Short week no advantage for either team
TCU coach Gary Patterson and Utah's Kyle Whittingham both said that neither team was at an advantage Thursday night with only five days to prepare for a pivotal Mountain West Conference game.
Whittingham said any advantage the Utes had by playing at home last week while the Frogs had to travel to and from Stanford, Calif., was negated by Utah's trip to Texas.
Utah coaches got to watch film together Saturday night, Patterson said, but his staff had all day Wednesday to finalize its game plan.
"It's always tough to play on a short week, and when you've got to do the traveling to a different time zone that compounds your issues," Whittingham said. "But they had to travel back from Stanford, so I guess it's a wash."
The Utah game was the second of three Thursday night games for TCU this season, something that doesn't thrill Patterson. Another awaits Nov. 8 at BYU.
All three games in the TCU-Utah series have been played on a Thursday.
"When you're winning, TV is great," Patterson said. "When you're losing, it's not so great."
Flat start
Gary Patterson said he could tell that TCU wasn't as ready to play Thursday as in previous games, and the pregame lack of intensity surfaced in the first quarter.
Utah raced to a 10-0 lead before Daryl Washington blocked a Utes punt that was returned 31 yards by Stephen Hodge and energized the Frogs and the crowd.
But it was too late.
"I thought we came out flat. You can't do that at home," Patterson said.
"You have to play all four quarters. You can't wait 10 minutes for something good to happen."
Memorial set
A tribute for photographer Linda Kaye, who made a career shooting Metroplex sports teams but especially TCU, is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. today on the lawn just west of the Kelly Alumni Center.
Kaye, 65, died Oct. 7 after battling cancer. She first began snapping photos as a TCU freshman in 1959 and continued through this year. She had enough photos and memorabilia to dedicate a room of her house to the Horned Frogs.
People who wish to attend the tribute are encouraged to wear purple.
Briefly
Gary Patterson said afterward that there was a discussion about replacing quarterback Andy Dalton with sophomore Marcus Jackson. But coaches thought Dalton still had a feel for the game.
Senior defensive end Tommy Blake, a preseason All-American, watched the game on the TCU sidelines, wearing his No. 97 jersey. Blake has missed four consecutive games with an undisclosed illness, but he participated in individual drills Tuesday in practice. That was his first practice since the day after the Frogs beat SMU last month.
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