TCU football is expected to open its season on Saturday. Finally.

The Horned Frogs’ opener is a home game against Big 12 opponent Iowa State. TCU has been waiting patiently to start its season as openers against Cal, UNLV, Tennessee Tech and SMU were all disrupted amid the coronavirus pandemic.

As TCU receiver Taye Barber said this week, “I’m ready to get on the field and go against somebody else.”

TCU will be looking to win its 19th straight home opener, all under coach Gary Patterson. That is tied for the eighth-longest active streak in the country. Of course, this year is different with the home opener coming against a conference team.

“A conference game is like playing the first game of season if you’re playing an LSU or an Oregon State or you’re playing one of the classics,” Patterson said. “They’re a good football team. They’ve already played a game, so they’ve got two weeks to fix what they thought they had wrong and get better. For us, we’re ready to play.”

The details

Kickoff: 12:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Amon G. Carter Stadium, Fort Worth

TV: Fox Sports 1 (Joe Davis, Mark Helfrich)

Radio: WBAP 820 AM, KTCU 88.7 FM, Sirius 133, XM 203 (Brian Estridge, John Denton, Landry Burdine)

Spanish Radio: KFZO 99.1 FM (Miguel Cruz, Elvis Gallegos)

The line: Iowa State by 2 1/2 (over/under 44 1/2), per VegasInsider.com’s consensus line on Wednesday afternoon

Did you know?

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, TCU will welcome only 12,000 fans in the 46,000-seat Amon G. Carter Stadium. ... Gary Patterson is 6-3 against Iowa State, including 3-1 in Fort Worth. ... TCU is 89-24 at home under Patterson. ... Iowa State defeated TCU 37-23 in 2012, the Horned Frogs’ first-ever Big 12 home game. ... TCU is picked to finish sixth in the Big 12. The last two times the Frogs were picked to finish sixth or worse in the conference under Patterson they ended up winning (2005 Mountain West, 2014 Big 12). ... TCU last started a season with a conference game in 2008. The Frogs defeated New Mexico 26-3 in a Mountain West matchup.

Prediction

Iowa State struggled against Louisiana in a season-opening loss on Sept. 12. The Cyclones scored just 14 points. The offensive struggles will continue against TCU’s stout defense. The Frogs win a low-scoring, defensive-minded game. TCU 16, Iowa State 10.

This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 12:00 PM.

Drew Davison

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Drew Davison was a TCU and Big 12 sports writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram until 2022. He covered everything in DFW from Rangers to Cowboys to motor sports.