TCU Round Up: 9/30/2010

TCU AD Chris Del Conte issued this statement through the TCU sports information office regarding the Big East rumors.  Del Conte is currently in New York with Craig Thompson, but why?

"TCU is a proud member of the Mountain West Conference," Del Conte said in the statement. "During this period of an ever-changing landscape in collegiate athletics, there has been speculation on future conference affiliation for TCU. Our policy has always been and will remain to not respond to rumors. As part of serving our student-athletes and coaches, we can assure everyone that our No. 1 priority is to always protect TCU's best interests."

The exact nature of Del Conte's meeting with Thompson and why it's in New York is unknown.

Frog fans can have their picture taken with the ever elusive crystal ball this Friday in Fort Worth.

The AFCA Coaches' National Championship trophy will be at the TCU Kroger at the corner of University Dr. and Berry St. this Friday (10/1) from 1 - 3 p.m.

Move over Bevo, TCU is going to have live mascots on campus too.

Permits from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department are the only thing standing between the university and two live mascots next semester, a student said.  Senior political science major Preston Patry said he has tried to get live horned frogs on campus since his freshman year.  Last spring, he helped pass a resolution in the House of Student Representatives to gain support for the initiative. Then, in last Tuesday's Student Government Association meeting, the House passed a bill providing $20,000 to make it happen, Patry said.

Patterson held his weekly presser, excerpts can be found after the jump.

On beginning conference play ...
"We're done with non-conference. We talked about making sure we could color in the bottom of our pyramid. We've been able to do that without a blemish. Now, the real season starts with our conference schedule. What you play for is to be the conference champion, and it starts in Fort Collins."

On Colorado State ...
"(Head Coach) Steve Fairchild has done an unbelievable job. They have some young players, especially on offense, but every week they've gotten better. Defensively, they play hard. (Defensive Coordinator) Larry Kerr's defenses always play hard. This will be their conference opener. They have good players on both sides of the football."

On playing in Colorado ...
"Anytime we've gone to Colorado, whether it be to Air Force or Colorado State, in that first conference game, it's always been a battle. I don't think it will be much different this week."

On if his team struggled to find a rhythm against SMU ...
"I think it was just the emotion of playing two back-to-back games in the state of Texas. Very rarely do I ever talk to my team before a ball game on the field. I stopped them in the middle of the field, and I told them they needed to get ready to go because they weren't ready."

On where TCU has come as a program since 2005 ...
"In 2005, we had the same kind of emotion against SMU and got beat. Being a better program now in 2010 rather than just being a good football team, we end up winning and we're 4-0. We found a way with really everything against us."

On the differences in playing on the road in the conference season ...
"The tough thing is everybody has a chance to win the conference. The difference is when you go on the road, especially for us Saturday, we're not going to have many people there. If Colorado State plays Wyoming, half the crowd is for one and half the crowd is for the other. You've got to take your own emotion. You have to get ready to play. You need to understand what the game is about and go do it."

On leaving the DFW Metroplex for the first time this season ...
"I talked about it before the season that you're not going to have your own people there to give you emotion. You're going to have to be able to carry your own emotion. We'll find out Saturday. If you want to win championships, whether it's at TCU or anywhere, you've got to be able to go take ballgames, especially when you go to someone else's house."

On the difficulties of playing on the road in the MWC ...
"Every road game we have will be tough for different reasons. You have to play UNLV at 10 p.m. our time. We have not won at Utah. Colorado State is the first conference game, and they have kids that play hard, are very talented and want to be successful. We then have to play New Mexico over Thanksgiving. Every ballgame has its own situation as to why that game is tough. If you can win all those ballgames, plus win at home, you deserve to be the champion. If you don't, then you won't."

On teams staying motivated throughout the season ...
"Teams only play `X' amount of games at the highest level. You then have to get through the other levels. Fortunately, for us against SMU, we came back and for two quarters played at a pretty high level. Hopefully, that means this week we'll come back and play a very high-level game on the road against a Colorado State team that is talented and plays very hard."