2020 TCU Horned Frogs football team

The 2020 TCU Horned Frogs football team represented Texas Christian University (TCU) during the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Horned Frogs competed as a member of the Big 12 Conference and played their home games at Amon G. Carter Stadium on campus in Fort Worth, Texas. They were led by 20th-year head coach Gary Patterson.

2020 TCU Horned Frogs football
Conference	Big 12 Conference
2020 record	6–4 (5–4 Big 12)
Head coach	Gary Patterson (20th season)
Offensive coordinator	Sonny Cumbie (7th season)
Defensive coordinator	Chad Glasgow (6th season)
Home stadium	Amon G. Carter Stadium (Capacity: 47,000)

2020 Big 12 Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 9 Iowa State y		8	–	1					9	–	3
No. 6 Oklahoma y$		6	–	2					9	–	2
No. 20 Oklahoma State		6	–	3					8	–	3
No. 19 Texas		5	–	3					7	–	3
TCU		5	–	4					6	–	4
West Virginia		4	–	4					6	–	4
Kansas State		4	–	5					4	–	6
Texas Tech		3	–	6					4	–	6
Baylor		2	–	7					2	–	7
Kansas		0	–	8					0	–	9
Championship: Oklahoma 27, Iowa State 21
$ – Conference champion y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll.

In a season impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Horned Frogs compiled a 6–4 record (5–4 in conference). The team was slated to face Arkansas in the Texas Bowl, but had to withdraw due to COVID-19 issues within the program.[1]

Previous season

The Horned Frogs finished the 2019 season with a 5–7 record, 3–6 in Big 12 play, failing to earn bowl eligibility.

Offseason

Coaching changes

In December 2019, co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach Curtis Luper was hired as the offensive coordinator at Missouri.[2] The other co-offensive coordinator, Sonny Cumbie, was promoted to offensive coordinator. Brian Applewhite was hired to fill his role as running backs coach.

Preseason

Big 12 media days

The Big 12 media days were held on July 21–22, 2020 in a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

Big 12 media poll

Big 12 media poll[4]
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Oklahoma	80
2	Oklahoma State	6
3	Texas	4
4	Iowa State
5	Baylor
6	TCU
7	Kansas State
8	West Virginia
9	Texas Tech
10	Kansas

Schedule

TCU released its 2020 schedule on October 22, 2019. The 2020 schedule consists of 6 home games and 6 away games in the regular season. The Horned Frogs will host 1 non-conference game against Prairie View A&M and will travel to non-conference games at California and SMU. TCU will host Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Iowa State, and Texas Tech and travel to West Virginia, Baylor, Texas, and Kansas in regular season conference play.

The Horned Frogs scheduled games against Cal, Prairie View A&M, were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5][6]

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 26	12:30 p.m.	Iowa State	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX	FS1	L 34–37	11,852
October 3	11:00 a.m.	at No. 9 Texas	Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)	FOX	W 33–31	17,753
October 10	3:00 p.m.	Kansas State	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX	FOX	L 14–21	12,208
October 24	11:00 a.m.	Oklahoma	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX	ABC	L 14–33	12,440
October 31	2:30 p.m.	at Baylor	McLane Stadium Waco, TX (rivalry)	ESPN2	W 33–23	11,667
November 7	2:30 p.m.	Texas Tech	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX (rivalry)	FS1	W 34–18	12,356
November 14	11:00 a.m.	at West Virginia	Milan Puskar Stadium Morgantown, WV	FOX	L 6–24	11,111
November 28	7:00 p.m.	at Kansas	David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS	FS1	W 59–23
December 5	11:00 a.m.	No. 15 Oklahoma State	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX	ESPN2	W 29–22
December 12	6:00 p.m.	Louisiana Tech*	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX	FS1	W 52–10
December 31	7:00 p.m.	vs. Arkansas*	NRG Stadium Houston, TX (Texas Bowl)	ESPN
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings (after November 24) released prior to game All times are in Central time

Schedule Source:[7]

Coaching staff

Coach	Title	Year at TCU	Previous job
Gary Patterson	Head Coach	22nd	New Mexico (DC/S)
Sonny Cumbie	OC/QB	7th	Texas Tech (co-OC)
Chad Glasgow	DC/LB	8th	Texas Tech (DC)
Bryan Applewhite	RB	1st	Colorado State (RB)
Jarrett Anderson	OL	23rd	Tyler Junior College (RB/WR)
Shawn Bell	TE	4th	Cedar Ridge High School (HC)
Zarnell Fitch	DL	7th	Lincoln High School (HC)
Paul Gonzales	S	9th	Pacific University (DB)
Malcolm Kelly	WR	2nd	Houston (offensive analyist)
Doug Meacham	WR/TE	1st	St. Louis BattleHawks (OC)
Jeremy Modkins	CB	14th	None
Dan Sharp	DL	20th	Tulsa (TE/ST)

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	RV		RV
Coaches	RV		RV
CFP	Not released															Not released

References

1. Fornelli, Tom; Kercheval, Ben (December 29, 2020). "2020 Texas Bowl canceled as COVID-19 outbreak at TCU forces it to pull out vs. Arkansas". CBS Sports. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
2. Davison, Drew. "TCU co-offensive coordinator Curtis Luper to join Missouri staff". star-telegram.com. Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
3. Rittenberg, Adam. "Big 12 football media days going virtual due to coronavirus". ESPN.com. ESPN, Inc. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
4. "Oklahoma Tops Big 12 Football Media Preseason Poll". big12sports.com.
5. Bromberg, Nick. "Pac-12 follows Big Ten's lead and won't play non-conference games in 2020". Yahoo News. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
6. Visser, David (July 21, 2020). "SWAC Suspends Fall Football Season". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
7. "2020 TCU Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved 6 February 2020.