Outbreak forced TCU football to go to Plan E. But Patterson focuses on silver lining.
Plan A, B, C and D haven’t worked out for TCU to open its football season. Now it’s on to the fifth option.
The Horned Frogs gathered for summer workouts in June believing they would be starting the season at Cal on Sept. 5. Then, once the Pac-12 initially went to a conference-only schedule before postponing it entirely, the Frogs were linked to playing a Week Zero game at UNLV on Aug. 29.
The UNLV game fell apart when the Big 12 opted for a “plus-one” scheduling model and the Mountain West postponed its season. Then it looked like TCU might open the season against Tennessee Tech on Sept. 12 until that game was scratched when the Ohio Valley postponed its season.
Finally, though, it appeared that TCU found a familiar opponent to start its season with SMU. The game had been canceled and then rescheduled with plans to play Friday night in front of 12,000 fans and a national TV audience at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
But those plans were halted last week when TCU had to back out amid a coronavirus outbreak on the roster. TCU did not meet the Big 12’s threshold to go forward with games, commissioner Bob Bowlsby said on Monday, which requires programs to have at least 53 players including seven offensive linemen, four interior defensive linemen and one quarterback.
It’s unclear which threshold(s) TCU did not meet, but the game has been put on hold. So TCU is now focused on opening its season against Iowa State on Sept. 26 in Fort Worth.
“Our kids are ready to play. We were ready to play,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said on the Big 12’s teleconference Monday. “We knew there would be a couple trying times, but our kids are excited about moving forward. Disappointed we’re not going to play this week but they’re excited about moving forward.”
TCU has not given an exact number of players who are sidelined after testing positive for COVID-19 (which requires at least a 10-day quarantine) or have been in close contact with an individual who has tested positive (which requires a 14-day quarantine).
But sources have indicated a few position groups have been depleted by the recent outbreak. TCU simply didn’t feel safe fielding a team with an increased number of players sidelined.
The Frogs have not practiced since last Wednesday, and are not expected to practice again until this Wednesday at the earliest. The silver lining, Patterson said, is having an outbreak of this nature occur before the season instead of in the middle of it.
“The biggest thing is looking at the overall view,” Patterson said. “For us, it was a numbers group that we weren’t comfortable with so we had to make that phone call. It was tough.
“It’s disappointing because you try to do everything you can. Ever since June, our group has done a great job. It’s just one of those situations that you got into that you’ve just got to stop for a second and let it clean itself out and then go forward.”
Patterson added that he called SMU coach Sonny Dykes before the announcement and both remain hopeful they can play the game at some point this season. The teams don’t have a mutual off date, but there is expected to be fluidity throughout the season.
There’s a chance both schools could have a mutual date open up if opposing teams face similar issues to what TCU is now.
At the end of the day, Bowlsby expects these types of disruptions to occur throughout the season for the conference. It just so happened that what should have been the Big 12’s first game of the year has been postponed.
More are expected as the league tries to juggle with playing a season amid a pandemic.
“I don’t think TCU-SMU will be the last one we won’t be able to play,” Bowlsby said. “We will have disruptions. This is not a time when you can state with any sort of veracity you’re going to play all your games.”
This story was originally published September 7, 2020 at 2:06 PM.
