Texas Tech Football: Red Raiders Dump TCU from 2011 Schedule

According to a report by ESPN.com, Texas Tech has cancelled its 2011 game with the TCU Horned Frogs.

The game with TCU was scheduled to be played in Fort Worth on September 10. 

The Red Raiders supposedly cancelled the game in order to accommodate the new nine conference game slate resulting from the Big 12 realignment for 2011 (Colorado leaving for the Pac-10 and Nebraska for the Big Ten).

The two teams were also supposed to meet in September of 2010, but that meeting was cancelled due to ESPN deciding to televise the Texas Tech vs. University of Texas contest on September 18 in Lubbock.  ESPN subsequently arranged the TCU vs. Oregon State contest to fill the hole for the Horned Frogs.

Texas Tech’s non-conference schedule for 2011 now consists a meeting with the Texas State Bobcats (from the FCS, Southland Conference) in the season opener on September 3 followed by an bye week September 10, a road game at New Mexico on the 17th, followed by a contest at home vs. Nevada on September 24.

Tech will open Big 12 play in 2011 at Kansas on October 1.

The move by Texas Tech to drop the Horned Frogs from their 2011 schedule opens the door for heated debate on the true motive of the move.

Is Texas Tech leery of playing the undefeated Rose Bowl champs in Fort Worth, or is it even plausible to defend this decision as an actual scheduling snafu?

Regardless, it is difficult not to consider the move questionable, especially in light of TCU’s recent successes combined with the struggles and instability at Texas Tech.

Texas Tech is 28-23-3 vs. TCU all time, the first meeting being in 1926 and the most recent being in 2006 when the Red Raiders lost 12-3 to the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth.