If you like dual-threat quarterback, then Saturday night’s 95^th edition of TCU-SMU is the ticket for you.

Trevone Boykin, TCU’s Heisman Trophy candidate, will match skills with the Ponies’ athletic signal caller Matt Davis. Ironically, both had to fight for their quarterback lives at one point in their careers. You know the story of Boykin and his path from quarterback to wide receiver to taking on Matt Joekel for the starting role in 2014 to exploding on the college football world.

But Matt Davis’ path is even more circuitous. Davis was signed by Mike Sherman to play at Texas A&M. When Kevin Sumlin showed up as the new head coach in College Station, and Johnny Football exploded as Aggie signal caller, then Davis decided he better look elsewhere for work. So he transferred to Tyler Junior College for a  year, then landed at SMU where he saw his first action last year. If you count them up, new SMU head coach Chad Morris is Davis’ fifth coach in his college career.

Well, don’t feel too sorry for Davis. He’s landed quite nicely at a place that wants him and is playing for a coach that wants to be at SMU. Head coach Chad Morris has pumped lift into the SMU program, and he has the Mustangs believing they can compete and win. An Art Briles starter kit, Morris cut his coaching teeth with 15-plus years as a Texas high school coach before moving on to Tulsa and then Clemson as an offensive coordinator. He will mend recruiting fences in Texas that were abandoned and left to rust under June Jones.

TCU Football at SMU photographed at Ford Stadium on the SMU campus in Dallas, Texas on September 27, 2012. Photos by Michael Clements.

Matchup #1: Davis vs. the TCU defense — Morris has installed an offense in which Davis can thrive. SMU will line up and run the ball. Yes, I said run the ball straight at you. They’ll throw it, too. They call it Pony Up Tempo and Davis is the key. So far he’s done most of his damage running with the football when four and five wideouts fail to get open and he has to take off. He’s averaging 120 yards per game on the ground so far. Davis is a great decision-maker and he will spread out and test TCU’s ability to contain.

Matchup #2:  Boykin vs. the SMU secondary — Much like TCU, SMU’s defensive strength is its defensive line. They are large and they are improved. Beyond the line, things get murky for the Mustangs. That’s where Boykin and the Horned Frog receiving corps should have room to work. SMU has struggled in coverage. They prefer to play a lot of man-to-man, but have resorted to zone coverages to try to minimize the big plays prevalent in their loss to Baylor.

History Lesson: TCU and SMU began their series in 1915. The Frogs hold a 47-40-7 lead and have won 13 of the last 16. There has been one forfeit in the series in 1918 when heavy rains left roads in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in terrible shape with many impassable. On the way to Dallas, the Frogs’ bus got stuck in the mud, and the team couldn’t make it to the stadium. So TCU had to forfeit the game, officially a 1-0 loss.

Kick ‘Em High!