College football 2018: Biggest Achilles’ heel for every Top 25 team

19. TCU

Achilles’ heel: Defensive inexperience

If there is one lesson that should be taught to every Big 12 player and coach upon their arrival at their schools, it’s that you should never count out Gary Patterson and the TCU Horned Frogs in any capacity. Just when you think they’re going to fall off, they’re still in the top 25 and threatening to shake everything up. You think he’s about to zig, he and his team zag. And when they aren’t sneaking up on anyone, they’re still just as tough to beat.

That latter scenario is the case this season with a team that’s headlined by quarterback Shawn Robinson. Replacing Kenny Hill leaves him with big shoes to fill, but he’s a highly touted recruit that, even in limited action to this point in his college football career, has proven to be someone that can make defenses pay with both his arm and his legs. With the offense securely in his hands, they could be an explosive unit.

It seems a bit crazy to say, but the questions about this team really center on the defense. That may seem wrong considering Patterson’s penchant for getting the most out of his players consistently on that side of the ball no matter the talent level, but this is a team that will see tremendous turnover on that side of the ball.

With departures on every level of the defense, there is going to be a bevy of unproven and inexperienced guys playing key roles for the Horned Frogs defense this season. And while you have to trust Patterson at this point, that could ultimately come to bite them.