Big 12 Schedule: Looking at TCU

Just last October, Texas Christian was headed to the Big East. Now they walk win with with West Virginia in less than 10 months into the Big 12. Avoiding the inevitable death with an unstable conference, the Horned Frogs will try to prove they belong in their debut season.

Unfortunately, four football players were involved in a drug bust back in February: offensive tackle Tyler Horn, linebacker Tanner Brock, defensive tackle D.J. Yendrey, and safety Devin Johnson. Three of them were involved and distributing, and all of them were pretty big losses for the team.

Now with that behind them, they can focus on one of the most grueling schedules in the program’s history, and they probably couldn’t have a better leader in head coach Gary Patterson.

2011 recap: Sparks in a 50-48 loss to Baylor kicked off a remarkable season. In fact, pair that up with the only other loss for the team (an overtime loss to SMU), and they just lost two games by nine points total. The team bounced back with an impressive victory at San Diego State, and went undefeated the rest of the way including a 36-35 upset against Boise State and a 31-24 victory against Louisiana State in the Poinsettia Bowl.

What to look for this season: TCU brings in a huge depth of running backs, hoping to take a little bit of pressure off of quarterback Casey Pachall. Utah didn’t make the best transition last season against the Pac-12, and all of these experienced Horned Frogs linemen will have to consistently stop a higher level of talent every single week. It’s the question we have all asked about teams like TCU and Boise State for years, now we will be able to find out.

The schedule: College football’s opening week won’t see the Horned Frogs, and not many people will pay attention when they open play against Grambling State. The very next week, the team is thrusted in their first Big 12 conference game on the road at Kansas. It’s not a bad way to enter into it. The rest of the non-conference plays out with Virginia at home and then a road trip to SMU.

It’s going to be a tough stretch down the road in conference play. After playing Iowa State, Baylor, and Texas Tech, here’s the rest of the schedule beginning October 27th: at Oklahoma State, at West Virginia, vs Kansas State, off week, at Texas, vs Oklahoma. TCU could be favored in their first six games; if they want to get to a bowl this season they better be close to six wins before the final stretch.

Brian Spaen is the lead editor for Clones Confidential, follow the site on Twitter and Facebook. Read his other work on the Oregon Ducks blog, Autzen Zoo, and Watson Talk Lacrosse.