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Everything seemed to go so right for No. 16 TCU in its season opener.
Two quarterbacks combined to complete all 17 passes they threw, four for touchdowns, while the Horned Frogs rolled up 531 total yards without a turnover. Their defense even scored a touchdown while allowing only 70 total yards in a lopsided shutout victory to inaugurate their completely redone stadium.
And the Frogs did all of that while playing 12 true freshmen, twice as many as coach Gary Patterson had ever used before in an entire season. Redshirt freshman quarterback Trevone Boykin played the entire second half.
What Patterson did this week was point out on film the many mistakes they made in a 56-0 victory against overmatched FCS team Grambling State (0-2).
''Is it they really played well or the other guy played real bad? We've got to put everything in reality,'' Patterson said. ''For us, we watch film, is that what we see what we coach. Not necessarily was that the case Saturday night, but we'll take it.''
Patterson also had another way to get their attention, a fresh reminder of what happened to fellow Big 12 team Oklahoma State. The Cowboys opened their season with an 84-0 victory over Savannah State, then were ranked 18th when they lost by three touchdowns on the road at Arizona.
There was also Louisiana-Monroe's upset victory at then-No. 8 Arkansas.
''We've got to go get ready to play,'' Patterson said. ''You better get better and you better keep everything in perspective. It's plain and simple.''
TCU, whose nine-game winning streak is the longest in FBS, plays its first Big 12 conference game Saturday at Kansas (1-1).
''We expect nothing less than what we did last week. That's the mindset we're going to have coming into the game,'' said quarterback Casey Pachall, who was 9-of-9 passing for 201 yards and three TDs playing only the first half in the opener. ''We're not going to lack in focus or anything because we're going to come out with high intensity and ready to play.''
Then again, that kind of attitude can be expected from a second-year starter who was also part of the team when the Horned Frogs completed a 13-0 season two years ago with a victory in the Rose Bowl.
''The challenge is not to lose focus, don't get too hyped up about last week,'' senior linebacker Kenny Cain said. ''Last week was last week.''
What about all the youngsters who have never been in this situation?
Along with the true freshmen, Patterson said there were probably another 10 or 11 redshirt freshmen or sophomores who also played against Grambling.
''Once they got done watching the film, it was very obvious the things we didn't do very well,'' Patterson said, without elaborating. ''There are some guys with great potential, but they all know where we're at. We've always done a pretty good job keeping things in perspective.''
This is easily the youngest team for Patterson, who with his 110th victory last weekend passed Dutch Meyer to become the winningest coach in TCU history.
TCU has also won 24 consecutive conference games, but all of those were in the Mountain West while winning that league's title the last three years.
Deante' Gray, one of the dozen true freshmen, had a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown only 2 minutes into the opener. He set a single-game school record with 160 yards on five punt returns.
Yet, Gray likely won't get a chance to return punts Saturday. Skye Dawson, the speedy senior suspended from the opener for violating school policy over the summer, will be back against the Jayhawks.
Even with his big return game, Gray was far from perfect.
''Young guys make mistakes. He probably would have had 100 yards more if he just went where the return was set up,'' Patterson said. ''We had a middle return and he ran down the sideline, had a sideline return and he ran down the middle. Both of them were open. One was supposed to be a sideline return to our right, and he runs down the left side.''
