Big turnout from TCU precincts turns college fan balloting purple

College football brings out all the essentials of electoral politics. There are front-runners, challengers, horse races and stump speeches, just to name a few. Though there are no lame ducks, there are plenty of wounded ducks. Each Saturday is one big campaign. We’ve started the season by asking readers to go to the ballot box to cast votes on the following initiatives. Most probably voted with their heart.

Who will win the Big XII?

The Horned Frogs got the vote out in Purple country, landing big numbers on their home turf as coaches seek answers to who carries, catches and throws the ball on offense while plugging big holes on an offensive line. These voters have a firmly held belief that the Frogs will find the pieces. The result defies the prognosticators in the Big 12 preseason poll, which tabbed Oklahoma as the favorite to win a 10th conference title.

Should the Big XII expand?

Whether voters included fans from BYU, Connecticut, Houston, SMU, et al., is unknown, but those who did participate responded with a resounding “yes,” almost certainly working with the belief that an expanded conference and subsequent championship game will bolster the conference’s credentials for the College Football Playoff. That might or might not be true year to year, but there is no doubt that the snub of TCU and Baylor two years ago left a bitter taste.

If the Big XII expands, which teams would you add?

Perhaps voters felt a sense of nostalgia in endorsing the addition of an old member of the club. Or maybe they’ve been influenced by voices in the news. Houston was the last addition to the Southwest Conference in 1972 (1976 for football), and the Coogs would undoubtedly be delighted to be a late invite to the party. Actually, it’s a pair of Cougars for whom the voters declared support. BYU, the school most often mentioned as part of media speculation about an expanded league, received referendum-loving.

Who has the best logo?

What logo better says collegian than TCU’s classic and clean brand? Granted the red-eyed horned lizard on the football helmets makes it as busy as Gary Patterson’s attacking defense. Whether the Froggies could top Texas’ iconic Longhorns in a runoff is another story. The Longhorn stamp is known around the world as the emblem for the athletic teams of the burnt orange and white.

Who has the best uniforms?

TCU continues its recent success on the field and ballot box. The real question is, which uniform? The ensembles of college football teams now rival the wardrobes of Hollywood actresses. Home and away, a mix of the two, mono-colored black (when did black even become a TCU color?) and whatever special, scaly outfit Nike wants the school to wear in Week 7 or some such.

Who has the best stadium?

A top-10 football program needed a top-10 stadium, and TCU has one of those now. The Horned Frogs’ intimate setting of Amon G. Carter Stadium still has a new-car smell after renovations financed through the crisp dollar bills minted by big-money families passionate about their purple football brought up to date the old stone structure far too spartan for the contemporary football experience of fan and player. It’s here that new history is being made.

Who is your favorite team?

There was a time not too far in the distant past when indifferent fans marked the support of the TCU football team. Today, the Horned Frogs own the region, their fans worked into hysteria week to week during the countdown to the next biggest game of the year. Victory in this category is no insignificant matter considering the throngs of alums from other Big 12 schools who live here and show devotion to their football teams from afar.

Which team do you hate the most?

Scandal has diminished the prospects of Baylor’s future, and voters couldn’t be happier about it. The Bears suffer from a bad reputation, and it began long before the shame and dishonor brought about by the sexual assault scandal that cost Art Briles his job and the football program a class of recruits. There’s the perception, if not reality, that the Bears used the influence of Baylor alums, Gov. Ann Richards and Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, to get into the original Big 12 at the expense of TCU. And Briles simply rubbed people the wrong way, particularly his constant whining after the Bears were left out of the original CFP.

Which is the best nickname?

TCU’s sports teams have been called the “Horned Frogs” since April 1915, the school changing from the “Christians.” The school’s newspaper, the Daily Skiff: “It is hoped that in the minds of TCU students and supporters ‘Horned Frog’ will stand for what the Baylor Bear stands for in the minds of Baylor students, for what Texas Longhorns stand for with the students at the University of Texas, for what the Rice Owls represent in the mind of students of Rice Institute.” Those hopes and dreams have been validated in the voting booth.

Who has the least creepy mascot?

As far as Bevo is concerned, you can call him creepy or otherwise, just don’t call him supper. On the other hand, he might welcome the slaughterhouse considering the job he has had to endure over the past two seasons: watching the reconstruction of the Longhorns football program, which has been tantamount to watching the sausage being made. For Bevo, though, that still beats the Longhorn Network piped into his stall.

Which is the best hand sign?

Some pay homage to Black Sabbath, for others it’s the “Hook ’em Horns” hand sign of Texas Longhorns fans. As the story goes, the Longhorns student body was inspired to create a hand sign to answer the archrival Texas A&M’s gig ’em thumbs up. Cheerleader Harley Clark and classmates Tom Butts and Henry Pitts are credited for introducing the “Hook ’em Horns” hand sign, for more than 60 years the gang sign of Longhorns fanatics.

Who is the Big 12’s best player ever?

Vince Young flopped in the NFL, but his legacy as the superhero who led Texas back to the promised land is secure for generations, capped by an otherworldly performance against Southern California in a game many have called the greatest ever in college football. In the national championship season of 2005, Young passed and rushed for more than 4,000 yards and 38 touchdowns. The opposition was glad to see him go.

Which is the best rivalry?

“If you beat Texas ... it’s a great day,” Barry Switzer once said, a reflection of the interstate hate that manifests itself in this annual clash of archrivals each October in Dallas. For more than a century, this game has been one of the best rivalry games in college football. More is at stake than simply football pride and national stature, though that certainly can’t be understated. This is like siblings trying to one-up one another, with fists sometimes flying. This is a big deal.

Who is the best player in 2016?

Voters chose hometown favorite Myles Garrett, the Arlington Martin High product and freakish athletic pass rusher and expected nightmare of NFL offensive tackles one of these days in the not-too-distant future. Garrett is on a number of Heisman Trophy watch lists, as is Baker Mayfield, the Oklahoma quarterback whose attitude and ability tend to annoy the opposition and Sooners fans.

This story was originally published August 24, 2016 at 2:07 PM with the headline "Big turnout from TCU precincts turns college fan balloting purple."