Friday, September 14, 2001

Cancellation gives football team rest
Injured players get time to recuperate
By Kelly Morris
Skiff Staff

The TCU football team was supposed to play Marshall Saturday, a team that has won four straight Mid-American Conference titles and has notched a 59-10 record in the past five seasons.

But the Frogs will not get that chance this season.

Caleb Williams - Skiff Staff Junior defensive tackle John Turntine stands alone on the empty field of Amon Carter Stadium. Saturday’s game against Marshall was canceled in light of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks. The Horned Frogs will not get to play one of its toughest non-conference foes of the season, but will get an extra week off to rest.

Head coach Gary Patterson said even though his team will not get to play one of its toughest non-conference foes as a result of the cancellation, the Frogs can use a week off. Several players are hampered with injuries and the team has played three tough games in a row, Patterson said.

“We are very saddened by what happened, but this team needs a rest,” Patterson said. “We played Nebraska, and then two really tough ball games. One game was a rivalry (against Southern Methodist), and the other was (North Texas’) Super Bowl.

We’re used to having an off-week between the third and fourth games anyway.”

Sophomore linebacker Josh Goolsby, who started against Nebraska, will miss the rest of the season with an injury he sustained to his right knee against North Texas.

Junior wide receiver Kevin Brown injured his posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee against SMU and will miss 6-8 weeks, Patterson said.

By not playing Marshall, the Frogs will only have one game, Sept. 22 against Northwestern State (La.), to prepare for their first Conference USA game at Houston a week later.

Even with one less game on TCU’s schedule, sophomore reserve offensive tackle Matt Orlovsky said it shouldn’t be a factor.

“We’ve already played three games, so I don’t think it’s going to have any effect,” Orlovsky said. “But if we had only played two games, that would be a more of a problem.”

Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Brandon Johnson said playing Marshall would have helped with bowl rankings, but the team can overcome the missed game.

“If we have a good conference win-loss record, we should be all right as far as bowl rankings go,” Johnson said. “It really shouldn’t affect us too badly. It is more of a loss for us just because it’s one week where we don’t get to test ourselves against other competition. We just got to move on and get ready.”

Kelly Morris
k.l.morris@student.tcu.edu