TCU’s Patterson sitting on ‘pins and needles’ despite successful mock weekend
TCU coach Gary Patterson isn’t taking anything for granted these days. The Horned Frogs are on their fifth season opener with games being canceled or postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
TCU had to back out of a Sept. 11 game against SMU after an outbreak among its staff and players. So Patterson admitted he’s still sitting on “pins and needles” until TCU and Iowa State are both cleared and take the field on Saturday afternoon.
Both schools are expected to conduct the final COVID tests Friday. If both meet the Big 12’s minimum thresholds (53 players including seven offensive linemen, four defensive tackles and one quarterback), kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
“I’ll have that anxiety until all of the Friday tests come in,” Patterson said. “That includes for yourself, because we’ve had people that I know have stayed away from everybody, and I don’t even know how they got it. Luck of the draw.”
The good news for TCU is that its “mock weekend” went flawlessly last weekend. The hope is to emulate that now that the season is here.
What is the mock weekend? Well, Patterson likes to run through a typical game weekend with his players before the season starts — checking into the hotel, going through video tests the night before a game, team meal, etc. — so his newcomers understand the process.
This year is different with the COVID tests and different pandemic protocols the team is adhering to. Patterson said the entire team tested negative for COVID during the mock weekend.
“Everybody made it through the weekend,” Patterson said. “It’s different, you take more buses, put more guys in single rooms. We moved around rooms. Where we eat, how we do things is a little bit different. We acquired bigger rooms in the hotel, but outside of that it’s all been good.”
Patterson went on to discuss the program’s contingency plans should he come down with COVID during the season. Florida State coach Mike Norvell is having to sit out games after testing positive for the virus. Former TCU offensive line coach and alum Chris Thomsen is serving as Florida State’s interim coach.
Patterson is hopeful TCU doesn’t have to go down a similar avenue at some point this season.
“I don’t know. We’ll see when I get there. What I’m going to try and do is not test positive,” Patterson said. “That’s my answer to that question. That’s my job to stay away. I don’t sit in position meetings. The only time I’m around the team is during practice, doing the walk throughs and then practicing it. I’ve been going home, coming to work.
“If I do get something to eat with my wife we sit way separate from anybody else. Like a lot of us, we’re hoping there’s an answer so by Christmas time we can get to doing things different.”
