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The TCU Horned Frogs were not prepared to play the majority of the 2012 college football season without star quarterback Casey Pachall, who seems to get in trouble as often as he changes shirts. Sure, TCU stands for Texas Christian University, but after the recent success by the Horned Frogs’ football team, the program is heading more and more toward the model of most top-notch FBS teams and that sometimes includes players like Pachall. So how does TCU rebound in 2013? By building an offense around sophomore quarterback Trevone Boykin and continuing to play solid defense.
That’s right–Pachall should be out of the picture for good because this team can’t just revert back to the way things were with him at the helm, especially considering the progress Boykin made throughout his freshman year.
Boykin was thrust into action well before he was ready as a freshman. He had some stumbles early, but played surprisingly well with no real preparation for leading a ranked team FBS looking to play its usual role of BCS buster. Boykin threw for over 2,000 yards in 2012 and ran for another 417. His touchdown-to-interception ratio was great at 15:10, but he got better as the season wore on.
The most notable part of his 2012 campaign was that Boykin played up and down to his competition. TCU played similar to another Dallas-Forth Worth-area football team in that the Horned Frogs and their opponents went down to the wire in almost every contest. Really and truly, the fact TCU finished 7-6 in its first Big 12 season without its starting quarterback is remarkable. The fun thing to watch going forward will be the way TCU plays in Boykin’s second season after he has a full off-season as the starter. They may have fallen off the map in 2012 on a national attention level, but watch out for the Horned Frogs in 2013.
Jeric Griffin is the Director of Content for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JericGriffin, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
