Following a victory over USC, Texas will try to get the monkey off their back that is TCU. Gary Patterson and his staff have owned Texas since 2014, and it hasn’t even been close. The TCU offense has run circles around the Texas defense ever since Gary Patterson made the switch to the air raid offense. This years group is led by sophomore QB Shawn Robinson. Let’s take a look at what to expect from Robinson and the rest of the Horned Frogs offense:
Quarterback
Shawn Robinson took over the reigns from Kenny Hill, and the offense has not missed a beat. The Denton Guyer/DeSoto product has more physical tools and a better makeup than Hill. Robinson completed 24 of 40 passes for 308 yards and a touchdown against Ohio State. He has a strong enough arm to make all the throws in the Sonny Cumbie air raid offense, but also brings an added dimension with his feet. It is no secret that Texas has struggled with assignment football when it comes to stopping dual threat quarterbacks, so Robinson should see a good amount of carries on Saturday. The big question mark about Robinson is his accuracy. The season opener against Southern is the only game in which he had a completion percentage over 70%. Cumbie will surely rely on high percentage plays to try to get Robinson in a rhythm to help open up more of the playbook.
Running Back
After being held in check the first games of the year, Darius Anderson exploded for 154 yards and 2 touchdowns on 12 carries against Ohio State. Anderson scored his first career touchdown as a freshman against Texas on a 90-yard run back in 2016. He represents TCU’s home run threat at the running back position, but is a durable runner between the tackles as well at 210 pounds.
Sewo Olonilua serves as the bruising tailback at 230 pounds. Olonilua has had a rough start to the year, but collected his first touchdown of the year in the loss against the Buckeyes.
Wide Receiver
Speed. Speed everywhere. Everyone is familiar with Texas killer KaVontae Turpin, who scored 3 touchdowns against the Longhorns as a freshman in 2015, but he isn’t even a starter on the 2018 squad. Sophomore Jalen Reagor is a stud. The Waxahachie native is already turning into one of the best receivers in the Big 12 and has great speed and hands. TCU loves to spread the ball around, but Texas’ primary focus needs to be to not let Reagor beat them.
Offensive Line
The 2018 bunch is a typical TCU offensive line, with 1 sophomore, 3 juniors and a lone senior. Lucas Niang and Anthony McKinney are 6’7 and 6’8 respectively, and are as solid of a tackle duo as you will find in the Big 12. The unit as a whole is still trying to find their way in the ground game, but as with a lot of air raid teams, they do their job well in pass protection. Texas will need to pick and choose their spots to blitz, because if they don’t get home, they will pay the price.
