Two undefeated intrastate rivals, the Baylor Bears and No. 4 Horned Frogs, meet up Saturday in Fort Worth to play for the 106th time.
As of Tuesday, Amon G. Carter Stadium was sold out. This comes after more than 37,000 fans were in attendance at TCU’s first home game against Tennessee Tech. This week’s ticket sales could come close to last year’s showdown against Utah, where 50,307 set a home attendance record.
Along with the much anticipated rivalry, one reason for mass attendance on Saturday is Family Weekend. Tissues and tickets have been much obliged for this weekend, as parents come in from all over the world to visit their wallet-shrinking college students. Although 19,020 season tickets have been sold this year, the question still arises for this weekend: Is this one of the greatest rivalries between Division I schools or do parents just really miss their college kids?
Upon the return of Baylor quarterback and Copperas Cove native Robert Griffin, Baylor fans highly anticipate a close match up with the Horned Frogs. Griffin was injured in the third game of the 2009 season and missed the final nine games last year with a torn ACL. Griffin ranks 13th nationally in total offense (312.5 yards per game) and 55th in passing efficiency (134.47) this year. Horned Frog quarterback, Andy Dalton, on the other hand, ranks 55th in total offense (222.0) and 54th in passing efficiency (134.56). Truly a “behind-the-center” battle, the two quarterbacks go into this week’s game with high expectations.
The Bears’ last bowl appearance was in 1994 and their last winning season was in 1995. Even so, the Bears will go against all odds and come out on top in Cowtown. Many of the 50,000 fans attending on Saturday won’t be bleeding purple.
Tyler Christensen is a freshman broadcast journalism major from Crawford.