2012 Pre-Season Expectations

[SwissArmyFrog]

Many of us had opinions as to how our 2012 football season would go, after the personnel losses.

- Some thought we - after losing James and Pachall, plus all the other losses - wouldn't win another game.

- Others thought a 7-9 win season was possible.

Try and remember what you thought then. How has the team met, exceeded, or fell below the expectations you personally had? Be as specific as you like. You may feel differently about different areas of the team.

What aspects of our team to you think were better, worse, or about what you thought they would be?

Many of our answers could be similar, generally...freshman growing up, pass defense worse than expected at first, productivity of offense despite limitations, etc..., so feel free to discuss individual players, coaches, etc...

 

[West Coast Johnny]

After Pachall left the team and after the Iowa State lost, I thought that we would be able to squeak out one win on the schedule, end up 5 - 7 and miss out on a bowl. Beating Baylor, West Virginia & Texas has exceeded my expectations by far. Gary Patterson's best season ever.

 

[PurpleSouthpaw]

After Pachall left the team and after the Iowa State lost, I thought that we would be able to squeak out one win on the schedule, end up 5 - 7 and miss out on a bowl. Beating Baylor, West Virginia & Texas has exceeded my expectations by far. Gary Patterson's best season ever.

Fully agree, even with all the crap this season. I would love a win on Saturday, but win or lose, this team has exceed my expectations.

It shows how great our coaching staff is.

Makes me wonder what the season would have looked like if injuries/drugs didn't happen . . . .

 

[joejordan]

I predicted we would lose our starting RB, starting QB, a couple starters on the OL, our AA DE for a few games, a projected starting LB, and struggle in pass defense.

I thought we would beat Grambling, Virginia, Kansas, SMU, WVU, Baylor and taxes.

I'll tell you next week whether or not I predicted we would beat OU.

I did NOT see Devonte Fields coming. I can't even joke about that.

 

[rifram09]

When we lost Pachall but before the ISU game, I thought we'd maybe win 6 games.

After ISU, I thought 4-8 was legitimately possible.

After Baylor, I thought TB was going to chase Johnny Football around for rookie of the year.

After Tech I didn't know what to think.

After OSU I thought 6 wins would be awesome.

After WVU I thought 7 wins would be awesome.

It was.

 

[Prince of Purpoole]

After the Iowa State loss, I would have settled for 6-6.

 

[Lone Frog]

Just before the season, I was predicting 9-3. I figured we'd lose one of the first seven that we shouldn't lose (I suspected it would be Iowa State sandwiched between SMU and Baylor that would do it). I figured we'd lose two of the final five.

In all fairness, though, I was pretty far off in which of those final five I was predicting. I figured OK State was a win, thought we'd lose to WVU, beat K State, beat UT and had OU as another loss to close the season. So far I was only right about UT. Here's hoping the Frogs make a fool out of me on Saturday.

We end up at 8-4 and I'll only be off by one game from my preseason prediction.

 

[anom]

Coming in I thought we had a good chance to win 8 and maybe steal a 9. After Iowa State i thought we wouldn't win the rest of the season. After baylor my head perked up a little out of depression. Texas Tech as a team shocked me. And had hope after that game. Ok State didnt shock me. Thought we'd win 2 of the last four. And we've already done that. So i'll take it all considering

 

[rifram09]

I made a bet with an auburn fan that told me TCU wouldn't break .500 this year. If TCU got to seven wins before our bowl game, I won. He wrote messages on my Facebook and such all season. Before the Texas game he was gloating like a pig.

Made the win in Austin that much sweeter.

 

[More Frogs the Better]

I said on here that I liked this team and thought it would surprise some people who were all doom and gloom. I didn't predict any number of wins because in this conference, it's like GP says: 3 or 4 plays often decide the game. I was more looking at the improvement we were seeing on defense and how hard the team plays. I think they have come to play every week and have played 60 minutes. There was some expression that maybe that wasn't the case in the OSU game but the job done by our OC's in that game was poor beyond description and the defense just ran out of gas.

 

[frognutz]

Before the season started I thought we would lose 3 games at worst. I thought CP was a dark horse heisman candidate.

After the SMU game, I felt this team had a chance to win the conference based on OU, WVU, and Okie State all looking pretty shaky. Predicted WVU would be a 4 loss team before they lost their first game (but I digress). Even with Waymon gone I figured CP and our Wrs would tear it up.

Then came the dang curb and then the Iowa State loss. After that, I thought this team was just cursed and would have happily taken 6-6.

Tech loss was brutal. Would have been awesome to sweep the state.

If Patterson wins Saturday he is the no-brainer Big 12 coach of the year.

 

[cdsfrog]

7-5 would be exceeding my expectations

8-4 will be (on purpose) shaving my head on Jan 3rd (after my wife's trip per her request)

If that happens, I will post it for all to see. Before and after. Not a clean shave but a buzz cut..

Still rooting for the shaved head

 

[neutral observer]

At the beginning of the season I thought 8-4 possible, with 9-3 a stretch. I figured losses to Oklahoma, Okie State, Texas, and Kansas State for sure this season.

When we lost Waymon I thought 8-4 still possible, but a stretch. When we lost Casey and the Iowa State game I thought we would struggle to get a bowl berth.

After beating Baylor and Texas, I am the happiest guy in the world. Seeing what happened to Auburn made it sweeter!

 

[purplepreacher]

When we lost Pachall but before the ISU game, I thought we'd maybe win 6 games.

After ISU, I thought 4-8 was legitimately possible.

After Baylor, I thought TB was going to chase Johnny Football around for rookie of the year.

After Tech I didn't know what to think.

After OSU I thought 6 wins would be awesome.

After WVU I thought 7 wins would be awesome.

It was.

Dead on here. Can't surpass this. I said 8-3 before the calamity, but didn't venture a guess after it.

 

[EdKamen]

I was thinking 9-3, maybe 8-4 with a bad break.

BUT the difference wasn't so much about TCU as it was the teams it was playing.

SMU was worse than expected, Baylor and ISU the same, TTech is much better than expected, so is OKSt. WVU is worse than expected, so is Texas. KSU much better than expected ... and, I think, OU isn't as good as people thought it would be.

So the Frogs won games I didn't think they would and lost others I thought they'd win.

Despite all of this, under the circumstances, the Frogs have played amazingly well. It is GP's best coaching job and, especially, a tribute to his coaching and recruiting staff.

 

[ross]

7-5 would be exceeding my expectations

8-4 will be (on purpose) shaving my head on Jan 3rd (after my wife's trip per her request)

If that happens, I will post it for all to see. Before and after. Not a clean shave but a buzz cut..

Still rooting for the shaved head

Shaved head not enough
you must paint a purple football with TCU on it on top your head for the complete look
show your colors

 

[Frog DJ]

Before the season I predicted a 7-5 or 8-4 finish, but I didn't even come close to the path TCU would take to get there...

Under the circumstances this may well be CGP's best coaching job to date, especially if he can get to 8 or 9 wins.

I am immensely proud of the job the players, coaches and school have done during this first year in the Big XII.

Go Frogs!

 

[S3NATOR]

I really thought before the season started (and still believe) we would have been 7-0 after Texas Tech. Even after losing Way James I was still seeing 7-0 with my purple glasses. We would have probably been top 10 and riding high! Then a toss up for the last 5 games but wining 3 of those to end the regular season 10-2. Losing to probably UT and OU. But after the CP4/ISU loss I was getting worried. I knew we would still win some games b/c our defense is good but they always start really clicking towards the end of the season. After the back to back losses to TT and OSU I was getting worried we wouldn't get that win 6 and bowl eligibility. It still blows my mind that we got to 7 wins with all these off the field issues and personnel losses. Would be outright amazing if we ended the post season at 9-4.

S3N

 

[Ron Swanson]

Before the season, I gave us a realistic window of 8-4 to 10-2 (11-1 and 7-5 were extremely unlikely, but possible if things went extremely well or horribly wrong), but my pick was 9-3.

After Pachall and James went out, I said somewhere between 6-6 and 8-4, and my guess was 7-5

If you had told me before the season that we were gonna lose to Okie St, Tech, and Iowa St, I probably would've guessed 3-9

 

[KillerFrog InD KitchenSink]

I thought 8 or 9 wins before the season. After losing Pachall and James and some of the other attrition, I would have been thrilled with 6 wins and a bowl. Sitting at 5-4 after the poor performance at OSU, and looking at the final 4 games, I had prepared myself for a long off-season. Now being in a position to win 8 games has way exceeded my expectations at that point.