Big 12 Football: TCU’s opener pushed back indefinitely vs. SMU

The start of the 2020 season for any of the teams in the Big 12 Football conference will now have to wait beyond Sep. 11, since TCU’s opener is pushed back.

In the first week of action around the Big 12 Football conference, each of the 10 teams are supposed to be taking on their one non-con opponent of the 2020 regular season. The Texas football program is set to face the UTEP Miners out of the Conference-USA at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Sep. 12.

But the first game that was slated to be played by any Big 12 team was head coach Gary Patterson‘s TCU Horned Frogs taking on former Longhorn quarterback Shane Buechele and the SMU Mustangs on Sep. 11 in Fort Worth. Now that game that was going to be the initial played during the 2020 season for any Big 12 team looks like it will be suspended indefinitely.

The TCU program is reportedly undergoing an outbreak of the novel coronavirus around its group, and thus won’t be able to take on SMU on Sep. 11. The game will be pushed back indefinitely, which means it might either be cancelled or overlap with their Big 12 slate this fall.

Patterson’s group had the expectations to play the role of a dark horse in the race to get into the Big 12 Championship Game this fall. But this means that they will have to wait at least another couple of weeks to get ramped up for the start of game action.

This non-conference matchup against SMU was also one of the games to watch in the Big 12 in Week 1. There are a few weeks that TCU and SMU will have to reschedule this game either before Big 12 play begins, or in the midst of the conference slate.

Given this news, the Big 12 also released their protocols on the minimum requirements for a team to play in each game, including the minimum for certain position groups. There will at least have to be a 53-man roster for each team in the Big 12 to play this fall.

Apparently this COVID-19 outbreak impacted multiple people around the TCU program, including those on Patterson’s coaching staff and the players themselves. Now that TCU has to push back their season opener against SMU, the Horned Frogs de facto kick off looks to come against the Iowa State Cyclones in the start of Big 12 play on Sep. 26.

TCU and Texas were set to square off on Oct. 3 in Austin. Texas finished up their 2019 campaign with a record of 8-5 (5-4 Big 12). They open up Big 12 play on Sep. 26 on the road in Lubbock against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.