Patterson says time off difficult adjustment
By Danny Gillham
Sports Editor

Although the mood is positive around the John Justin Athletic Center following TCU’s 45-31 win over Louisville, the main focus of Tuesday’s press conference with head coach Gary Patterson was not about Saturday’s victory.

Instead Patterson was talking about Southern Mississippi, who comes into Fort Worth to play the Frogs next Wednesday night.

The team has 10 days in between that game and its previous one against the Cardinals, and Patterson said that a 10-day week is harder to adjust to than a full two weeks off between games.

“Wednesday and Tuesday (games) are hard,” Patterson said. “You want to think you have some downtime, but you really don’t. We were off Monday and we’ll be off Friday, but it’s a lot tougher than a two-week deal.”

Patterson said he hopes it’s easier for the team to come back from that time period after a win, but there was still room for improvement after the Louisville game.

“We made enough mistakes in that ballgame,” Patterson said. “To me you still gave up 31 points, and we scored in the fourth quarter, but we didn’t score in the third. I think being consistent is something we’re gonna have to do in the next four weeks. Who knows which side of the ball is going to have to win the ballgame?”

O-line finally at full strength?

There have been struggles all season for the Frogs to solidify their situation on the offensive line. It appears that time may be in the Southern Miss game. Patterson said senior Brady Barrick should be back running around on the field, and senior Josh Harbuck “at some point and time” will be ready to go. Patterson also continued to rave about the performance of senior J.T. Aughinbaugh in the last few weeks. He said that Aughinbaugh dropped from around 320 pounds to 295, which allows him to be more mobile and active. He also added that sophomore Anthony Alabi probably played his most complete game in a frog uniform.

Quarterback dilemma
Redshirt freshman Tye Gunn has more than filled the shoes of senior Sean Stilley, who separated his right shoulder Sept. 21 against North Texas. Stilley is making progress, and has been in pads throwing in practices for about a week. Patterson said that he has confidence in both signal callers, but as far as chemistry is on the team, it might make it easier to hand the ball over to Gunn. He said not to count Stilley out though, who has the ability to perform when needed.

Lightening the workload
To make sure his team is fresh for the Golden Eagles, Patterson is allowing his team to rest their bodies some. The team practiced for just one hour Tuesday, as many of the Frog coaches were out on recruiting trips. The team also plans to practice for just 17 five-minute periods today, as opposed to the normal 24 periods.

Return of Coach Patterson’s Calendar
With the time between their next two games not falling in a set week, the majority of the calendars in the John Justin Athletic Center will be set to ‘Patterson Time.’ A week normally goes like this: After a Saturday game, the team practices Sunday, is off Monday, then practices Tuesday through Thursday, has a light workout Friday and plays on Saturday. With the team’s next game on a Wednesday, the schedule now becomes the following: This Thursday is now Sunday, Friday is Monday, Saturday/Tuesday, Sunday/Wednesday, Monday/Thursday, Tuesday/Friday and Wednesday is Saturday (gameday). The team will practice accordingly.

Confused yet?