TCU Football: Can Horned Frogs bounce back from 2019 regression?

With the Big 12 planning to play a revised 2020 schedule, TCU football looks to rebound from last season’s regression. Can the Horned Frogs get back to a bowl?

As of this writing, TCU remains one of just 39 Power Five programs planning on playing football this fall as the novel coronavirus continues to raise concerns on campuses across the country. The Big 12 reasserted their intention of holding their usual nine-game round robin tournament between member schools along with one non-conference matchup per program.

For TCU, that meant some hard decisions. The Horned Frogs elected not to play their annual Battle for the Iron Skillet against Metroplex rival SMU, opting instead to maintain one more home game. After the SWAC canceled all fall sports, though, that required TCU to find a new dance partner for that sixth home game.

The schedule is reconfigured, but the hopes remain the same in Fort Worth. After falling to 5-7 in 2019, Gary Patterson’s team will be looking to at least reach .500 in the standings and earn a trip to a bowl game — should postseason play take place this year. With six of their seven losses falling within a single score in the final margin last season, a quick rebound could potentially transpire even in a shortened campaign.

With so many variables up in the air on the upcoming calendar, we can only assess what we know as of this moment. Let’s dive in to look at what TCU has returning on offense and defense before breaking down the revised 2020 Horned Frogs schedule and making some predictions on how the next campaign will play out.