TCU head coach: Loss to Tech motivated football players in practice

by Landon Haaf of TCU 360, JD Moore of TCU 360

Gary Patterson said his team was embarrassed by the loss.

Photo by Matt Coffelt

Gary Patterson stands on the sideline during a game earlier this season.

FORT WORTH — Following a 56-53 loss to Texas Tech, TCU head coach Gary Patterson said his team is performing better in practice than last week, which he credited to his team being “motivated by embarrassment.”

Patterson said he saw an improvement in work ethic and focus during his team’s Sunday practice following a loss, comparing it to the practice after a 49-21 win against Baylor. He said he believes the change in practice is because he thinks “this team is urged by embarrassment.”

“That was the thing that was amazing to me,” Patterson said. “We come off the Baylor game and [don’t practice well]. When bad things happen, they want to improve.”

Here are some other highlights from Patterson’s weekly press conference:

Patterson thanks TCU fans

Patterson thanked fans for a full stadium and a strong game day atmosphere against Texas Tech.

“It was a great crowd,” he said. “It was loud, everything we wanted.”

Almost 48,000 fans came to the game, making the game the second-most attended home football game in school history. Patterson said the negative comments he made about fans leaving Saturday's game may have been too much.

“It was a mistake on my part,” Patterson said. “My job is to win football games, not to worry about the crowd. Our job is to finish, we didn’t finish.”

Team getting used to Big 12 kickoff times

TCU will play in its third straight 2:30 p.m. game Saturday in Stillwater, Okla. when the team takes on Oklahoma State. Head coach Gary Patterson said the team got off to a good start in last week’s 2:30 p.m. kickoff against Texas Tech.

“I think we started fast Saturday,” Patterson said. “We were closer to finding a better answer to what we needed to do to prepare [for a 2:30 kickoff].”

Patterson said the most difficult part about a kickoff for the upcoming game is the travel.

“Talking to other people in the Big 12, you can’t really stay in Stillwater,” Patterson said.

He said the team would fly in to Stillwater and stay in Tulsa before coming back for the game Saturday.

The Frogs have played in three games with 6 p.m. kickoffs this season, two with 11 a.m. starts, and two of their last three games have kicked off at 2:30 p.m.

TCU running back Waymon James tries to get past a Baylor defender last fall. The Frogs will return to Waco October 13.

Turnovers key to success, lack thereof

Patterson said turnovers have played a big role in the outcome of games of late.

“In our last four games we’re 2-2. In the two games we’ve won, we’ve won the turnover battle and the takeaway battle, and in the two we’ve lost we’ve lost it,” Patterson said.

The Horned Frogs forced six turnovers against SMU and Baylor. Both of those games resulted in road wins for the Frogs. The Frogs didn’t commit any turnovers against the Bears. When TCU played Iowa State on October 6, it turned the ball over five times while only taking it away from the Cyclones once. The Frogs were unable to force any turnovers against Texas Tech, and conceded three possessions.

“In this league you can’t turn the ball over and lose that battle and expect to win,” Patterson said.

Avoiding a “jinx”

TCU placekicker Jaden Oberkrom was six-of-six on field goal attempts last week against the Red Raiders, and received the Big 12 Conference Special Teams Player of the Week and two other national honors.

That performance pushed his season total to 14-of-16 on field goals, and a perfect 30-for-30 on point-after attempts. Patterson said, however, that he is not going to get ahead of himself in praising the true freshman.

“I’m not ready to anoint him. He’s missed two so far,” Patterson said. “You can go write that down, that Coach P. did not go out and jinx himself.”

Forrest showing leadership, despite injury

Patterson said he was impressed by the leadership senior Ross Forrest has given this season, despite not seeing playing time. Forrest was sidelined for the year following a knee surgery in the pre-season.

Patterson said Forrest has been mentoring freshman Devonte Fields at every practice this season. The only practice Forrest took off was the day he went into surgery, Patterson said.