Fear not fans of collegiate athletics, for the return of the college football is upon us. The TCU Horned Frogs—somehow the No. 2 team in the nation—visit the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Thursday, with the intention of kickstarting a national championship campaign.

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A free live stream of the contest can be found here. Additional TV coverage can be found on ESPN.

Preview

Game Time: 8:00 p.m. local time

Location: TFC Bank Stadium

Weather: 80°F, Partly Cloudy

Odds: TCU -17, per Bovada

Radio: Texas (WBAP 820 AM); Minnesota (KFAN 100.3)

What They're Saying

TCU head coach Gary Patterson on his assessment of Minnesota, per Star Telegram: "Really a good football team, but probably didn't get as much credit as they deserved. Then I really watched them at the end of the year; they probably played Ohio State as well as anybody did, even better than anybody in the playoffs."

Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill on what this game means for his program, per Fox Sports: "Well, I think probably the best thing for us is to gauge where we're at, what we need to do better. There's no question it's a good measuring stick for us."

Performance to Watch

In addition to the national championship, the Heisman Trophy will be on the line in Minnesota on Thursday. Trevone Boykin enters the season as one of the prohibitive favorites for the award. A national stage will allow him fire the first salvo in this year's race.

Last season, Boykin completed 61.2 percent of his passes for 3,901 yards and 33 TDs. But it's his turnovers—10 INTs in 13 starts—that must improve if he's to solidify his place as a Heisman Trophy candidate.

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