By Jeff Wilson
Frogs Today senior writer
FORT WORTH — By this time next week, the Sonny Dykes era of TCU football will have made its first memories.
The Horned Frogs will have film to digest, mistakes to correct and wounds that need to be healed.
They will have a quarterback and maybe even a quarterback controversy.
There won’t be any turning back on the 2022 season after Friday night, when TCU will open the 13-game campaign at Colorado.
Frogs Today has written about the excitement that’s building and the questions that will follow the Frogs to Boulder, Colo.
Win or lose, there will be questions that follow them back to Texas.
Now, though, TCU is in the midst of its game-week practices.
A depth chart has been created, though not yet released to the media. Don’t expect the depth chart to show a winner of the quarterback battle between Chandler Morris and Max Duggan.
The first snap of the season might not even settle that.
Dykes will meet with the media late Monday morning to preview the game. It will be his last media availability ahead of the 9 p.m. CDT kickoff Friday.
Preview stories will be flooding Frogs Today. Predictions are coming, too. Our game coverage will be comprehensive.
We plan on capturing those first memories of the Dykes era.
And then it will be on to Week 2. There’s no turning back after Friday night.
Going home
The Frogs’ trip this week to Colorado will serve as a homecoming of sorts for this Colorado native and the son of two Colorado graduates. My dad got arrested at Folsom Field for throwing ice into the field right in front of a cop, and my mom claims that Betty Ford once bummed a smoke off her outside a CU game.
My aunt and uncle, also Colorado grads, lived in Boulder until I was in high school.
Needless to say, I’m looking forward to this trip. I will see my family, eat at my favorite restaurant in the Denver area with my buds, and then regret booking a Saturday flight instead of staying one more night.
I grew up on Colorado football. I was at the first night game in program history, vs. Texas, and rooted on the Buffs while at TCU more than I did the Frogs. I vividly remember the rise of the program under Bill McCartney, and was a Buffs fan until they left the Big 12. I still like to see CU do well.
Watching Ralphie run out with the team is the best tradition in college football. The view at Folsom Field from the east stands, looking west at the Flatirons, is one of the best.
Any TCU fans headed that way need to stay hydrated. Not only is Boulder a mile high, the air is incredibly dry. You might have a long walk from your parking lot to the stadium. Go to Pasta Jay’s on Thursday night for dinner.
Sports betting is legal in Colorado, so download an app now.
It’s going to be a good trip for the Frogs.
What to watch this week
Yes, it’s football season, but other sports are doing their thing, too. Two of the teams have home games this weekend. Go check them out.
Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you don’t miss anything we do from Folsom Field later this week.
Cross country: at Abilene Christian NAIMADU Classic, 6:30 p.m. Friday
Football: at Colorado, 9 p.m. (ESPN, WBAP/820 AM)
Women’s soccer: at USC, 5 p.m. Thursday; vs. Duke, 7 p.m. Sunday (ESPN+)
Women’s volleyball: vs. Coastal Carolina, 7:30 p.m. Friday (ESPN+); vs. Texas A&M, 6 p.m. Saturday (ESPN+)
The lighter side
SSHL Pick ‘Em League: My three best friends, all of us from Colorado, for the past three or four college football seasons have taken part in our own pick ’em league, which has been named the SSHL — S–tshow Hammer Lock league.
We each find one game on the schedule and pick it against the spread. And we are terrible at it despite all of us having pretty good sports knowledge.
The competition started Saturday with the Week Zero, and I’m 1-0, baby (Illinois covered 13.5 over Wyoming). The other winner had Duquense +42 at Florida State, while the two losers had Nebraska -11.5 and Hawaii +9.5 at home.
Northwestern beat Nebraska 31-28 in Ireland, and Hawaii lost by 53 to Vanderbilt. When was the last time Vanderbilt scored 63 points, 63 point on the road, and won a game by 53?
Hawaii must be as bad this season as the SSHL league members are at picking games.
Cat video!: Anyone who receives the Rangers Today daily newsletter knows that each day features a video of dog doing something funny or adorable or both.
Well, I like other animals, including cats. However, my allergies prevent the Wilsons from ever owning a cat (I’m allergic to dogs, too, but like I am to cats).
I will confess that there are some pretty funny cat videos out there. Here’s one of them a must-follow Twitter account, @buitengebieden.
https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1559421826496974849
Bad golf shots: That’s what friends are for. Enjoy.
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Jeff Wilson, jeff@frogstoday.com
