason Phillips, Matty Lindner and Chris Manfredini made DCTF's first-team all-Texas college team, and David Hawthorne made the second team. Bonner made the second special team as well.

Monday, June 4, 2007

the freshmen check in

Today is the day for freshmen to report for summer drills. Of a handful of signees whose prospective enrollment is questionable, Tekerrein Cuba, is confirmed on campus today, as well as the all-star recruit in 2007, Jerome Kerley. The presence of a highly anticipated signee for the interior of the defensive line, Braylon Broughton, has been confirmed.