TCU Football Adds Louisiana Tech as 10th Game, on Saturday, December 12

 

This Saturday, December 5, TCU plays its final Big 12 game of 2020, against Oklahoma State, in Amon G. Carter Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 am Central. ESPN will broadcast the game.

But the game will not be the last regular-season game for the Frogs.

It recently was announced that on Saturday, December 12, TCU will host Louisiana Tech in a 10th, and final, regular-season game. Kickoff will be at 6 pm Central. FS1 is scheduled to televise the game.

The game against Conference USA’s LA Tech Bulldogs replaces TCU’s scheduled September 11 season-opener against crosstown rival SMU. The Frogs had to postpone that game because of a COVID outbreak on the team.

There were ongoing discussions about TCU and SMU playing each other during the regular season, but the game never materialized. Thus, the coveted Iron Skillet remains in Dallas, as a result of SMU’s 41-38 victory over the Frogs last year in Fort Worth.

Some bowl projections have the Frogs and Mustangs playing each other, if both are selected to participate in a bowl game. One projection has the two teams meeting in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl, which will be played in Amon G. Carter Stadium at 11 am Central on December 31.

Going into its game on Thursday, December 3, with North Texas, in Denton, Texas, Louisiana Tech, which is located in Ruston, Louisiana, is 4-3 overall, 3-2 Conference USA.

Tech has beaten: Southern Miss, 31-30; Houston Baptist, 66-38; UTEP, 21-17; and UAB, 37-34 (2OTs).

Tech has lost to: BYU, 45-14; Marshall, 35-17; and UTSA, 27-26.

During this season, Tech has had games postponed or canceled with Baylor, North Texas, Rice, Louisiana Monroe, and Florida International.

Louisiana Tech is joined in Conference USA by: the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB); Florida Atlantic; Florida International; Marshall; Middle Tennessee State; University of North Carolina at Charlotte; University of North Texas; Old Dominion University; Rice University; University of Southern Mississippi; University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP); and University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).

After the Southwest Conference broke up and TCU was not invited to join the realigned Big 12, the Frogs were in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) from 1996-2000. In 2001, TCU joined Conference USA (C-USA) and remained in the conference until the school joined the Mountain West Conference (MWC) in 2005.

TCU's football team shared the 2002 Conference USA title with the University of Cincinnati. Both teams had a conference record of 6-2. 

TCU and Louisiana Tech have played once, in the 2011 Poinsettia Bowl, in San Diego, California. The Frogs defeated the Bulldogs, 31-24, as TCU quarterback Casey Pachall threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Skye Dawson with 4:26 left in the game.

The TCU-La Tech kickoff time on the 12th will not interfere with the TCU men's basketball game against Texas A&M, which is scheduled to tip off at 1 pm in Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on that Saturday.