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TCU vs. Stephen F. Austin prediction and game preview. Will the Horned Frogs handle business in Week 2 against the Lumberjacks?
September 11, 2015Okay, let’s try this again. TCU didn’t look like the No. 2 team in the country against Minnesota, but it was the first game of the season and it was a potential trap against a good Gopher team. The Horned Frogs got out alive, and now it’s time to have some fun. It’s Stephen F. Austin’s chance to see what it can do to stretch the passing legs a little after bombing away in a loss to Northern Arizona.
Below we dive into the TCU vs. Stephen F. Austin prediction and full game preview.
Date: Saturday, September 12
Game Time: 3:30 ET
Network: FOX Sports 1
SFA has had a strong offense over the years, and despite the loss last week, the talent is there to keep on firing and to get into the FCS playoff discussion. This would be an impossible win to take down TCU, but the Lumberjacks should provide a good test for a secondary that didn’t have to work to hard to deal with Minnesota’s passing attack.
TCU now doesn’t have to leave the state of Texas for a month, and it has some big numbers to put on the board with SMU next week and mediocre Texas Tech and Texas teams to follow. Fortunately, SFA is the type of team the Horned Frogs need to deal with – they need to prepare to get thrown on deep. There’s nothing dangerous about this game, but after sputtering against Minnesota, this is the time to shake all the rust off.
The injuries are piling up early for TCU. The Horned Frogs got beaten up in Minneapolis with defensive end James McFarland hurting with a foot problem, while linebacker Sammy Douglas – a position TCU couldn’t afford to be thin at – is out for the season. Douglas was supposed to be a steadying force, and he had a nice first game with seven tackles. Now TCU is going to be really, really young. If there was ever a time to catch the TCU defense when it needs a little work, this is it.
SFA got ripped up by the Northern Arizona running game. It was hard enough to deal with a passing game that was efficient and effective with Emmanuel Butler cranking out over 200 receiving yards and three touchdowns, but it was Casey Jahn who was the star with 157 of the team’s 244 rushing yards. If NAU could crank up 547 yards, TCU should be able to rip up the SFA defense to a whole other level.
Can Mike Freeze turn into the new star of the TCU defense? With Douglas out, the 4-2-5 Horned Frog defense needs a playmaker to build around, and Freeze is good enough to put in a massive year. He came up with seven stops against Minnesota, and while he won’t get into the backfield, he has the athleticism to grow into a pass rusher … eventually. Making matters worse for the Horned Frogs is that now Freeze is out this week for an undisclosed reason, meaning the spotlight will be on the linebacker corps and the rotation.
This will be the TCU offense everyone was waiting for. All the Horned Frog coaching staff wants, though, is to get out healthy.
Drum roll, please … the TCU vs. Stephen F. Austin prediction is …
Final Score: TCU 55, Stephen F. Austin 20
Must See Rating: 5: Ferrell Takes the Field – 1: A Walk in The Woods … 1.5