The Horned Frogs of TCU had plenty of time to think about their ugly performance in Lubbock, Texas on September 12th and they will attempt to permanently expunge it from their memory when they face in-state rival SMU this weekend. Saturday's meeting between TCU and June Jones' Mustangs is scheduled to kickoff at 12:00pm ET at Amon Carter Stadium in Fort Worth (Fox Sports 1). College Football Picks from offshore bookmaker 5Dimes are expecting the Horned Frogs to prevail with ease as they opened a -20 against the spread and -1250 money line favorite ($1250 wins $100). SMU is drawing +800 odds ($100 wins $800) to deal Gary Patterson's squad its third loss of the year.
June Jones' SMU teams (and Hawaii before his arrival in Dallas) could accurately be called competitive and capable as they have, on occasion, risen up and put a scare in bigger name programs. While still early, that has not been the case this season with the Mustangs losing 23-41 to Texas Tech and 13-42 to Texas A&M.
Even in victory SMU was uninspiring, just getting past FCS school Montana State 31-30. The Mustangs allowed 25 first downs and 378 total yards and their offense, considering the opposition, posted an unimpressive 461 yards.
This weekend SMU will meet a fellow disappointing squad as TCU brings a 1-2 record into Saturday's game. The Horned Frogs played LSU tough in their season opener before falling 27-37, but Texas Tech made Patterson's troops look ordinary at best in scoring a 20-10 upset win over TCU two weeks ago.
If both of these teams bring their best effort on Saturday, TCU should prevail and do so with relative ease; however, the Frogs have not been all that impressive in recent meetings with the Mustangs.
TCU did defeat the Mustangs 41-24 in 2010, but SMU pulled off a 40-33 overtime upset in 2011 and it easily covered the 15 point spread in last year's meeting, losing 16-24 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
SMU has started slow a time or two during Jones tenure, and with just 11 starters back from last year's 7-6 team it is no shock the Mustangs been stumbled out of the blocks this year. But Jones' team tend to play better as the season goes along and weeks four and five have, to some degree, represented a turning point.
Given that tendency, TCU is difficult to back at -20. Were the Horned Frogs playing better, perhaps, they would warrant more consideration. There is this to mull over, though. TCU is 5-0 both straight up and against the spread in its last five games as a home favorite with a spread between 18 and 20.5 points.
SMU vs TCU College Football Picks:
SMU Mustangs +20 (-110), +800 (Moneyline)
TCU Horned Frogs -20 (-110), -1250 (Moneyline)
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