Hello Celebritys

TCU AD Chris Del Conte released another edition of Notes on a Scorecard today and it seems there is always a nugget of new information being passed along. This one doesn’t disappoint.

GoFrogs.com

Our Friday, Oct. 28 game with BYU at Cowboys Stadium will be part of our season-ticket package. Club seats will be $65 with regular seats at $45. The student ticket price is $25. When single-game seats are made available Aug. 1, the club seat price will be $75 with regular seats $55. Be sure to order additional BYU tickets with your season-ticket renewal. Club seat prices are half the cost of last year's Oregon State game at Cowboys Stadium.

I am glad TCU is doing this. From what I have been told, TCU had this option for last season’s game against Oregon State but declined. I am also happy to see the ticket prices go down. I paid more for my ticket to the Oregon State game than I did for the Fiesta or Rose Bowl, that shouldn’t happen. Hopefully these prices make it easier for families and casual fans to make it out to the game.

Here is a quick update on the TCU-BYU game at Cowboys Stadium. The game was originally scheduled to air on ESPN2, but according to Stephen Stevenson of the Star-Telegram, that game has now been moved to ESPN.

From TCU Media Relations: A Sept. 3 season opener at Baylor and a Friday, Oct. 28, contest with BYU at Cowboys Stadium on ESPN2 highlights TCU's 2011 non-conference football schedule.

Following an open date Sept. 10, the Rose Bowl-champion Horned Frogs will have three consecutive home games at Amon G. Carter Stadium, currently undergoing a $105 million renovation.

TCU's 2011 home debut will be Sept. 17 versus Louisiana-Monroe. The Horned Frogs will then face Portland State (Sept. 24) and SMU (Oct. 1).

For the second straight year, TCU will play at Cowboys Stadium in nearby Arlington. After defeating Oregon State 30-21 in last year's season opener, the Horned Frogs will face former Mountain West Conference rival BYU on Friday, Oct. 28.

"We're very excited about our non-conference schedule, especially with being able to maintain some old and new rivalries for us," TCU football coach Gary Patterson said. "Between our home schedule and being able to play BYU at Cowboys Stadium, we're pleased that our fans will have seven opportunities to see us in the Metroplex."

TCU is in its final season in the MWC before joining the Big East Conference in 2012.

The dates of the Horned Frogs' MWC contests will be announced by the league office this spring. TCU will host Colorado State, New Mexico and UNLV while traveling to Air Force, Boise State, San Diego State and Wyoming.

TCU won 45-10 over Baylor last season to take a 50-49-7 lead in the all-time series between the ex-Southwest Conference members. TCU has faced Baylormore than any other opponent in its history.

In the battle for the Iron Skillet, the Horned Frogs have defeated SMU in 10 of their last 11 meetings. TCU won 41-24 in Dallas last season.

TCU has won its last three games with BYU, including 31-3 last season in Fort Worth. The Horned Frogs were 4-2 against the Cougars in their six years of MWC competition.

TCU will be facing Louisiana-Monroe and Portland State for the first time.

The Horned Frogs return 11 starters from last year's Rose Bowl championship squad that posted a 13-0 record and No. 2 final ranking in season-ending polls by the Associated Press and USA Today.

2011 TCU Non-Conference Football Schedule

Sept. 3 - at Baylor
Sept. 17 - vs. Louisiana-Monroe
Sept. 24 - vs. Portland State
Oct. 1 - vs. SMU
Oct. 28 - vs. BYU*, 7 p.m.

*Cowboys Stadium; Arlington, Texas- All other kickoff times will be announced later this spring

Super Bowl week in North Texas has come and gone and hopefully everything returns to normal, including the weather. The week was an eventful one, but for all the wrong reasons. The worst possible scenario played out right before our eyes, which is why Super Bowl XLV in North Texas gets a D.

Let’s start with the weather. Now I know that wasn’t in anyone’s control, but the weather was terrible. It could have been worse, but not by much. The fact that it iced is what made it so bad. I can handle cold, rain, and even some snow, but ice? I can’t deal with ice. Add in that the road crews use sand instead of salt, and it made for a disaster. Thankfully Saturday and Sunday were a little better, but the stadium did the fans no favors.

Which leads us the seating fiasco…1,250 fans did not have their assigned seat when they entered the stadium. The NFL had issues with the temporary seating areas and was not able to use the seats. They were able to find seats for about 850 of the 1,250, but 400 were left without a place to sit. Those fans got reimbursed with money, tickets to next year’s Super Bowl in Indianapolis, and other memorabilia, but in my opinion, that doesn’t make up for the inconvenience. I am interested to see if any lawsuits come about because of this situation.

Once you got inside the stadium (after standing in massive security lines) you got to enjoy a terrible national anthem and mediocre half time show. I had always thought Christina Aguilera had a nice voice until I heard her sing the Star-Spangled Banner. Not only was it bad, she messed it up.

Then you had the Black Eyed Peas for half time…I will give them that the production and choreography was well done, but I can’t get into their music. I still think they could have got someone better. And what is up with Usher being involved? Did they really need him?

The only thing that saved this week was the game itself, which is what it should be about. The Packers and Steelers played a pretty good game, and it was hard not be entertained. The commercials were fairly weak though.

On a positive note, major props to the city of Ft. Worth. They were the home of the Steelers and ESPN for the week, and the city looked great. As I said it would be, Sundance Square was the place to be, and it was popping a lot more than Dallas due to everything being within walking distance. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen said Sundance Square is one of the best setups ESPN has ever had for the Super Bowl. I had never seen that area as crowded as it was on Saturday. Sundance Square was packed with people!

Hopefully the Super Bowl comes back, and I think it will. Jerry Jones has too much pull with the NFL and the weather was somewhat of a fluke. Everyone should learn from this experience to make the next go around that much better.

If you plan on being in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area on Saturday, be advised because the traffic will most likely be terrible. If my attendance predictions are correct, there could be around 250,000 people attending sporting events in the Metroplex on Saturday. Check out the schedule...

- 11:00 AM- Texas Tech vs. Baylor at the Cotton Bowl

- 2:30 PM- TCU vs. Wyoming at Amon Carter Stadium

- 2:30 PM- Arkansas vs. Texas A&M at Cowboys Stadium

- 4:05 PM- Rangers vs. Rays at The Ballpark in Arlington

- 6:00 PM- UNT vs. Arkansas State at Fouts Field

- 7:00 PM- SMU vs. Tulsa at Ford Stadium

There has already been complaining out of Oregon State about the roof being open at Cowboys Stadium last Saturday. Beaver fans and media were saying it was Gary Patterson’s idea, when in all actuality, he had nothing to do with that decision. Now, this little bit of information came out…

From OregonLive.com

Media were informed this week that there's a new video policy at Oregon State that requires us to NOT shoot any sort of player interaction. This comes after Mike Riley says the Beavers "got burned a little bit" when video footage of fall camp leaked to TCU.

Really coach? I would like to know what he thinks TCU saw, and how he knows TCU saw the video. I would also like to tell Mike Riley that he should have handled this like any other University. Either don’t allow media to watch practice, or only allow them to video the first ten minutes where the teams is basically just stretching and warming up.

It is sad to see excuses from a good coach like Mike Riley.

TCU took care of business Saturday night against Oregon State 30-21 to improve to 1-0 on the year. First things first, I would like to point out that I was only one point off from my prediction of 31-20. Now we can resume. With this win TCU improved to 14-3 in its last 17 games versus teams from BCS automatic-qualifying conferences and Gary Patterson improved his record to 4-0 against Pac-10 teams.

- Andy Dalton recorded his 30th victory as TCU’s starting quarterback, breaking Slingin’ Sammy Baugh’s school record of 29 from 1934-36. Dalton looked good on all but two plays and those were the ones he threw interceptions. He finished with 175 yard passing, 64 yards rushing, and 3 total touchdowns.

- I am glad TCU came out with the intentions of pounding the ball on the ground. Ed Wesley was great, rushing for 134 yards and a touchdown. You could see that the Oregon State defense was wearing down in the third and fourth quarter.

- The defense was ok, but not great. They got the job done. You can add Jacquizz Rodgers to the list of “elite running backs” that were supposed to shred the TCU defense but didn’t.

- Jeremy Kerley tied a career high with six receptions, and had a couple decent punt returns, one almost going to the house. Out of all the WR’s, I was most impressed with Skye Dawson. I like that TCU is involving him in the offense more.

- TCU should have won by more than they did, the turnovers hurt them tremendously. The Frogs dominated in first downs, rushing yards, total yards, and time of possession.

- If I see another fake punt executed to perfection against the Frogs one more time, I might pull my hair out. I think everyone that watched the Fiesta Bowl saw that one coming.

- The new Nike Pro Combat Uniforms looked amazing. I might like them better than last seasons, I am not sure yet.

Bring on Tennessee Tech, the Carter should be rocking next Saturday. Go Frogs!!