TCU will play its first season of football as a member of the Big East in 2012. There have been some questions about just what TCU's schedule can expect to be with the conference still considering expansion to ten or possibly twelve football members. Even with that question still unanswered, the Horned Frogs' Big East schedule for the 2012 season should be easy to derive from the way the current unbalanced conference schedule plays out now.
Because the Big East only has eight teams, each team plays seven conference games and alternates having three conference home games and four road games, and vice versa. That being the case, it makes sense that rather than potentially forcing some schools to play consecutive road games against another opponent, the Big East will simply add TCU to the road schedule of those teams that normally would have just played three conference road games in 2012.
For the upcoming 2011 season, the breakdown is:
- Four road games: Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida, West Virginia
- Three road games: UConn, Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse
With that breakdown of home/away games, TCU can expect its Big East schedule in 2012 to be:
- Home - Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida, West Virginia
- Away - UConn, Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse
The Horned Frogs are facing a fairly substantial rebuilding job in 2011 with just six starters returning from last season's 13-0 Rose Bowl team. Still, Gary Patterson has recruited well and has plenty of talent to plug into the holes. TCU will get to play through its inexperienced year in the new (weaker) Mountain West Conference and then face the Big East in 2012 with what should again be a senior laden team with a full 2011 season under its belt. The Horned Frogs should be one of the clear favorites in 2012, given that they will likely face the league's best four teams at home.