What figured to be one of the best games of opening weekend in college football later this month is now deliciously more interesting.
TCU will take on LSU on Aug. 31 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas in a battle of preseason top-25 teams. TCU head coach Gary Patterson and LSU's Les Miles probably won't be hugging it out before or after.
Patterson was publicly critical Wednesday of Miles' decision to allow his team to vote on whether previously suspended running back Jeremy Hill should be reinstated to the team after receiving two additional years of probation for his role in a bar fight. He was already on probation for another matter.
Miles refused to say whether reinstating Hill to practice this week means he won't be suspended from any games this season, but Patterson is clearly planning on seeing him on the field.
Meanwhile, Patterson suspended his best defensive player, defensive end Devonte Fields, for the first two games of the season for a violation of team rules.
“My whole team would vote Devonte to be back on the team because they all want to win,” Patterson said told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in a no-so-subtle swipe at Miles. “That doesn’t teach life lessons.”
Then Patterson took it a step further saying he believes Miles would have handled the situation much differently if he was facing a lesser opponent instead of the Horned Frogs.
“I’m sure if it was some opponent they’d beat by 100 points [the players] wouldn’t have a vote," he told the Star-Telegram. "It’s not my worry. I’ve got to play whoever they put on the field.”
With more than three weeks remaining before game day, there is still plenty of time for tension to build in this one.
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