Over the next several weeks, HornSports is counting down the most important games of the 2014 football season. For this series, “most important games” will be defined as those having the biggest impact on the program’s outlook and the 2014 season.
The main question to ask is “How would a win help bolster Texas’s national perception?“
The Countdown – #8 TCU Horned Frogs
Last 2 Meetings:
2013: W 30-7
2012: L 20-13
Analysis:
Sticking with the same theme of the last article, TCU is a team that had a rough 2013 (4-8) but they tend to play most of their opponents well, including the Longhorns. If not for the long lightning delay in last year’s game, the game might have turned out differently.
Similar to my expectations for West Virginia, I expect a bounce back year for the Horned Frogs. After the 2013 Texas game, the Horned Frogs went 1-3 but in those 3 losses, they lost by a total of 8 points. All tolled, they lost close games to LSU, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Baylor and Kansas State. Now with the quarterback position settled, they should be a tough matchup.
Being that it is the Thanksgiving game, the game might hold more prestige for both teams’ fans, but that isn’t going to factor in Texas’s national perception. The Longhorns will win, but since TCU is still not expected to do well, the win won’t count much nationally. Keep in mind that come Thanksgiving, this TCU team will be much more experienced than they will be early in the season.
About Texas Christian University:
Established in 1873, the university has called many places home. TCU originally started in Fort Worth but due to the “rowdiness” of trail cowboys in Fort Worth, they decided to move the campus to Thorp Springs, Texas. From there it moved to Waco and was going to stay there permanently but a group of Fort Worth businessmen gave TCU $200,000 in 1910 and 50 acres to build a campus.
For it’s small size, TCU has a plethora of notable alumni, mainly from their sports teams, including: LaDainian Tomlinson, Sammy Baugh, Davey O’Brien, Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter, and Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon. From outside the sports world, Democratic nominee for Governor of Texas Wendy Davis, Bob Schieffer from CBS’s Face The Nation, and 1-800 Flowers founder John Davis are all TCU graduates.
