FORT WORTH — By my reckoning, I have personally sat through more than 10 dozen of these Gary Patterson postgame media affairs.
I have observed him at his highest highs — the sheer joy after the 2010 season’s Rose Bowl. And at his lowest of lows — the bitter 2008 defeat at Utah, when the Horned Frogs had a Sugar Bowl invitation within their grasps.
I’ve seen Patterson ramble merrily, and I’ve also seen him bristle at the simplest inquiry about who was hurt. I’ve seen him chipper, and I’ve seen him chippy.
But I never saw him take a low road like he did Saturday afternoon, instructing offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie to stand before the postgame media and answer questions after the Frogs’ 41-38 loss to SMU.
As circumstances and my advanced age would have it, it took me longer than usual Saturday to thread my way from the press box to the Four Sevens Meeting Room where Patterson holds his press conferences. The coach had already begun as I turned into the hallway outside of the meeting room and saw a grimacing figure standing and waiting alone against the wall.
It was Cumbie, and he was probably wondering why now. Why now, after all these Saturdays when Patterson has insisted that he be the single, lone spokesman for the staff did the head coach pick this day to thrust his offensive coordinator in front of the cameras and notepads?
Patterson gave a rather lame answer, actually.
“Because I knew you were going to ask quarterback questions,” he said, “so I could have somebody that could actually answer them.”
Not since the days of Mike Schultz – during Patterson’s first few years as head coach — could I recall the head coach allowing an assistant to publicly speak to the media after a game.
I used to joke and re-introduce myself at bowl games to Cumbie and ex-coordinator Doug Meacham, explaining that I realized we media people weren’t allowed to make eye contact with them during the season.
To his credit, Cumbie shouldered his share of the blame Saturday with humility and commendable gravitas.
“We did not start the football game well at all, and a lot of that is my fault for not getting [freshman quarterback Max Duggan] in a rhythm and getting completions.” Cumbie said.
TCU did score 38 points, however. Where was the guy whose defense allowed 41?
“Here’s what you guys have to understand,” Patterson said. “I’ve been doing this a long time. You guys want to do it so you can write and you can blame somebody.
“There’s no blame. If you want to blame somebody, blame me. I’m the head coach. I’m the guy that’s supposed to be responsible for getting them ready to go.”
OK, but a couple of minutes later Patterson was leaving the podium to Cumbie.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, here’s my offensive coordinator to explain why the offense sucked.
Patterson didn’t say that, but the whole scene blatantly smacked of it.
It’s been building, it seems. Little by little, the head coach has been throwing varying amounts of shade in Cumbie’s direction since summer practices began.
One week Patterson was saying he needed to get more involved with the offense. The next week he was deferring all quarterback questions to the quarterbacks coach, Cumbie. Then the season began and there was Cumbie on the TCU sideline instead of the coaches booth.
The Frogs still run the spread, but any resemblance to the high-energy 2014 offense seems to be in theory only. No quarterback since Trevone Boykin has resembled Trevone Boykin. Patterson, therefore, seems to be reaching for the reins to a safer alternative.
And true freshmen, such as Duggan, are seldom safe.
If that is what it is at the crux of the current Patterson-Cumbie kerfuffle, it wouldn’t be the first time that a head coach and his offensive coordinator have had conflicting opinions. Alabama’s Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin engaged in more than a few sideline chats.
Patterson simply gave Cumbie the benefit of the doubt and allowed Duggan to start against SMU when he might have chosen otherwise – grad transfer Alex Delton, presumably. Gary could have gotten away with saying nothing about the offense, however, as has often been his wont. Instead, he singled out Cumbie for blame, which was disappointing. It solves nothing.
Starting a freshman quarterback in the Big 12 is certain to be a baptism by fire. Three, maybe four losses are almost a certainty.
But the Duggan who started against SMU – and completed only one of his 10 first half passes – is the same one who played most of the way in the impressive win at Purdue.
Add SMU coach Sonny Dykes’ savvy and familiarity with the TCU system, and the Mustangs were able to build a daylong lead.
“I thought he competed in the second half and battled and made some plays to give us a chance to win,” Cumbie said of Duggan. “At the end of the day I didn’t do a good enough job getting him in a rhythm early in the game.”
In Duggan’s defense, he didn’t seem to get a whole lot of help. His pass receivers were getting little or no separation from defenders. Routes were lazy. When Duggan had to leave the pocket, some receivers just stood and watched.
What was that all about?
“It’s a simple thing,” Patterson said. “We got outplayed. We got out-coached. I told them on Sunday what was going to happen. You’ve got to get ready to play.
“A lot of energy was put into the last game, and SMU was ready to go. I don’t say slow start as much as I say give SMU the credit.”
Three games into the season, meanwhile, Patterson still hasn’t had someone step forward and seize the No. 1 quarterback job. Duggan looked like that guy at Purdue. But Saturday he appeared hesitant and befuddled while he searched downfield.
None of that explains why the Frogs chose to have Sewo Olonilua try to throw from the Wild Frog offense on fourth down at the SMU 10-yard line, or why TCU chose not to try for a game-tying, 51-yard field goal with 55 seconds left.
The latter was Patterson’s decision, not Cumbie’s. Kicker Jonathan Song started to run onto the field on fourth down, but Patterson motioned him back. He thought 51 yards was too far.
A few minutes later, there was Patterson, whose defense had one of its most ineffective days, encouraging us media blamers to heap it all on him.
OK, consider it heaped. So what was the offensive coordinator doing lying under the bus?
(Photo for SMU Athletics by Vladimir Cherry)