FORT WORTH, Texas – For everything that's new around TCU these days, Saturday's season opener sure had a familiar look.
The No. 20 Horned Frogs won big in the debut as a Big 12 program and inside their rebuilt football palace. Rolling through Grambling State 56-0 before sun-splashed sellout crowd of 45,112 at Amon G. Carter Stadium should have been expected.
That's the level that TCU has ascended to, so when the Frogs are matched up against Savannah State-like foe, three touchdowns in the first seven minutes aren't a surprise. If that early punch to the Grambling gut wasn't impressive enough, those three scores were spread evenly by the offense, defense and special teams.
"If you were going to script a first ballgame," TCU coach Gary Patterson said, "this is the way we'd want to do it."
One can argue the merits of established college football powers playing lower-rung Division I squads that don't have a snowball's chance in a Texas summer of winning. Oklahoma State and Florida State didn't earn any style points for slapping around Savannah in glorified scrimmages.
But it says something that TCU has put itself in position to flex its football and financial muscle. It doesn't seem that long that everyone wanted the Frogs served up for their homecomings.
"It wasn't like this 15 years ago," Patterson reminded.
Now the school once shunned by the Big 12 can privately finance a $164 million stadium reimagining and dish out $400,000 to have Grambling as its first course.
While the renaissance in Fort Worth is striking on so many levels, it comes back to football and the job Patterson has done. He surpassed the legendary Dutch Meyer as TCU's all-time winningest coach with 110 victories, and couldn't help but get emotional when that topic came up.
"For Worth raised me as a head coach," said Patterson, who received a Waterford crystal football commemorating the new TCU coaching standard during a postgame on-field ceremony.
The 12th-year coach has done so much right that an offseason of embarrassment is a non-issue for purple faithful.
TCU's Casey Pachall took some lumps for drug indiscretions, but he was standing tall Saturday and looking every bit the part of a big-time quarterback he is. The junior completed his only nine pass attempts on his way to 201 yards and three touchdowns. (TCU QBs set an FBS record going a perfect 17 for 17.)
Led by Pachall and what figures to be another suffocating Patterson defense, the Frogs enter their new conference believing they're title contenders. And why wouldn't they?
TCU's first foray into its bold new world sure seemed convincing. Sure, the Frogs did it against an overmatched team, but Grambling did win the SWAC last season. You'd never know the Tigers were a conference champ the way TCU came out.
There was no easing into 2012. After Grambling didn't gain a yard on its first drive – a recurring theme throughout the first half – TCU freshman Deante' Gray returned a punt 70 yards, slicing through the Tigers for a touchdown.
Once the Frogs actually took possession, they scored almost as quickly. Pachall directed a 75-yard drive that needed just seven plays and was capped by Waymon James' short dive into the end zone.
And for good measure 18 seconds later, junior safety Elisha Olabode picked off Grambling quarterback D.J. Williams and raced 28 yards for TCU's third TD. The Frogs would add another four touchdowns … in the first half.
"We weren't going to let a weak team come in and embarrass us and push us around," Pachall said.
It's not often that a team outgains another 10-1, but that's what TCU did through 30 minutes. The Frogs went into the locker room with 330 total yards, Grambling with 31 total yards. Yes, thirty-one. (The Tigers' marching band did win halftime, so it wasn't a complete wasted trip.)
Patterson was able to empty his depth chart early. Pachall didn't see the field in the second half. Twelve true freshmen played. It couldn't have been a better dress rehearsal with the Frogs' Big 12 debut at Kansas coming next week.
The Jayhawks were upset Saturday by Rice, which could lead to a false sense of security for a less disciplined squad. Judging by what they did against Grambling, the Frogs won't overlook KU.
"We have a lot harder competition coming up," Patterson said. "We still haven't outscored Oklahoma State."
TCU is new to the Big 12. Not to winning.
