College Confidential

TCU will be without Winkler this week at MWC tournament

Just when TCU thought its pitching staff was completely healthy for the first time in more than a month, another setback has hindered the Horned Frogs.
TCU's most dominant and reliable pitcher this season, Kyle Winkler, will not pitch this week at the Mountain West Conference tournament to rest his arm due to some tenderness. TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said Winkler is not injured, and would have likely pitched if the NCAA Regional tournament started this week. Winkler (8-2) pitched at New Mexico last Thursday, holding the Lobos to three hits and no runs in 4 2/3 innings out of the bullpen. Winkler skipped his previous start to rest his arm. Winkler leads the team with a 1.40 ERA in 90 innings pitched this season.
Top-seeded TCU (40-15) opens the MWC tournament at 9 p.m. Wednesday at Tony Gwynn Stadium against the lowest-seeded team to advance from Tuesday's first round. Matt Purke (5-1) will start for the second time since developing shoulder soreness April 16 at San Diego State. Purke had four strikeouts in three innings last Thursday against New Mexico before Winkler took over on the mound. The 10th-ranked Frogs' usual Game 3 starter Steven Maxwell (5-0) has not pitched since developing biceps soreness April 24. He threw batting practice Monday, but his availability for the MWC tournament is questionable. Andrew Mitchell (4-1) is slated to start Thursday and Erik Miller (6-6) will likely start Friday.
-- Stefan Stevenson 

 

TCU offense explodes for 25 runs at New Mexico

TCU uncorked a scoring barrage Friday to win a slugfest at New Mexico 25-16.
The Horned Frogs (39-15, 19-3 in Mountain West) close out the regular season at 1 p.m. Saturday against the Lobos. The Mountain West Conference tournament begins Tuesday at San Diego State. The top-seeded Frogs play the lowest-seeded team to advance at 9 p.m. Wednesday.
Tenth-ranked TCU had a season-high 26 hits, including six from Jantzen Witte, four from Jason Coats, and three from Joe Weik and Taylor Featherston Friday. Only four of the 26 hits went for extra-bases, including home runs off the bench from Aaron Schultz and Zac Jordan. TCU scored 26 runs in a game at New Mexico on May 9, 2010.
TCU scored five in the first, three each in the second and third innings and scored in every inning but the seventh. The Frogs scored four runs in the eighth and finished with a run in the ninth on Schultz's solo shot. It was the first time Schultz has played since injuring a hamstring May 8 at Oklahoma State.
The Lobos (16-38, 10-13) collected 21 hits and scored seven runs off Frogs' starter Andrew Mitchell, who pitched only 3 2/3 innings. Trent Appleby (4-1) allowed three runs in the 4 1/3 innings of relief to earn the win, and Teddy Nowell allowed two runs on three hits in the ninth. Five TCU errors led to four unearned runs for New Mexico.
The two teams combined for 41 runs, 47 hits and eight errors.
-- Stefan Stevenson

TCU 2011 schedule details released

The Mountain West Conference released game times and television broadcast information for the 2011 season Thursday. A start time for TCU's opener at Baylor Sept. 3 is still to be determined, as is which television network will broadcast the game. The start time for the Week 2 showdown at Air Force is still unsettled, but the MWC says it will be at either 2:30 or 6:30 and shown on the Versus Network. The rest of the Horned Frogs' schedule details are known, which include at least four night games. The Frogs will host SMU at 7 p.m. Sept. 30, which is a Friday. The game was originally scheduled for Oct. 1. The Frogs beat SMU in University Park on a Friday in 2010. The following week TCU plays at San Diego State at 9:30 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
The Frogs potentially caught a break with two day games in consecutive weeks at Wyoming and Boise State Nov. 5 and 12. Those games start at 1 and 2:30 p.m., respectively. TCU concludes the season with a 1:30 p.m. meeting with UNLV Dec. 3 at Amon G. Carter Stadium.

2011 TCU football schedule

Date	Opponent	Time (CST)	TV
Sept. 3	at Baylor	TBD	TBD
Sept. 10	at Air Force	2:30 or 6:30	VS.
Sept. 17	Louisiana-Monroe	1 p.m.	The Mtn.
Sept. 24	Portland State	6 p.m.	None
Sept. 30	SMU	7 p.m.	CBS Sports Network
Oct. 8	at San Diego State	9:30 p.m.	CBS Sports Network
Oct. 15	Bye
Oct. 22	New Mexico	1 p.m.	The Mtn.
Oct. 28	BYU (at Cowboys Stadium)	7 p.m.	ESPN
Nov. 5	at Wyoming	1 p.m.	The Mtn.
Nov. 12	at Boise State	2:30 p.m.	VS.
Nov. 19	Colorado State	2:30 p.m.	CBS Sports Network
Nov. 26	Bye
Dec. 3	UNLV	1:30 p.m.	VS.

 

TCU '11 schedule released, meets Boise Nov. 12

TCU’s complete 2011 football schedule was released Thursday by the Mountain West Conference, for what will be the Frogs’ last season in the league.

Contrary to rumors and prevailing thought, TCU will travel for a showdown at Boise State Nov. 12, not the final week of the regular season. Another curve ball thrown by the MWC: TCU’s request for an open date Sept. 10 was denied. Instead, the Frogs will travel to Air Force for their conference opener. TCU edged the Falcons 20-17 in Colorado in 2009.

TCU will have two bye weeks – Oct. 15 before hosting New Mexico and Nov. 26 before hosting UNLV in the regular-season finale. Every Frogs’ game falls on a Saturday, except their Friday, Oct. 28 game against BYU at Cowboys Stadium.

One of TCU's toughest games is Oct. 8 at San Diego State. The Aztecs (9-4, 5-3 in MWC in 2010) have a bye the week before. TCU will be coming off three home games. Boise State was given a Week 2 bye after it opens against Georgia at the Georgia Dome Sept. 3. It will be the Broncos first season in the MWC after playing for years in the Western Athletic Conference. Boise State plays at UNLV the week before hosting TCU. TCU and Boise State last met in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2009 season. The Broncos won 17-10. Air Force is the lone MWC team with a bye in the final week. Boise finishes at home against New Mexico, San Diego State hosts Fresno State (which joins the MWC in 2012 along with Nevada from the WAC) in a nonconference season finale and TCU hosts UNLV.

-- Stefan Stevenson

 TCU 2011 Schedule

Date	Opponent
Sept. 3	at Baylor
Sept. 10	at Air Force
Sept. 17	Louisiana-Monroe
Sept. 24	Portland State
Oct. 1	SMU
Oct. 8	at San Diego State
Oct. 15	Bye
Oct. 22	New Mexico
Oct. 28	BYU* (at Cowboys Stad.), 7 p.m.
Nov. 5	at Wyoming
Nov. 12	at Boise State
Nov. 19	Colorado State
Nov. 26	Bye
Dec. 3	UNLV

 * -- On ESPN2; Other game times and television coverage will be released at a later date.

TCU men's hoops predicted to finish 7th again

The TCU men's basketball team has hopes of turning around its program this season with a slew of fresh talent and a renewed vigor. But the Mountain West Conference media doesn't see it that way. The Horned Frogs, which finished 13-19 and in seventh place last season, is predicted to finish seventh again by league media. The preseason predictions and superlatives were announced today in Littleton, Colo. at the MWC Media days. BYU's Jimmer Fredette was named preseason Player of the Year. The Aztecs had two players selected to the preseason All-MWC team in forwards Kawhi Leonard and Malcolm Thomas. New Mexico guard Dairese Gary and UNLV guard Tre'Von Willis and Fredette round out the preseason team. Women's basketball coaches will meet with the media Wednesday.

Here's how the media predicted the men's MWC standings to look in March:

 Preseason Men’s Basketball Media Predictions

Team (1st-place votes), Total Points, ’09-‘10 Overall, MWC Rec.

1. San Diego State (21), 261, 25-9, 11-5
2. BYU (5), 220, 30-6, 13-3
3. New Mexico (3), 214, 30-5, 14-2
4. UNLV (1), 203, 25-9, 11-5
5. Colorado State, 132, 16-16, 7-9
6. Utah, 105, 14-17, 7-9
7. TCU, 92, 13-19, 5-11
8. Wyoming, 88, 10-21, 3-13
9. Air Force, 35, 10-21, 1-15

BYU Looks More and More Like Notre Dame Every Game

Since BYU is better than the rest of us and announced it's going independent in football, it's very appropriate that its football team begin to play more and more like the other "too good for you" school - Notre Dame.
The Cougars look overmatched in Friday night's game ... against Utah State.
Both teams were 1-3 coming into this game.
Unless this game changes in a hurry, BYU could very well be 1-5 when it comes to Fort Worth on Oct. 16 to play TCU. The Cougars' next game after this debacle is San Diego State.
TCU was banking on BYU helping its strength of schedule. Right now it looks as if playing BYU will mean about as much as playing New Mexico.

- Mac Engel

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@MacEngelProf 

 

Quick change

Marcus Jackson fumbled deep in TCU territory and San Diego State recovered.
It took two plays and 43 seconds for the Aztecs to score on Mekell Wesley's 2-yard run. The extra point was good, and TCU leads 20-7 with 12:11 left in the third. -Trae

Horned Frogs up 20-0

We're about to head into halftime here at Amon Carter.
TCU got a great break after San Diego State backup quarterback Drew Westling was sacked by Cody Moore, who caused a fumble. Stephen Hodge then recovered. The Aztecs originally still had the ball, but TCU challenged the call. Officials stated that there was a fumble, and TCU got the ball back.
The Horned Frogs returned to the field, and kept pounding away at San Diego State, finishing the drive with Marcus Jackson's 3-yard touchdown pass to Shae Reagan.
-Trae

James is "tremendous"

Utah Utes pitcher John James thought it was neat when he saw he would be facing San Diego State ace Stephen Strasburg.
"He's the best pitcher in the country, and it's an honor to go against someone like that,'' James said. "I didn't worry about it."
The outcome? James, the Utes' No.3 pitcher, outdueled Strasburg, and the Utes advanced with a 1-0 victory in an elimination game in the Mountain West Conference tournament on Thursday at Lupton Stadium. Utah (25-27), the No.5 seed, advanced to face No.6 UNLV.
James threw the first complete game of his collegiate career, allowing four hits and four walks while striking out nine. He threw 129 pitches, 81 of them for strikes.
Utah coach Bill Kinneberg called James' outing "a tremendous effort," but also recognized what his team accomplished as well.
"When you beat Stephen Strasburg, you've done something,'' he said.
James (4-7) had season highs in both innings and strikeouts. He kept the Aztecs off balanced, and tried to throw his first pitches for strikes. The adrenaline kicked in, and James admitted he got tired in the middle innings.
"But then in the eighth-ninth (innings), I felt better than in the beginning of the game,'' James said.
Strasburg (8-3), the Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Year, lasted seven innings, and gave up five hits, one earned run and three walks. He declined to comment.
"You've got to give their pitcher a lot of credit,'' Aztecs coach Tony Gwynn said. "He threw a lot of strikes and worked the corners."
-Trae Thompson

Noticed earlier

Anyone else see this? About 45 minutes into the last game, San Diego State's website had a icon on its schedule page where it mentioned the last game was against Utah. Right above it was an icon with the next game, which had the Aztecs playing UNLV.
San Diego State, of course, got eliminated by Utah. -Trae