Purple People Seaters Update

Thanks to all of those who contributed today in Spitblood's efforts to help out underprivileged youth and also get people in the stands for the remaining home games. We had an amazing day, and I can't thank you enough for your generosity. I will update everyone tomorrow morning on our progress towards our goal of $5,000 raised before the end of the season.

See the original post here if you are unfamiliar with the Purple People Seaters program.

You can make a donation by clicking on the donate button on the right sidebar.

Lets keep the momentum going!

Top 10 Preview: Week 9

You rooted for this guy?

The above picture is of Boise State "legend" Jared Zabransky on his wedding day. Let's count the mistakes, shall we?

• douchebag white suit? check!
• douchebag stud earring? check!
• douchebag goatee? check!
• douchebag sneaky sideburns? check!
• douchebag Backstreet Boy haircut? check!
• wife that he only conquered because he plays professional football? well, don't they all have one of those?

The point here being, if you were a Boise fan, would you worship a guy who looked like this? YES! BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT ALL OF THEIR FANS LOOK LIKE! Just a friendly reminder from your friends at SpitBloodTCU that you should hate hate HATE Boise with all your might.

And now, the preview..

It seems strange to say it, but this is the most excited I’ve been for a TCU game ever in my life. Now, truth be told, I’m going to say this every single weekend until the end of the season, but when you cheer for the 6^th ranked team in the country and don’t get fired up week in and week out, then you probably don’t have a pulse or are a USC fan or something. Anyway, not a great slate of games in the top 10 this weekend, but there are still a couple of possible upsets, although one of them you probably don’t want. Let’s have a looksie.

#1 Florida vs. Georgia. In what was once deemed the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, this version of the World’s Largest Outdoor Soda Party doesn’t hold the luster that it would in a normal year. Tim Tebow is more banged up than anyone cares to admit, Georgia can’t play defense, and Georgia QB Joe Cox can’t win games in the sunlight. This is typically a hard fought game, but Florida has owned it in recent years. The only way we’re getting an upset out of this one is if Andy teaches Joe how to eschew his Ginger tendencies, give a big middle finger to UV rays, and steal one in Jacksonville. Probably not going to happen.

#2 Alabama. Idle.

#3 Texas at #14 Oklahoma State. Upset alert! Upset alert! Dammit! For those of you familiar with the annual Cowboys/Longhorns matchup… well, let’s just say there isn’t a whole lot of roping or nut chopping going on, as the bovines typically have their revenge against the man. In fact, in all the times they’ve played, only twice has Oklahoma State won, and not once since 1997. For whatever reason, in recent years Texas has let the Pokes have their fun in the first half before doomhammering them in the second half and I figure this one will arrive at the same conclusion one way or another. It’s unfortunate, but UTs defense is just too strong for the Okies to put up enough points to outduel even Colt McCoy.

#4 Iowa vs. Indiana. Pretty much a placeholder game for the Hawkeyes until the November 14^th showdown at Ohio State where a win will pretty much solidify a Big Televen Championship and perhaps a National Championship berth. It won’t be easy as Iowa is down to their third string RB for this one, but Indiana just lost to Northwestern after holding a 28-3 lead… so pretty sure that qualifies as one of those “season crushing” losses. Iowa can’t score many points, but fortunately they don’t give up many either, ranking 8^th in the country in scoring defense. Indiana’s season can be calculated with the following formula: Defense that gives up lots of points + Offense that doesn’t score many points = 1-3 conference record… and a big loss in Iowa City.

#5 USC at #10 Oregon. That sound you hear? It’s Boise State snatching up all the green and yellow garb available in the greater Boise area. Although both of these teams have outside national title hopes, this game is infinitely more important to the Boise faithful as their entire season rests on the win against Oregon on opening night. USC has looked very shaky in recent weeks on defense, especially against teams that can pass. Oregon can’t pass, but they have the 13^th ranked rushing attack in the country. USC? The 4^th best run defense. Regardless of this fact, Oregon has the 13^th highest scoring offense in the country vs. USC at 31. Oregon leads the Pac 10 in takeaways – Matt Barkley has thrown 5 INTs on the year, including one in each of his last 3 games. Really, I could keep looking at stats, but I’d never come to anything conclusive. Oregon has a great offense and a fair defense, although it has really come together the last few games. USC has a great defense and a good offense, but the defense has fallen off the past couple of games. This should be a really, really exciting game to watch and it’s a bummer it runs counter to UT/OSU because there’s no way any bar is going to give preference to the west coast-which, in a regular week, they definitely should not.

The biggest debate about this game, from a Frogs perspective, is who do we pull for? On one hand, if Oregon beats USC, it likely moves us up a spot in the rankings, although there is an outside chance that Oregon moves up considerably for beating a top 5 team. On the other hand, a USC win severely damages Boise’s strength of schedule and likely removes them from the BCS picture as long as we take care of our business. The negative outcome of this is that USC probably wouldn’t lose another game on the season as they already have their requisite “what the F?” loss on the year, and the rest of their games fall into that category. Still, with the likelihood that Boise would jump us in the rankings with an SOS boosting Oregon win, I think we have to go against everything we believe in and pull for the Trojans. I don’t want those blue turfed bastards hanging around any longer than necessary.

Speaking of…

#7 Boise State vs. San Jose State. San Jose State ruined a perfect TCU season once before… think they could repay the favor? Probably not – this team is 1-5 and nearly dead last in the major offensive categories. However, their defense is surprisingly passable, as they give up only 21 points a contest. Too bad that’s 5 less than what they average on offense. This game shouldn’t be much of a contest, but it also hurts Boise's SOS, so it’ll basically be like the win never really happened.

#8 Cincinnati at Syracuse. Tony Pike will possibly be healthy enough to return for this game, but why risk it? Duke boy may no longer be under center, but Syracuse is still a pretty dismal football team. I think the general rule of thumb here is that if a team is in bad enough shape at the QB position to allow a former basketball player who hasn’t played football since high school to start, they're probably not going to score enough points to beat the 2^nd ranked scoring offense in the country. Cincy may be playing with a backup, but said backup is quite capable and has led the team to two straight wins while tossing five TDs. Cincy also boasts a pretty stout defense to counter the 90^th ranked offense of the ‘Cuse. That big ole Orange bastard they try and pass off as a mascot won’t be smiling too long this weekend. Interesting trivia: The Syracuse stadium is called the “Carrier Dome.” Carrier is a brand of air conditioner. The carrier dome does not have air conditioning. The more you know.

#9 LSU vs Tulane. On ESPN, the average pick has 98% going to the Tigers vs 1% for the Wave, with a 1% margin of error. LSU has beaten Tulane 18 times in a row, but with the Tigers opting out of this yearly rivalry soon, could Tulane rise to the occasion and knock off their in-state rival to hold eternal bragging rights? Nah. LSU has toyed with lesser teams all year, but this one shouldn’t be close.

This is one of those Saturday’s when you’re glad to play a day game at home, because there’s not much of interest to watch until the night cap. It’d be a beautiful thing to see UT’s national title and Boise’s BCS hopes and dreams die simultaneously, but I’m not counting on it. In all honesty, I’d rather see Boise crumble. Viva la Frog

The man to shut down: Ryan Wolfe

There's no way in hell a 3-5 UNLV team with the 110th-ranked defense in the country is going to come into Fort Worth and beat the 7-0, #6 in the country Horned Frogs, right? I would tend to agree with that assessment myself, but keep in mind that late October and November is when crazy, unexplainable shit happens in college football. UNLV beating this Frogs team would not be the craziest thing that has ever happened.

Their blueprint for pulling off such an upset may come from the desperation of Coach Mike Sanford, who is looking like he'll be out of a job come December. You might remember that Sanford was the Coordinator behind the 2004 Utah team's pretty much unstoppable offense, so despite his struggles in Vegas he does probably have a few tricks up his sleeve.

Those tricks would likely involve the Rebels' best player, wide receiver Ryan Wolfe. Wolfe has twice been named 1st Team All-MWC and was the conference's Freshman of the Year in 2006. He's the NCAA's active leader in both receptions and receiving yards, and is the MWC's All-Time leader in receptions. They've also been known to use him on reverses at times. Wolfe is just part of a passing offense that ranks 27th in the nation, also featuring the dangerous (but inconsistent) dual-threat QB Omar Clayton and Wolfe's fellow WR Phillip Payne.

Now, I'm not saying that the Rebels are going to come in to Amon G. Carter and ruin TCU's season...but they definitely have the potential to if the Frogs don't take them just as seriously as they would Clemson, BYU or Utah. And the key to killing any chance the Rebels have is to shut down #88. The Frogs can't afford to overlook anyone at this point- one game at a time!

Schultz: One & Done in Illinois?

I know Bucknasty will get a kick out of this, along with all the other adamant Schultz-haters out there. According to Tom Dienhart with Rivals, Schultz' days as OC at Illinois are likely numbered. Of course, after the whole "Patterson to K-State" debacle last year, I generally take anything that Rivals has to say with a grain of salt.

Jerry Hughes or Andy Dalton for Heisman?

Eddie George says if any defensive player is going to be considered it should be Hughes. Rivals TV then shows a picture of Wayne Daniels making a tackle against CSU. Daniels is having a great year, but if you're going to talk about Hughes at least get the picture right.

Have to give George some credit though because he goes on to say of QB's being considered people should look at Andy Dalton. They get his picture right.

PATTERSON INTERVIEW ON UNLV GAME

Patterson wont lobby... what a f***ing badass. He just says what happens on the field should speak for itself.

http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=tcu&media=147249

Purple People Seaters

In light of Gary Patterson's request for better home attendance, the great people at Spitblood have put the wheels in motion on several different fronts to help this cause. What better way to help out than with a donation to the Purple People Seaters? Just $25 lets an underprivileged youth enjoy a Horned Frog game. (It also buys them a purple Frogs T-Shirt, a hot dog, and a coke)

I have set up a paypal link on the sidebar to donate directly from Spitblood. There is no minimum or maximum limit to your contribution. I want to set a goal for the Spitblood faithful to accumulate $5,000 overall by season's end. That would enable us to send 200 kids to a game, and probably give them one of the best days of their year. Let's all do our part to make it happen.

Here is a shortened link to this post, http://bit.ly/2VgwiG , wmail it to your TCU friends and family who may not read our blog (i.e. girls, parents, etc.)

I will give an update each week to let everyone know of our progress. Thanks in advance for your contribution!

If you have any questions please email me at thefinch@spitbloodtcu.com

Hawthorne to start against the Cowboys Sunday

Former Frogs soul-eater and Corsicana-native David Hawthorne will be making his second career NFL start for the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday when they face the Cowboys at The Death Star. This presents a bit of a conflict of interest for you fellow-Cowboy fans out there. WWHD and I experienced this first-hand last year when we attended the Cowboys-Bengals game at Texas Stadium. Sure, we wanted the Cowboys to win, but we were also hoping that Gator might be sent on a safety blitz to knock some sense into Romo. The other, completely unrelated highlight of that day was hearing two Cowboys fans, no more than 7 years old, taunt the Bengals fans by chanting "Ocho Cinco's OH and CINCO", because the Cowboys' win pushed Cincinnati to 0-5.

Morning Dump

Patterson asks TCU fans to come out ad do their part Star-Telegram

Patterson holds weekly presser GoFrogs.com

TCU football coach won't lobby for his team Coloradoan

UNLV tries again to crack TCU's formidable defense Reno Review-Journal

Around the MWC USA Today

Ranking the seven undefeated teams MSNBC

GP says, "GET YOUR ASS IN THE STADIUM!!"

Do you really want to disobey this man?

To this point, it seems like it's mostly been guys like us who have been urging fans to go into the stadium for football games - a cause heavily championed by our own lyle lanley. We all know how pathetic it is and we all say how much we want to fill the stadium, but the truth is, even some of those who bitch and moan about it can be seen remaining in the parking lot during the second half. I personally have shut my tailgate down before kickoff of each game which has pretty much only had the effect of people putting their beer in other coolers because they know I'm not going to make any exceptions. I HATE H made a valiant effort last gameday when the end of the UT/OU game conflicted with the beginning of our game and he simply turned off his TV, closed his tailgate and gave a big slap in the face to all of our fans who would rather watch a game between two schools that they have no connection to than their own. I've never seen H so happy and pleased with himself, and I hope he can relive a similar moment during every single home game. Not to mention it was the most boring football game of all time and, needless to say, we could beat both of those teams, but that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, we've bitched and moaned and whined and begged and pleaded with everyone enough to realize that it doesn't really matter what we say, but maybe this will help you along - the team has noticed. GP has noticed. Read the article. The bottom line is, it's great to play all of these high profile games against major schools on the road, but it has become somewhat of a double edged sword because it gives our guys a chance to what it's like to play in front of a packed house every single Saturday, no matter if your team is 4-3 or 7-0. It goes without saying that teams feed off of the energy of the crowd, and we're pretty fortunate that our team is motivated enough to find their own energy. Last week is a prime example - we absolutely DOMINATED BYU, but you know what? For the most part, their fans stayed and never gave up hope. They heartily applauded first downs late in the game when the score was 38-7. Sure, a handful headed for the exits before the final gun, but I'd say at least 75% were still in the stadium when our team was heading for the tunnel. If they can get 75% of the people to stick around for a blowout loss, there's no excuse why we can't do the same in a win.

It would be wonderful for us to pack our sections on the road and at home - and, I'll be frank, last weekend was one of the most fun weekends I've ever had, and if you can get to an away game, I highly HIGHLY urge you to do so - but we've got to be realistic here and start at home. Right now the 6th ranked team in the country has an expected crowd of 35,000 for their weekend game - a mid-afternoon homecoming game with beautiful weather, no less. I urge you all to be there for these guys because they're out there every single week giving it their all, and the least we can do is be there to cheer them on. Admittedly, I've only been a TCU fan during the good years starting in 2002, so I don't know what it was like way back when, but even with all of the great teams that have come through in my seven full seasons, I have no doubt that this one is 'The One." They are undoubtedly the most talented and balanced. They can win close, sloppy games and wide open, blow out games. If you're a TCU fan with half a brain - you Dalton haters do not qualify - you see the same things I do and should realize that if you're not on board for these guys, then you're missing something really special. We make fun of UT T shirt fans all of the time, but I'm not sure that's any worse than being a TCU Tailgate fan. There will almost certainly be BCS reps at the game Saturday and attendance is arguably a more important factor for them than the ranking of the team. No one - the team, the media, the pollsters - expect us to sell out this game. Buy a cheap ticket, use your old student ID - heck, you can have mine! Section X has been admittedly solid this year, but we need the entire stadium to be one big section X. Let's prove the doubters wrong. Go Frogs!

"Hitler calls BYU after TCU loss!!!"

I think everyone has seen this video in the past, but now it stars TCU.



Maybe one day someone can teach me how to put the youtube videos directly on the website.

See yall Saturday.