FORT WORTH — The difference in quarterbacks Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium was palpable.
What’s palpable?
It means when something that you can’t feel, like a sense or an emotion, becomes so strong, you believe you could touch it or hold it.
With every dropback by Shane Buechele and Max Duggan, the gulf between their experience level, confidence and poise become so apparent — so palpable — it could almost take a seat beside you there on the 50 or go get you something from concessions or drive you home later if you needed it.
TCU found itself outmatched at the game’s most critical position from the start in the 41-38 loss to SMU. Buechele completed his first three passes, including a 46-yarder to the tight end as he was getting hit, and finished a five-play scoring drive with a 4-yard quarterback draw.
The Horned Frogs’ QB, the freshman Duggan, turfed his first pass.
Things didn’t change much.
Buechele capably led an offense that put up more than 400 yards, putting up beauties and touch passes that defeated tight coverage. His 9-yard throw to James Proche at the side of the end zone with 13 seconds left in the first half, producing a 31-17 lead, was the kind of play that results from experienced players.
Duggan, meanwhile, playing without one of his top receivers, TreVontae Hights, couldn’t complete more than one pass in the first half. He also fumbled a handoff, overshot receivers and, critically, mishandled a shotgun snap on third down in the game’s final sequence.
In making his first career start, Duggan did throw three touchdown passes and also showed serious spunk in getting the Frogs back to within three points after they trailed 31-17 and 38-24.
But 16-for-36 wasn’t a match for Buechele’s 23-for-34.
“We did not start the football game well at all, and a lot of that is my fault,” said co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Sonny Cumbie, sent out by coach Gary Patterson to face reporters to answer their “quarterback questions” about Duggan.
“I thought he competed in the second half and battled and made some plays to give us a chance to win,” Cumbie said. “At the end of the day, I didn’t do a good enough job getting him in a rhythm early in the game.”
SMU couldn’t have asked for a better start. Its opening gambit of a flea-flicker off an end around (or something like that) resulted in an immediate charge for the Mustangs’ new quarterback at a site where an avalanche of seven sacks hit him in a 2017 loss when he plied his craft for Texas.
“It feels really good,” the graduate transfer from Arlington’s Lamar High School said. “They’re a tough team. They were a top defense my freshman and sophomore years. They’re still good on defense.”
The former Longhorn needn’t worry about TCU anymore. He put those demons to bed. He could wake up Monday morning as the quarterback of a Top 25 team.
Duggan and the Frogs, meanwhile, will have found their stay in the rankings to be over. They’re 2-1 heading into their Big 12 opener against Kansas, at home, on a Saturday morning, where better energy and a better start will be asked for again.
It looks like it’s Duggan going forward. Cumbie said the signal-caller from Council Bluffs, Iowa, gives the Frogs the best chance to win.
Grad transfer Alex Delton, who started the first two games, played only one snap.
“I thought throughout the course of fall camp and our weeks of practice all the way up to this game, in terms of throwing the football, he gave us the best chance,” Cumbie said of Duggan. “I didn’t do a very good job running the game and getting his feet under him and giving him some easy completions and allow him to get into a rhythm in the football game.”
So now that that’s out of the way, the charge for Cumbie is to get his quarterback in position to win games.
The idea of the freshman passer eventually taking over is here. It’s real. Maybe sooner (or later) than expected. Either way. It’s here.
“You have nine games left. What are you going to do?” Cumbie said. “Are you going to let this one linger, or are you going to come out with your backs against the wall and come out better and learn from it? I think each week, for him, it’s probably slowed down a little bit from Pine Bluff to here. We’ll watch the film. I think there’s a lot to learn for him and all of us.”
The feeling is palpable.
(Photo by TCU Athletics)
