TCU at Colorado State
Written by Jack Jones - Google +
The No. 5 TCU Horned Frogs take on the Colorado State Rams Saturday as they look to improve to 5-0 this season. The odds makers obviously feel that won’t be a problem, considering the oddsfor this game show TCU -33 over Colorado State.
Though the Horned Frogs beat SMU last week 41-24, they weren’t all that sharp and needed a strong second half to finally put the game away. TCU gave up 192 rushing yards in the win, 139 of which went to converted linebacker Zach Line. After throwing two interceptions, Andy Dalton led TCU on three straight scoring drives to put the game out of reach. But the Frogs did not pass the eye test, dropping a spot in the Top 25.
Dalton did tie a school record with his 49th touchdown pass against SMU, but he went only 14 of 26 for 174 yards in the victory after completing 75 percent of his passes through the first three games. Dalton leads all FBS quarterbacks with 33 victories for his career, and TCU has now won 17 straight regular season games.
Last year, Dalton threw for 211 yards and two touchdowns in a 44-6 win over Colorado State. But the previous two meetings did not go as well. He went out with an injury on the game’s opening drive back in 2007, and TCU went on to win that one 24-12. He had to miss their 2008 meeting with another injury, one that the Horned Frogs were able to escape with a 13-7 victory at Fort Collins. The Frogs are now 5-0 against Colorado State since joining the Mountain West in 2005, but the wins have not come easy in recent years.
That could all change against a 1-3 Colorado State team that is reeling, with their only win coming last week by a final of 36-34 over Idaho. That was their first true home game, though, and playing at home will certainly give the Rams their best chance of keeping this one respectable. TCU rushed for 275 yards while limiting CSU to 70 yards on the ground in last year’s meeting. The Rams aren’t having much success on the ground this year, averaging a mere 59 rushing yards per contest.
The Rams did manage to rush for 108 yards last week against a soft Idaho defense, but the story was freshman Pete Thomas who threw for a career-high 386 yards and three touchdowns. Even with that effort, it took a 35-yard field goal from Ben DeLine as time expired to put an end to their 12-game losing streak. Thomas has put together back-to-back 300-yard games for the Rams, but he’ll have his hands full against a TCU defense that is only yielding 143.3 passing yards per game thus far.
Jack’s Free Prediction: TCU -33 – The Horned Frogs need some style points this week as they travel to Fort Collins. After dropping a spot in the polls with their 41-24 victory over an underrated SMU team last week, they know that they need to win convincingly this week. That’s why I expect the Frogs to keep the pedal to the medal and to put this game out of reach by halftime. This is a very young CSU team that simply lacks the talent and experience to even keep this one respectable.
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