The final month of the regular season will kick off on Saturday with the oldest rivalry in the state of Texas. Surprisingly, the matchup has nothing to do with burnt orange but rather green, yellow, purple and blue.
TALE OF THE TAPE
Series History: TCU leads 59-53-7
Series Began: October 27, 1899
Recent History: TCU has won the last four meetings
Winningest Coach in the Series: Grant Teaff won 16 games as head coach of the Baylor Bears from 1972 through 1992
Largest Victory: Baylor owns the largest victory, a 52-0 triumph in 1910
Rivalry Trophy: The Bluebonnet Battle Trophy, a two and a half-feet wide mesquite wooden base holding a circular battle shield boasting both schools logos, the outline of the state of Texas with bluebonnets on either side
New Take on an Old Classic
The colleges known as Baylor and TCU are featured in this historic Texas rivalry dubbed in 2023 “The Bluebonnet Battle.” The matchup is named for the Bluebonnet flowers that line the 90 miles of Interstate 35 that connect the two universities, while also paying homage to the fact that the Bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas.
Despite this being the 120th meeting between the schools, it will only be the second meeting with an official rivalry designation. The two were informal rivals until last year when the student governments of both schools decided to give it a formal name and trophy as it passed Texas-Texas A&M as the most played game in Texas.
Let’s Live in Waco
Baylor University was formed in 1845 as a chartered university when Texas first became a state. It was founded as a Baptist university and has remains that way to this day.
Originally located in Independence, Texas, Baylor University moved to Waco in 1885 due to the railroad, and its continued growth after combining with Waco University.
TCU’s founding is also tied to the railroad but for different reasons. Fort Worth native ministers Addison and Randolph Clark, appalled by the distractions of “hell’s half acre,” which they called their hometown, started their Christian university in Thorp Spring, Texas.
AddRan University, as it was known then, quickly grew and moved to Waco in 1895 and started football a year later in 1896. The first meeting between Baylor and AddRan took place in 1899, three years before AddRan became Texas Christian, and the teams would face off multiple times each year from 1901 through 1909.
A fire would destroy the campus in 1910 and Fort Worth, looking to shed the “rowdy, cow town” image that caused TCU’s founders to flee in the first place, courted the school back home for good thanks to 50 acres, $200,000 and guaranteed town car service.
2014’s “Game of the Decade”
Despite having played 120 times, TCU and Baylor have had an amazing 44 games (or 36.6% of meetings) decided by seven points or less.
One game was in 2014, when #9 TCU went to face #5 Baylor in a battle of teams fighting to keep pace in the race for a spot in the brand new College Football Playoff. TCU would have a commanding 58-37 lead in the 4th quarter, only to be stunned by a furious Baylor comeback that would be capped off with a game winning field goal as time expired.
Both teams would end up 11-1 on the season and tie for the Big 12 Title (the Big 12 didn’t have a conference championship game yet) and get passed over for the College Football Playoff by eventual national champion Ohio State (who won their conference championship game).
2024 Matchup
Date: Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024
Site: McLane Stadium – Waco, Texas
Time: 8:00pm ET/7:00pm CT
TV: ESPN2
FOOTBALL SCHEDULES
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