Craven: Young TCU needs style points

[caption id="attachment_18219" align="alignleft" width="300"]Photo by Graham Staniforth Photo by Graham Staniforth[/caption] The official start to college football is Thursday and TCU begins the season with a game against Minnesota. The Horned Frogs enter the season ranked 2^nd in the Associated Press Preseason Poll and on Tuesday, TCU head coach Gary Patterson released the first depth chart of the season. It included a few surprised, two big omissions and an influx of youth on defense. The offensive two-deep was rather predictable. The only real point to note is that senior Bram Kohlhausen is listed as Trevone Boykin’s backup at quarterback. The real news came on the defensive side of the ball. Two expected starters – defensive end James McFarland and cornerback Deshawn Raymond – are not listed. Freshman linebacker Mike Freeze gets the start in Patterson’s 4-2-5 defense, while three sophomores earned starting spots. Patterson is a defensive coach at heart and his defenses are usually the strength of the team. That won’t be true in 2015. For TCU to reach its lofty expectations of winning a conference crown and earning a berth into the College Football Playoff, the offense needs to carry the load while the Horned Frogs get healthy and build experience and depth on the defensive side of the ball. It likely won’t matter against Minnesota, but style points matter in the selection process and first impressions are a big deal. More eyes will be on TCU football than ever before and a blowout win in the opener will go a long way in solidifying TCU’s shot at eventually earning a spot in college football’s four-team playoff at the end of the season. Patterson was adamant all offseason that TCU controls its own destiny and running the table would get his team in the College Football Playoff, but the truth of the matter is it is very hard to go undefeated. Only one team P5 team – Florida State – ran the table in the regular season in 2014. The Big 12 has a perception issue of sorts after TCU and Baylor were left out of last year’s race for eventual champion Ohio State. The Buckeyes got the nod despite losing to Virginia Tech at home in the first game of the season. That loss was significantly worse than TCU’s loss to Baylor or Baylor’s loss to West Virginia. With the Big 12 not having a conference title game, even more emphasis is placed on title contenders to win emphatically and to do so every week. At least in the opener, the Horned Frogs must rely on a young and inexperienced defense to earn style points and a win over a Big 10 opponent.