Midweek Musings: The Blackout

It’s been a hot topic all week for TCU fans. Whether or not the blackout that was announced for Saturday’s game against Kansas State is a good idea.

Here, we’ll take a look at some blackout games that have occurred over the past few seasons, and how those teams fared.

November 10, 2007: #10 Georgia hosts Auburn

Result: Georgia 45, Auburn 20

Georgia head coach Mark Richt after the game, "That was a lot of fun. That was maybe first or second on the fun-meter for me." Glad to know he’s got a "fun-meter."

September 18, 2008: Colorado hosts #21 West Virginia

Result: Colorado 17, West Virginia 14

Colorado kicked a field goal to win in overtime, beating the then-ranked Mountaineers. WVU went on to be 9-4, Colorado, 5-7.

September 27, 2008: Georgia hosts Alabama

Result: Alabama 41, Georgia 30

Alabama jumped in front early, and never looked back.

October 29, 2011: Utah hosts Oregon State

Result: Utah 27, Oregon State 8

This game helped Utah snap an 0-4 start in the Pac-12, and got them their first conference win as a member of a BCS conference.

November 6, 2010: #5 Utah hosts #3 TCU

Result: TCU 47, Utah 7.

This game was never close, as TCU jumped on Utah early and often. Rumor has it, after the game one Utah coach thanked Gary Patterson for not scoring 100 on them.

October 13, 2012: BYU hosts #10 Oregon State

Results: Oregon State 42, BYU 21

BYU got beaten by then back-up quarterback Cody Vaz like they were a red-headed stepchild.

October 20, 2012: Boise State hosts UNLV

Result: Boise State 32, UNLV 7

Boise State blacked-out this game because it was homecoming, but it wasn’t really a big game outside of that. To channel my inner Charles Barkley, UNLV is turrible.

This isn’t a complete list of blackout games since 2007, but in this sample we see that the host "blackout" team is 4-3. Not the best record when this is supposed to be a hype-up-your-team kind of game. Granted, most of these games come when the home team is facing a big opponent, and even a blackout won’t make your team faster or stronger or good enough to win sometimes.

That being said, I fully support TCU’s announcement that the Kansas State game will be a blackout. I like changing it up to get the fans and team hyped about the game.

It’s concerning to me that some TCU fans are so insistent on wearing purple because they 1) think a blackout is a stupid idea, or 2) "don’t own anything black," or even 3) they think it’s just a ploy by the school to make money.

To address the first issue, I’m sorry that you think it’s a stupid idea, but it’s what the school is doing so deal with it. I know plenty of people who don’t agree with the concept of a blackout but they’re wearing black. Why? Because they’re supporting their school and their team.

As for not owning something black, I find that hard to believe. A spinoff of this complaint is that that person may not want to buy a black TCU shirt, because they’ll only wear it once. I find it hard to believe that you’ll only wear that shirt once. Oh, what, black isn’t one of our colors?

Have you seen our uniforms over the past several seasons? And it’s not limited to football either.

I think it's safe to say black has been fully incorporated into our school colors at this point.

To those that think this is simply a ploy for TCU to make money, rather than a fundraiser for cancer research, I really think you should reevaluate things. Could TCU donate more than just a percentage of the sales revenue? Sure. Name one other school that does it that way though.

This blackout is about unity, and support for our team, school and those family members and friends closest to us that have either beaten or succumbed to cancer.

They're not asking you to light a religious book on fire, they're asking you to wear a black shirt.

Put the damn shirt on.

Go Frogs.