The Frogs tee it up tonight with Halloween looming this weekend. “The Carter” will be rockin’ with a full-on blackout and another sellout crowd.

Trick or Treat? The second season is here.

A five-game gauntlet awaits the Frogs. Three at home. Two on the road. Three of them against ranked teams. Two trips to the state of Oklahoma: one against a Cowboys team that just keeps winning, and one against an OU team that’s just mad and may be the most dangerous of the five remaining. And a finale against a wounded Bear who is now young at heart. Buckle up, Frog fans. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

But that’s what you want. Remember back in July when you were craving college football? You were almost seven months into your withdrawal, and you’d watched all your archived games on your DVR or on DVD? That 1998 Sun Bowl is just as good the 118^th time, huh? But nothing satisfies like the new season. Well, here it is in a nice, neat five-week package … full of tricks!

As I always say, in September, you can draw a line from the result of a game to the depth chart. That’s when teams are fine-tuning. In November, though, you draw lines from scores directly to your team’s post-season fate. It gets serious, and it gets your attention. Just like the old days, TCU would much rather be in the Cotton Bowl (one of the College Football Playoff semifinal sites), instead of the Sugar Bowl, a New Year’s Six game this year. Did I just write that???

Be careful with West Virginia. Sure, they’ve lost three straight, but look who they fell to: OU, Baylor and OSU – three hurdles still on the menu for the No. 5 Frogs. And they have a crafty coach. I like Dana Holgersen and what he does with his offense. He likes balance and he loves the screen game. WVU won’t be afraid to run the ball, and TCU will get tested early.

On defense, the Mountaineers load their muskets with a 3-3-5 scheme that disguises blitzes and makes reads tough. Because of all that movement, the linebackers are sometimes late to the party, especially on blitzes. This could open the door for big plays for TCU. Additionally, if I was coaching WVU’s defense, we’d be working on tackling.

If you like kickers, as I do, this is your game. Jaden Oberkrom has made more field goals that anyone who’s ever taken a swing at it at TCU. Josh Lambert for WVU is strong and can hit from long-range, as can Oberkrom. These guys have ended the last two games in this series. You may see some long kicks tonight.

Something else to look for tonight: Abby Faber, the little girl and Iowa State fan, who has become Trevone Boykin’s new best friend, will be in the house tonight. Keep your eyes open for her. Now that’s a treat!!!

Oh, and how about Coach Jill Kramer and the VolleyFrogs???  Love that “net” result over Texas last night!

Kick ‘Em High!!