FORT WORTH, Texas – There are some TCU players who would like to spend their Saturday night watching Baylor and Kansas State play in Waco while pulling for the Wildcats.
Those watching parties won't mean anything unless the Frogs (10-1, 7-1 in Big 12) get past Iowa State (2-9, 0-8) first Saturday afternoon at Amon Carter Stadium.
If TCU can do that, then the Frogs can switch into bowl and College Football Playoff mode as co-champs of the Big 12 along with the Baylor/Kansas State winner. Not until then though for a team that moved up to No. 3 in Tuesday's College Football Playoff rankings.
"We're going to focus on winning our game first off and whatever happens after that happens," senior defensive back Kevin White said.
While the Frogs will be huge favorites over Iowa State, they know what a loss or close game could do to their College Football Playoff hopes. They also know that Iowa State came to town two years ago and beat TCU. They also know that TCU struggled to win in Ames last year, edging Iowa State 21-17.
Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads is also saying all the right things about the Frogs. He spent part of his Big 12 conference call time talking about how TCU belongs in the final four and how TCU will be out to leave no doubt in anyone's mind that they belong there. Rhoads also said if the Frogs had an opportunity to score 100 points against the Cyclones they'd try to do that.
If Rhoads is telling the media that, one can only imagine what he's telling his team as it tries to wreck TCU's title hopes. And despite the Cyclones' record, they've played Texas, Texas Tech, Kansas State and West Virginia tough.
TCU head coach Gary Patterson isn't buying the Iowa State cakewalk talk. He knows better.
"You just need to keep preparing for your opportunities going forward," said Patterson, who will spend his Saturday evening with recruits instead of watching the game in Waco. "They beat us here and it was close ballgame last year. They know how to come and play on the road. We're going to try and win the ballgame period. That's what I can control."
The players know that too and are doing their best to avoid any outside distractions. It hasn't been easy as the Frogs have gained momentum in the rankings since an Oct. 11 loss to Baylor.
"As it's gotten closer and closer it's hard to say you can't focus on it (the playoffs) because at this point it's the last game of the season and after this we'll find out if we're in the playoffs or not," White said. "We've got to focus on winning this game at hand and after that we can focus on what happens after that."
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