Rhett Lashlee: Different Intensity for Ponies' Game This Week

Playing TCU has a different feel, passion, for players this week

DALLAS — Everyone knows it. When TCU and SMU get together doing just about anything there's a different feeling because many of players are from Texas and the ones who came in from somewhere else figure it out pretty quick.

"There is a different intensity to it," Lashlee said this week. "You can feel it in warm ups when you have an interstate rivalry or whatever it may be. You've got to go out and play the game with with passion not emotion and that's hard to do."

The same feeling is on the other side of the field in this one. Expect things to get a little, uh, emotional at times and that's expected in these types of games. How both schools can't figure a way to keep this going is one of the sad things about all this conference realignment stuff, but it is the way of the world these days.

Hate it all you want, but it's the way of the college sports world these days. There will be more coming. "I don't know if there's more fire," Lashlee said. "It's a big game. It's a game, like I said, that's been played 102 times after this Saturday. There's a lot of guys that went to both schools and a lot of people in both fan bases and it's important to them."

Like most coaches, he's staying focused on the game. He'll let the fans and cheerleaders get all worked up over things. Again, not usual. That's kinda what you'd want because I've heard for decades if that emotion wears out by halftime, you've got a bigger problem on your hand for two more quarters.

"We know how good they were last year, they were national runner-ups," Lashlee said. Their roster is better this year than it was last year. They got some really key returners on both sides of the ball back and then the areas they lost players, they brought in transfers and guys that are arguably more talented."

A lot of folks would argue with that, especially after blowing a home game to Colorado and the Deion Sanders circus that came to Fort Worth. Kickoff for this game is 11 a.m. and will be televised on FS1 and fuboTV.