After seven months, TCU senior quarterback Andy Dalton cannot wait to take the field again. His last game left something behind on the gridiron. He, his team, and his coach all know they still had a job to to complete. They sat at the table, but never finished.
For Dalton and the Frogs, almost winning the Fiesta Bowl didn't cut it. While making pre-season watch lists and magazine covers create a sense of pride and honor, they still have something missing.
In less than a month, the TCU football team will take the field at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington and kick off the 2010 season against the Oregon State Beavers. At that point, last season goes away and the focus shifts solely to this year. The senior has no problem with that.
Dalton enters his fourth season as starting quarterback already tied with "Slingin' " Sammy Baugh for the most wins in school history with 29. Barring anything tragic, Dalton will take that record easily by season's end and he already holds the school record for career passing yards. None of that matters now, though. The Frogs have a job to do and for Dalton, that job starts now.
“Last season . . . didn’t end how we wanted it to," Dalton told the Mountain West media last week. "That in itself is motivation for us. I think that’s been a lot of our drive . . . to want to get back to that game, and win it this year and . . . the way we work this off season, this summer just really (shows) how hungry we are and how ready we are to get the season started.”
Hungry is good. After snacking on Tostitos to close out last season, the Horned Frogs now hope to feast (or should that say Fiesta?) on them this time around. Coach Gary Patterson has a great system in place for it to happen, too. TCU enters the season ranked seventh in the USA Today Preseason Coaches' Poll. Dalton, along with the other guys, has bought into it too.
"I think that’s something that all of us have done (buying into the system) and one thing that Coach Patterson’s really harped on is we’re not going out to be a good team. We’re about a good program and . . . we might have a little more recognition this year, but it all starts down at the bottom, the foundation of . . . how we got to where we were last year . . . and we worked our way up and were able to accomplish all our goals."
It's clear that all the offense's success will go through Dalton. He has assembled one of the finest passing careers in the history of TCU and has another year to make the numbers look even better. If the red-headed signal-caller falters, then the offense as a whole will have a tough time moving the ball. With a great set of receivers backing him up though, it's tough to see that happening. He has an experienced o-line (minus one offensive tackle), a battle-tested backfield and his same receiving corps. from last season.
This offense has a chance to become one of the finest in school history. But that's not the goal. Dalton wants this team to sit at the table again. This time, they don't plan to leave hungry.
Players to watch:
LB Tank Carder
Receiver Jeremy Kerley
Go back to the Mountain West Conference season preview.
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