FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU head football coach Gary Patterson has won 17 straight home openers and the streak should continue Saturday against the University of Arkansas - Pine Bluff.
The Horned Frogs are favored by a whopping 52.5 points.
A big reason why? Arkansas-Pine Bluff plays in the FCS -- also known as Division I-AA.
Nowadays, it's common for an FBS (Division 1-A) team to open the season against an FCS opponent.
It's mutually beneficial, too.
The FCS team receives a financial incentive, while the FBS team essentially gets an exhibition game where it can play multiple players and help finalize the depth chart heading into the remainder of the schedule.
Think of TCU's opener as a preseason game that actually counts toward its record.
Patterson refuses to overlook his opponent, regardless of division.
"If you don't get ready for a ballgame like this, you become the nail — not the hammer — and people get hurt," Patterson said Tuesday.
TCU hammered Southern University in last year's home opener, 55-7.
"Every ballgame is important," Patterson said. "You're a little bit more nervous because you don't know how your team is going to react, especially when you have a team as young as we have."
TCU returns 12 starters from a year ago, including five on defense.
Meanwhile, the starting quarterback job is written in pencil.
The QB who starts the opener will likely not be the one who ends it.
A five-man competition is down to two guys: fifth-year senior Alex Delton and true freshman Max Duggan.
"I don't know if there was a quarterback competition in the country that was as deep as ours was," remarked Delton, who transferred from Kansas State University in January.
Delton will start Saturday's opener, but Duggan — a four-star recruit from Iowa — will receive ample playing time as well.
"Max [Duggan] and [Alex] Delton will both play the first quarter," Patterson said.
Patterson will eventually have to settle on one quarterback to lead the Frogs into Big 12 play — a schedule that includes No. 10 Texas at home and No. 4 Oklahoma on the road.
"End of the day, the goal is not just to be the starting quarterback," said Delton. "It's to be the starting quarterback that wins games."
TCU was picked fourth in the Big 12 preseason poll.
Last time the Frogs were picked to finish fourth or worse, they made the Big 12 championship game in 2017.
The time before that, they won the Big 12 in 2014.
"The lower we are, the better we do," Patterson said with a smile.
TCU opens the 2019 season at 7 p.m. Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
