It’s finally here! Frog Fans, you’ve waited since New Year’s Eve to get another taste and now the 2015 TCU Football season is about to pop out of the oven.

Tonight’s lid-lifter at Minnesota kicks at 8:10 p.m. CT, and the sell-out at TCF Stadium will be ready for your Frogs – know that.

Some things to concentrate on as you prep for kickoff:

1.       First games are always scary. It’s an equalizer, much like rain or inclement weather. Anything can happen. It’s the first, true, full-speed exercise of the year. Sure, teams have been practicing for a month, but there’s nothing like that first game to knock off the rust.

2.       Matchup to Watch: TCU’s offensive line vs. Minnesota’s front 6 – this is key as TCU wants to protect quarterback Trevone Boykin and execute its offense. If Minnesota’s going to stay in this game and impart their will to slow down the game, then the Gopher’s defense is going to have to be stellar.

3.       Matchup Watch II: TCU’s rebuilt secondary vs. Minnesota’s young/inexperienced wide receivers. Will the real players please stand up? Thursday night will be a proving ground for these two groups and, while Minnesota still wants to run it most of the time, they installed some “hurry-up” to the offense in the off-season that includes emphasis on the short passing game.

4.       Kicking game – it’s one of the hardest parts (and for coaches, the scariest) part of the game, especially in first games. This is where turnovers are found and games turn. The team that’s secure with the ball in this phase always wins.

The Frogs are being led into 2015 by their offense. This is a switch from what we usually get. Defense rules. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Coach P and the defensive staff have a whole lot more fun calling defenses when the offense is putting up 40+ points a game. Will it happen at Minnesota? It could. The weather will be perfect for a high-octane night.

Minnesota is better than you think. They have improved each year that Jerry Kill has been head coach. They’ve had back-to-back 8-5 seasons and they’re starting to complete for the Big 10 title. Last year, it was Minnesota who gave Ohio State their only real battle late in conference play. Not Michigan, not Wisconsin, not Michigan State. Bear that in mind as you settle into your seat tonight.

All this being said, I think the Frogs win and get off the launch pad in style. They have to.