TCU Football: Kerley is a “wild frog” for TCU

by Todd E. Jones of College Football Top Ten

TCU blew the lid off of a new offensive package on their way to a 32-7 upset of number eight BYU in front of 36,160 fans in Fort Worth’s Amon G. Carter Stadium. Wide Receiver Jeremy Kerley lined up at quarterback on several plays surprising BYU with their “wild frog” type package in which Kerley runs the zone read and quarterback keeper. TCU ran the package one other time this year, in the closing moments of the San Diego State game. Against BYU Kerley ran the ball 9 times for 77 yards and a touchdown.

Quarterback Andy Dalton had 170 yards passing along with 19 yards rushing. Dalton also got his first touchdown passes on the year as he hooked up with Walter Bryant and Jimmy Young. Jimmy Young led the Frogs in receiving catching four passes for 78 yards. The Frogs didn’t just unveil the “wild frog” package, but the Frogs also wore black jerseys with purple pants instead of the usual purple shirts and black pants. From the opening kick off, the Frogs played inspired ball on a night when TCU and the community celebrated breast cancer survivors and victims.

The Horned Frog defense was dominant once again holding BYU to 297 total yards, a full 155 yards below the Cougar average for total yards per game. The TCU defense also held BYU to only 23 yards rushing. The Frog front four harassed BYU quarterback Max Hall all night picking up six sacks and a couple of fumbles while the Frog secondary picked off two of Hall’s passes. Cougar receiver Austin Collie did catch six passes for 116 yards.

Frogbits

“wild frog.” TCU ran several plays in the Kerley package catching BYU off guard and serving notice to the remaining teams on the Frog schedule that they have to prepare for the new wrinkle. Kerley even ran out of a five wide receiver set taking advantage of his speed and quickness to get in to the end zone.

Quick strike. After forcing a turnover on BYU’s first possession, the Horned Frogs struck quickly. After drawing a pass interference call, Dalton threw a 25 yard touchdown on a play-action-fake taking just 13 seconds. Just six minutes later, the Frogs scored on a 16 yard Jeremy Kerley run.

Work Load. Six players carried the ball for TCU for a total of 240 yards, but Joseph Turner had the bulk of the load as he carried the ball 19 times, mostly in the second half as the Frogs tried to drain the clock. Turner finished with 69 yards rushing and a touchdown. “Mr. Touchdown” scored his tenth touchdown of the year on a five yard run at the end of the third quarter.