The TCU Horned Frogs have had issues getting their season started. On Saturday they’ll play their first game with a new starter at quarterback in Matthew Downing. Rust is expected, but look for the Horned Frogs to win the field position battle and convert enough points off of Brock Purdy miscues. Grab TCU.

The Cyclones’ stunning loss to Louisiana was not as horrid as it seems. Two of four Cajuns’ TDs occurred on special teams, and another happened on a long pass. The defense is stout. As for the offense, QB Brock Purdy will be improved after two weeks of practice. Coach Matt Campbell’s teams cover at a two-out-of-three pace after ATS defeats. TCU has yet to play and must resort to a former walk-on QB, Matthew Downing, in his first college start. The Horned Frogs initiate up to 15 new starters.

Iowa State is coming off a horrible loss to Louisiana. I expected the Cyclones to compete for a Big 12 title last year, but after 11 games they were 7-4 with the losses by a total of 11 points. ISU returns QB Brock Purdy, its top four rushers (88% of rushing yards), six of the top eight receivers and 10 of the top 12 tacklers (70%). TCU QB Max Duggan completed just 53% of his passes for 6.1 yards per pass and 15-10 TD-INT ratio in 2019. Duggan is the leading returning rusher for the Frogs too. He just returned to practice this week, though, due to health reasons and will back up Matthew Downing.

The Cyclones had nothing offensively against Louisiana last time out, and don’t expect much to change. They just don’t have the size and speed to be explosive on that side of the ball no matter how good Brock Purdy is. TCU is going with Matthew Downing under center instead of Max Duggan. This will be an old-school battle of defenses in which neither team will score 20.