FORT WORTH — In their hearts, people just want to help.
They see Gary Patterson with his TCU team at 3-3, and they want to help.
Have you thought about this play, coach? What about that game plan that worked two years ago? Hey, why don’t you give that four-star a shot?
They’re just trying to help — anything to get the Horned Frogs out of a two-game losing streak, especially with Texas coming to town Saturday in probably a bad mood after a sweaty two-point win against Kansas.
Patterson knows the questions.
“This isn’t my first rodeo,” he said Tuesday at his weekly press conference.
He knows his answer.
“I’m trying to make sure I pay my rent,” he said.
That means staying employed. That means winning. That means playing the players and using the plays that give the best chance at winning.
In 19 years as a head coach, Patterson has thought of all your questions. He’s probably tried all of your suggestions.
He knows what you’re wondering.
How is it that his defensive ends — Ochaun Mathis and Shameik Blackshear — have a sack and a half between them halfway through the season? When is Max Duggan going to stop throwing it so hard? Why does the offense get off to such slow starts? Is there any way to get more takeaways?
“If I knew that answer, I’d have already solved that, right?” Patterson said with a look that said he’s been asking himself the same questions longer than you have. “I think I heard Coach Herman say this about their defense, ‘If we knew what the problem was, we’d already fixed it.’ We don’t like losing. We don’t like playing bad.”
Mathis and Blackshear, whatever their strengths and weaknesses, suffer from being compared to the players they replaced — two NFL draft picks. Same for whoever is playing linebacker opposite Garrett Wallow — it’s been LaKendrick Van Zandt, but he’s hurt; last week it was Wyatt Harris, but it may be somebody else this week.
Could Colt Ellison help the pass rush? How about this Adam Plant we heard about this summer?
“If we thought that, he’d be playing more,” Patterson said. “You guys know us. Again, this is not high school and we have a PTA and we’re worried about what the parents think. You get to Friday, you practice all week and you see the guys who handle it and the guys that don’t. Is Colt going to be a good player? I think he’s going to be a good player. I think Plant’s going to be a good player. But you know, bottom line to it is, our ends — we didn’t make a tackle, assisted tackle or a sack last week. In this defense, it’s hard to play like that. Maybe we asked them to do too much.”
So stay tuned. There’s a half-season to go. If a player can help, he’ll play. If a scheme tweak can help, it’ll be tried. If a set of jumper cables can be found, Patterson will hook them up himself.
“Ochaun and those guys, they’re all going to be good players, those defensive ends,” he said.
The same goes, presumably, for Duggan and emerging players like Taye Barber, Mikel Barkley, Coy McMillon, Kee’yon Stewart, Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson and others.
“We’ve been here before,” Patterson said. “Seems very similar to the ‘12 and ‘13 seasons. For us, you’ve got to find a way to pull yourself out of it and gain confidence and get ready to play. So how do you do that as coaches and players and grow up?
“Right now, you have what you have.”
(Photo by TCU Athletics)