Texas ex admits adding TCU blew up on UT: ‘We’ve been getting our (bleep) whopped by TCU’

When DeLoss Dodds invited TCU into his conference, he could not envision that his purple clad guests would become the supreme ruler over all things burnt orange.

The former Texas athletic director did so many good things for his beloved alma mater, but approving TCU into the Big 12 was his biggest mistake.

No one made more decisions that affected so many neighborhoods with as little disregard to any house but his own like DD. The Big 12 could not make any move without DD’s approval, and the inclusion of TCU into the conference has worked for the league, and been a disaster for UT.

“Nobody saw this coming. It blew up in his face. Same as the The Longhorn Network,” said former University of Texas defensive back Rod Babers, who now is a sports talk show host in Austin. “We thought we would dominate TCU and we’d only have to worry about Oklahoma; we’ve been getting our (bleep) whopped by TCU.

“DeLoss was a visionary, and not every vision is going to work out. We thought LHN was going to transform college sports, and it’s not even that damn good. It was the reason the conference split up and the conference lost value.”

And it is also how TCU, indirectly, was invited to join the league.

As it stands now, a rivalry born in the Southwest Conference and existed in name only for decades stands that way again, the difference being little “cockroaches” stomp big Bevo so often we are numb to the results.

TCU is a three-point favorite for Saturday’s game in Austin, which for UT these days in this series is a major win.

“If Texas can play TCU down to the wire, and I know it sounds like Aggie logic, but that will be a great sign for the team,” Babers said. “That’s where they are as a program. For a fan base that used to complain about going 10-3, the standard now is eight or nine wins and showing some improvement.”

The numbers accumulated in this Big 12 series since TCU joined the Big 12 in 2012 demonstrate the Horned Frogs have effectively castrated Bevo.

* TCU has defeated Texas the last four years and is 5-1 against the Longhorns since beginning Big 12 play in 2012, including a 3-0 record in Austin.

* Only once in this series has UT been ranked; the Horns were 18th when TCU won in Austin, 20-13, in 2012.

* In TCU’s five Big 12 wins against UT it has scored 22 touchdowns, and allowed four.

Other than Texas’ 30-7 win over TCU in Fort Worth in 2013, there is not a single statistic of note in this series that makes UT look good.

“(TCU coach) Gary Patterson has out-coached all of them; he’s out-coached (former UT coaches) Mack Brown, Charlie Strong and he did it to Tom Herman last year,” Babers said. “To me, this is more symbolic of where things are in the state of Texas. I don’t know if there is a better program in Texas better than TCU, and that includes Texas A&M.

“When I played, Mack ruled Texas with an iron fist. He used to always say, ‘We have to win the state title.’ I thought it was cheesy, and he’d give us a patch with the state of Texas on it. He knew it was relevant because if you won the state title, it would mean that you were relevant for a national title.”

The last time UT finished a season ranked in top 10 was 2009.

Even the two times TCU finished with losing overall records as a Big 12 member, it still defeated Texas once.

“Growing up in Dallas, TCU was just becoming a powerhouse in the Mountain West; I never thought when it came into the Big 12 it would have the impact like this so fast,” said former UT defensive end Bryce Cottrell, who played at UT from 2012 to ‘16.

(BTW: Cottrell is an absolute success story; his father, Comer, was a part owner of the Rangers with George W. Bush. Bryce is now the founder of Noble Wolf Vodka, which is the first of its kind to be distilled entirely from grapefruits).

“It was their speed,” he said. “We didn’t realize how fast TCU was.”

This is where we are in the great state of Texas: at least on the field, TCU is Texas and Texas is TCU.

If Texas should defeat TCU on Saturday at DKR, it will be a major upset.

DeLoss did a lot of good things for Texas, but adding TCU to Bevo’s schedule is about as effective as ESPN’s decision to create The Longhorn Network.

This story was originally published September 20, 2018 at 6:45 AM.