Frogs' new Nike duds

TCU is among a handful of schools participating this weekend in a campaign by Nike, promoting supposedly innovative uniform technology.

The Wimple likes the blood-spurt red stripes on the helmet, in homage to the horned frog's famed defense against predators.

FWST reports the players are excited about wearing the gnarly new getup. If it stokes TCU's intensity on gameday, the Wimple approves.

Knock 'em dead, Froggies.

#4 Frogs get ESPN Gameday

TCU 55, SDSU 12

Gary Patterson couldn't have been more wrong. With almost-convincing earnestness, the old ball coach said of playing SDSU, "We are going to have to fight, claw, scratch and get everything we can to try and come back with one more point."

Fight, claw, scratch, and get everything they could the Frogs did; and for their efforts, they got not just one, but 43 more points. To nitpick, SDSU converted five third downs (the same number as TCU); and Brandon Sullivan had a pretty good day against the Frogs' defense, netting 75 yards on 17 carries.

But in the beginning, middle, and end, it was all TCU, all the time. The Frogs got points to finish nine of 13 drives, and never allowed SDSU into the red zone. Dalton's favorite target du jour was Ryan Christian (pictured), who caught three passes, two for TDs. Young, Hicks, and Kerley also caught multiple passes each. LBs Daryl Washington, Tank Carder, and Tanner Brock combined for 19 tackles (14 solo).

Ahead of them, Iowa lost at home to Northwestern, and Cincinnati barely beat Connecticut in a shootout in Cincy. Oregon, the strength of Boise's schedule, lost; Clemson, BYU, Utah, and Air Force, the strength of TCU's schedule, all won. Clemson's win over Florida State likely puts the Tigers comfortably into the polls and the ACC championship game.

Now comes the highlight game of the season: the rematch grudgematch with Utah, who's sporting a very new quarterback and significantly downgraded run defense. The Wimple does not expect this game to hinge on Ross Evans's prowess at field goal kicking.

Gameday Preview: SDSU

The Frogs head to the west coast in a trip eerily similar to the ill-fated San Jose State trip in 2000, when the Frogs' long winning streak and BCS-hype came crashing to a halt in a rainy upset. The Aztecs of San Diego State hope history repeats itself today, and they have some weapons to deploy to that end.

Sophomore quarterback Ryan Lindley has been hot recently, averaging a 168.8 QB rating in the last three games. DeMarco Samson has stepped into injured WR Vincent Brown's shoes, averaging 9 catches for 130 yards in the same span.

But the Frogs are on a roll, and have not experienced a dropoff in performance on the road this season. Dalton has rated in the 170s each of his last three games; the Frogs' attack is vastly more balanced than the Aztecs'. While SDSU has made strides this season (its defense is now middling average, instead of ghastly bad) and will continue to make them next year, TCU's strides are behind them, and now the Frogs lead the pack. Look for TCU to extend its '09 winning streak to 10 games, setting up a big-time showdown next week in Fort Worth with the Utes.

TCU 37, SDSU 9

Rebutting libel: an open offer to Scott Nix

Scott Nix libeled me on KillerFrogs yesterday, in Post #10 here. To protect the Purple Wimple's good name, I will summarize Nix's false statements here, (read them in full at the link above) and paste an email exchange he and I had in December 2008 as evidence of my civility, and his lack thereof.

Yesterday Nix claimed I lied in public (presumeably on KF.C) about him, and that I sent him disrespectful personal messages. I have never done either of those things, and in saying I had, Nix himself is the liar.

I therefore offer to reprint in this post any un-altered PMs that Nix received from me, should he wish to paste them into a comment below. Because I have never been irate or rude to Mr. Nix, I do not believe that he can respond in good faith to my offer. However, it stands in perpetuity. Through an acquaintence, Nix will receive this offer personally.

The email exchange:

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 5:55 PM, [Purple Wimple] wrote:
Mr. Scott Nix, and whoever ***********@aol.com is:
Let's go through this line by line, because it's patently rediculous.
You say, "I am very tired of your smack. You are an obvious trouble maker with little else to do." Scott, if you're so tired of my smack, why did you email me and yell at me some more? Who's the one with little else to do?

You say, "You go on PM & lie about me...insinuating I'm shallow & a name caller." Scott, you have called me names. That makes you a name caller. Furthermore, you have called me names because I tried to use the word "Rivals" in a post. If that's not shallow, what is?

You say, "If the name "hack" offends you....tough." It is not the name hack which offends me. Dragging this little tiff into personal space and time by emailing me after banning me from you site does.

You say, "I offered to meet with you (in the past) to discuss the situation & you were not man enough to do so." I don't give a damn about however much of a man you think I am. A Christian man is concerned about three people's conception of his manhood: God's, his wife's, and his kids'. Show a little Christian forbearance here, and lay off the appeals to manhood. They're beneath us both.

You say, "I am a fair person." It would be fair of you to use my personal email that I gave to KillerFrogs (before you were involved, might I add) only for KillerFrogs business. But after you have cut me off of KF.C, you no longer have fair ownership of that private information. You are unfairly continuing this fight outside of KF.C.

You say, "Unfortunately you feel entitled." Entitled to what? To KF.C? Have I complained to you or to anyone about being cut off from KF.C? I did not email you, you emailed me!

You say, "Your opinion of me means nothing..." Then why in the Sam Hill did you email me? Why do you have a fan forum at all if its participants' opinions mean nothing to you? Maybe you should start a blog and disallow comments instead.

You say, "but for you to go on PM & try & smear me with lies is ridiculous." Point to one lie on PM from me. Show me the lie. Cut&Paste, man. There ain't one; I am not a liar.

You say, "Sorry this is not High School for you." I don't have any idea that what's supposed to mean. High school was long ago, and is far from me. I hope you can say the same.

You say further, "Unless you decide to totally change your act, I am asking you to not return to KFC." Scott, you're not asking anything of me. You banned me; you didn't ask permission to do so, you just did it. That's your decision.

You say, "If you come back...& there is one more sign of trouble from you....you will be banned permanently." Trouble from me? Pray tell, just what is troublesome about me? Be honest; am I causing trouble? Not a bit of it. I have asked on occasion for a clarification about this or that policy, and have gotten tirades and abuse from you at every turn. I have alluded to the existence of competition for KF.C, and gotten abuse from you. I have pointed out, subtley and with humor, when you suddenly became a fan of J/J and the service they provide. And for it you ban me. Now you email me at a personal address to which you do not have legitimate access, and continue the abuse and invective at me. Who's the troublemaker here?

You say, "I know people who know you at TCU & are surprised by your antics." I don't believe you. But if you wish to convince me, name some names. Who do you know at TCU that I do, and is surprised at my antics?

You say, "I would hope better from you." Allow me to return the sentiment.

You say, "It is only because of posters like you.....who try & stir up trouble between PM & KFC......that there are any problems." What trouble between PM and KFC have I stirred up, except that you take such delight in yelling at me, after banning me? I wasn't around for the KSU-CGP mess; I wasn't around for the Feisty-MatthewTucker rematch. I don't re-up with a new handle every week and spew garbage, which you pointedly allow others to do. It is true that I make reference to PM on KF.C, and vice versa. But other than you, who's offended?

Using the PM service on KF.C to lecture me about how I offend you is OK. BUt to use my personal email to do so is not. Please do not repeat the performance.

[Purple Wimple]

ESPN analyist favors TCU over UT

TCU attendance, Part II

In reply to the Wimple's analysis of attendance among the BCS's top 25, re-ranked by percentage of enrollment, come two counterarguments. The first: hypocrisy. If TCU wants to be treated like a Big Boy in college football, it had better fill its stadium like... like the Big Boys do.

Rebuttal: Hypocrisy? What is hypocritical about TCU saying, (loudly, one wishes), 'We out-draw Boise, Cincy, and in relation to the size of our school, every other successful program in the BCS except Notre Lame. We're not just doing the best we can, we're at the top of the heap!' Rather than hypocrisy, that would pour truth into the debate, which (as lamented regularly) would be novel indeed.

The second counterargument: if TCU wants to compare favorable with big programs, it can't rely on its small size as an excuse for low attendance.

Rebuttal: TCU isn't (or shouldn't be) arguing that it carries the same media sway, TV ratings, or fanbase as the big programs. What TCU is arguing is that the debate ought to be about the quality of the product on the field. TCU presents the best case argument that college football ought to be about... (hold on to your hats!) college football, not about TV ad revenue, rich contributors, and big fan bases bringing loads of money to a bowl city for a weekend.

But, alas; we all know that the actual games are just a footnote in the maelstrom that is college football in its macroeconomic fullness. So while ESPN lusts after Ohio State, no matter how dismal the Buckeyes actually play, fans of the game-- of the blocking and tackling happening between the whistles-- will continue to scour channel lineups for Versus, or the radio dial for KTCU. The Rose Bowl ain't letting in a genuinely good-- but small-- school this year.

C'est la vie. How's that #1 defense, Frogs? What? It's your fourth in the last decade? Who knew?

A word on TCU's (shockingly strong) attendance

The NCAA publishes attendance stats that (surprise!) flatter the big cartel schools, at the expense of the non-cartel schools. How? By ordering the stats by how well a schools sells out its stadium.

But Division 1 college football is not played in small stadiums-- even if the host school is quite small. The perfect case in point is: TCU, with an enrollment under 9,000 (a stat that invariably surprises fans unfamiliar with the Horned Frogs). So the Wimple offers here a better way to rank attendance figures: by percentage of enrollment. This ordering of attendance stats gives a much better view of those schools that have fan support outside of their boistrous (and bored) student populations.

The Wimple trusts CBSsports.com's listing of each school's enrollment, and uses the NCAA's own per-game average attendance. Taking the current BCS top 25, here are the top attendance/enrollment schools in the nation:

1. Notre Dame's average game attendance is 708% of its enrollment.
2. TCU: 392%.
3. Alabama: 319%.
4. Miami: 317%.
5. Oklahoma: 313%.
6. Oregon: 310%.
7. LSU: 295%.
8. Georgia Tech: 295%.
9. Penn State: 261%.
10. USC: 253%.
11. Iowa: 243%.
12. Virgina Tech: 237%.
13. Boone Pickens: 232%.
14. Ohio State: 208%.
15. Texas: 204%.
16. Wisconsin: 193%.
17. Pittsburgh: 187%.
18. Cal enrolls: 184%.
19. Florida: 182%.
20. Boise State: 172%.
21. Utah: 156%.
22. Arizona: 140%.
23. South Florida: 117%.
24. Cincinnati: 90%.
25. Houston: 72%.

TCU 41, UNLV 0

On the day TCU's offense racked up its highest totals in a couple years (578 yards-- the most since the beatdown of SDSU in '06), the defense again out-shone it. These guys smothered UNLV, holding them to 160 yards (40 of those came on a QB sneak-- the longest running play TCU has allowed all season). Without that long play, the Frogs allowed the Rebels only 2.7 ypc. The pass defense was even better: 1.8 ypa, for only 42 yards.

D.J.Yendrey, a true freshman, started in Cory Grant's place on the d-line. Yendrey is only the second true freshman ever to start at DT for Gary Patterson; he played next to the other ever to do so, Kelly Griffin, who started all 13 games in 2007.

Dalton and the boys on offense were efficient, but slow starting. After the obligatory first quarter fumble, they ran for over 8 ypc. and a touchdown, and hauled in 4 TD passes-- including one from Marcus Jackson to Billy Pizor; it was Pizor's first catch as a Horned Frog.

The effort was good enough to boost the Frogs to #4 in the coaches' poll, and to hold down the 6th spot in the BCS ranking. TCU remains the highest non-cartel team in the poll, by a slightly larger margin than last week (which is to say, now the Frogs have a dull-razor sharp lead over Boise, instead of a sharp-razor-sharp lead!).

Ahead comes the next conference roady; the parallels with the fateful 2000 trip to San Jose State are legion and menacing. Here's to ousting those demons.

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