AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.—A new flight plan at Air Force? TCU coach Gary Patterson isn’t buying it.
He’s telling his Horned Frogs not to fall into the trap of believing that new Falcons coach Troy Calhoun abandoned the old triple option offense after he replaced Fisher DeBerry, who stepped down last winter after 23 years at the academy.
“For one thing, I don’t think he was completely honest when he said that Air Force will throw the ball more this season,” Patterson said. “I think they ran the triple option as much as they ever have. They still run it, no matter what they say.”
After all, the Falcons (2-0) ran the ball 63 times for 334 yards in their 20-12 win over Utah last week and quarterback Shaun Carney passed just 14 times, completing eight of them for a mere 54 yards.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said he saw absolutely no difference in this year’s Air Force team.
“Different formations, same stuff. They’re going to beat you with what they’ve always hung their hat on—the double and triple option. It’s just coming from different formations, but it’s the same attack,” Whittingham said.
Preparing for the triple option on a short week is not a recipe Patterson relishes, either.
“If you ask any defensive coach, they’d like to have three months to prepare for the triple option,” Patterson said. “If you don’t make it second-and-long, it’s a long day against the triple option.”
Patterson, who is 9-0 against service academies at TCU with only one of those wins by less than two touchdowns, was scheming for Air Force even before the Horned Frogs’ 34-13 loss at Texas on Saturday that got them knocked out of the Top 25.
Patterson called this the toughest task for TCU (1-1) in the last three years.
“They’re actually more difficult to defend now than they used to be because they do everything else conventional, plus they do the triple option,” Patterson said. “To try to get ready for them on a short week is unbelievable.”
This doesn’t sound like the coach of a team that harbored hopes only a week ago of catapulting itself into this season’s “BCS Busters” role as the team that would force its way into a Bowl Championship Series game.
The Horned Frogs looked every bit the spoilers they fancied themselves when they took a 10-0 lead into the third quarter in Austin only to fall apart in a bitter loss that ended a five-game winning streak over Big 12 teams.
“It hurts real bad,” TCU linebacker David Hawthorne said. “When you have a chance to beat a team like Texas and let it slip away, it hurts a little harder.”
At least with the short turnaround, the Horned Frogs didn’t have much time to dwell on their disappointment.
The Horned Frogs, however, might be without starting tailback Aaron Brown (knee) for the second straight game.
“That’s the other thing that’s a problem with a Thursday game,” Patterson said. “I would have said yes if it was a Saturday. I don’t know if it’s a Thursday.”
If Brown can’t go, Justin Watts and Ryan Christian will share the rushing duties.
The Falcons are preparing as if Brown will be in the backfield.
“You have to,” Calhoun said. “Whether that happens or not, you won’t know until you watch pregame. You have to game plan for him.”
The Falcons’ best rusher last year, Chad Hall, was moved to wide receiver when Calhoun installed his offense, but the senior has actually run 15 times for 95 yards and caught five passes for 45 yards so far.
That’s a byproduct of senior Kip McCarthy’s balky knee but maybe also serves as further evidence that Air Force is more of the same.
McCarthy started against Utah and gained 62 yards on 13 carries but didn’t finish the game and suggested this week that maybe he should skip a game. Calhoun said senior Jim Ollis and freshman Savier Stephens would share most of the tailback load if McCarthy is out.
