TCU dealing with difficulties

Even though Texas Christian was been picked in July to win the Mountain West Conference football title, this has been a difficult offseason.

Tommy Blake, one of the nation’s top defensive ends, left training camp, the high expectations apparently too much to bear. Coach Gary Patterson flew to Blake’s Southeast Texas home and convinced him to come back, but Blake might miss Saturday’s opener against Baylor with a stomach bug.

Defensive end Braylon Broughton’s mother died while the team was in training camp, and safety Corderra Hunter’s father appears to be close to death.

Defensive tackle James Vess was suspended for the season.

But Patterson said the Horned Frogs have kept their focus amid the turmoil.

“I’m very happy with the way my team responded and stayed close together and kept working hard because there have been a lot of distractions,” he said Tuesday. “It’s hard because people forget all the time — they just think these guys just play on Saturday. When things happen off the field, it’s hard for them to be able to cope with it.

“It’s been interesting, to say the least.”

• HARD FEELINGS — When Syracuse earlier this month bought its way out of a return trip to Wyoming in 2009, Cowboys coach Joe Glenn didn’t hide his thoughts.

“I’ve got a new favorite team this season — anybody who beats Syracuse,” he told the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune.

“It’s just horrible, and it shows no class,” he told the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle.

The Orange paid $200,000 to get out of the 2009 game. Perhaps nearly losing at home to Wyoming last season scared off Syracuse, which prevailed 40-34 in two overtimes.

The situation with Syracuse makes Glenn grateful to Virginia for traveling to Wyoming for Saturday’s game.

“We appreciate the fact the Virginia Cavaliers kept up their end of the deal,” Glenn said Tuesday.

• INSIDE KNOWLEDGE — Both coaches in Thursday’s UNLV-Utah State game are more than familiar with the opposing quarterbacks.

Aggies coach Brent Guy tried to recruit UNLV starter Travis Dixon when Guy was Arizona State’s defensive coordinator in 2004. Dixon was a two-time state champion at Hamilton High School in Chandler, Ariz.

“He can run around,” Guy said. “He has a good, accurate arm. He’s a winner. He hasn’t played in three years. It’ll be interesting to see how he handles the pressure.”

When Rebels coach Mike Sanford was Utah’s offensive coordinator in 2004, he helped recruit Aggies starter Leon Jackson before the Utes turned their attention to another player. Jackson was the league Most Valuable Player while playing for Long Beach (Calif.) Poly High.

“I think he’s a really good player,” Sanford said. “He was right there with guys we were recruiting at Utah.”

• COMMITMENT — Offensive lineman Shane Watterson (6 feet 5 inches, 265 pounds) of Saugus (Calif.) High committed to UNLV.