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Posted at 10:15 AM EST

3:30 PM EST. TCU has outscored its first two opponents by a combined 91-7. That came against Jacksonville State (63-0) and Arkansas (28-7). The Mustangs are also 2-0 but they defeated two cupcakes in Stephen F Austin and North Texas and they allowed North Texas to score 32 points in the process. The market is not giving the Ponies any credit for their two wins and we can understand why, as SMU won one game in 2014, two games in 2015 and just five games last year. Aside from that, the Ponies get whacked by the Horned Frogs every season. SMU has lost to TCU by scores of 48-17, 56-0, 56-27 and 33-3 over the past four years respectively so why should this year be any different? Well, SMU is trending the right way and may even have a voice in their conference race this year, thus, we’re very interested to see what kind of showing the Mustangs can make here with third-year coach Chad Morris' best team yet.

TCU's coach, Gary Patterson is already spinning tales about his 2005 loss to SMU, the week after a road win at Oklahoma. He's very conscious of the pitfalls of playing a team that considers his Frogs a rival in a sandwich spot between a big road victory and another high-stakes trip to Stillwater. But can Patterson fully refocus a group of players who have known only blowouts against SMU and are receiving plenty of pats on the back from those outside the building this week? A game effort, at least, from an SMU team on the rise is certain, as not only is the Iron Skillet affair a significant rivalry game from the Ponies' perspective, it's the first non-conference game of the Morris era in which the Ponies enter as both an underdog and with a real belief that they can actually win. Game opened at 18 and has been bet up all week, which is another angle we like to endorse. 

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