Texas Tech abruptly dumps TCU from ’11 slate

When it comes to their 2011 schedule, this hasn’t exactly been a red-letter day for TCU.

First, Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson revealed that this year’s Boise State-TCU game will, in all likelihood, be moved from Fort Worth to Boise. Now, eight months out, the Horned Frogs suddenly find themselves with a major hole in their ’11 slate.

According to ESPNDallas.com, Texas Tech has decided to drop the Sept. 10 game against TCU. The decision was made due to Tech’s need to drop one non-conference game and make room for the Big 12’s move to a nine-game conference schedule. Even as they dropped TCU from the schedule -- ostensibly to make room for an additional conference game -- Tech is still in search of another non-conference game to start next season and fill out their ’11 schedule.

(I love the smell of yella in the evening.)

A TCU source told the website that they had offered to move the game from their stadium to Cowboys Stadium, but Tech declined. Obviously, TCU officials are not particularly pleased with this development so close to the start of the year.

The TCU source said athletic administrators have expressed dissatisfaction at being notified of the cancellation this late because it will be difficult to fill the vacancy and nearly impossible to schedule a high-profile opponent, which is important considering BCS rankings.

This is the second straight year that a TCU-Texas Tech tilt hasn’t gone off as scheduled; last year’s game was called off due to “television considerations”.