The team will do everything in game mode, including where the team gets off the bus, where they walk and how they eat, talk and prepare, Patterson said.

“There’s not one thing that we won’t cover in 24 hours,” he said. “The only thing we won’t do, because of NCAA rules, is we will not be able to stay at the hotel.”

Waiting and watching an extra week is tough, Patterson said. Saturday should show if the players are nervous about the upcoming season.

Not playing on opening weekend is familiar territory to Patterson. In 2009, the Frogs waited an extra week to open at Virginia.

“We all hate it,” he said. “You're stressed because you’re just waiting. You just watched everybody else work.”

Here are a few highlights from Wednesday's practice:

Using redshirts with a young team

TCU does not redshirt a player until the end of the year, Patterson said. If a player goes in for one snap, he loses his redshirt season.

“We have to be very smart about how we do it,” he said. “Usually we wait all the way through the sixth or seventh game.”

Some players could travel the whole season and not play to save their redshirt, he said.

Saturday’s Scrimmage

The players will be in shorts and helmets for the mock scrimmage, Patterson said. The focus is on substitutions ranging from field goal situations to subbing for an injured player.

The team will also simulate halftime in the new locker room, he said. Players and coaches will sit in their respective spots and review the way halftime runs.  

The scrimmage is closed to the public, but all Frog fans are invited to Meet the Frogs at 1 p.m. in Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.