Second game in six days comes as challenge for Frog football team
The game against Northwestern would not be as important had the Frogs not lost to Cincinnati Monday.
By Danny Gillham
Sports Editor

For quite some time, the Frogs knew that playing two games in six days was going to be a part of this year’s schedule.

Whether they liked it or not, the first week of September would pose a tremendous challenge for the team.
It’s also a challenge that is unfamiliar territory for TCU.

Head coach Gary Patterson said the severity of the challenge won’t be truly found out until the end of Saturday’s game.

“Having never done it before, I’m going to find out,” Patterson said. “It’s new territory, and I don’t know if there is a lot of people that have.”

Unlike basketball or baseball, which plays numerous games in a week, football is a more physical sport, and the team would rather have a few extra days to get ready.

“I wish we had a few more days for preparation and definitely some extra hours to get the soreness out,” senior safety Kenneth Hillard said.

The situation probably would not be as critical, if it wasn’t for the result of Monday’s game with Cincinnati.

Blowing a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter, the Frogs lost in overtime to the Bearcats, 36-29.

With only a five day turnaround, the Frogs don’t have a chance to sulk, and playing the game so fast may benefit the psyche of the team.

“Any time you play a game and it’s a heart breaker like Monday, you don’t want to sit around and think about it,” senior defensive tackle John Turntine said. “You kind of want to get back in there, and know that Saturday, you can redeem yourself.”

The team is aware that the challenge at hand isn’t a common one, but senior Joey Biasatti said TCU faces tough tasks before the season even starts.

“Two-a-days is such a rough experience,” Biasatti said. “There is nothing harder than two weeks of two-a-days. To play two games back-to-back is difficult, but we have been through harder times.”

As far as from a football standpoint, gameplanning also becomes difficult. The Frogs tried to combat this by preparing for Northwestern for two weeks in the summer.

Also, the team expects the Wildcats to have a much similar gameplan than Cincinnati.

“The good thing (about this game) is they generally do the same things that Cincinnati does,” senior quarterback Sean Stilley said. “So we won’t have to change very much”