NCAA Football

TCU Makes Boldest BCS Statement Yet

Posted Nov 14, 2009 10:46PM By Terrance Harris (RSS feed)

Filed Under: TCU, Utah, BCS, Mountain West

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TCUFORT WORTH, Texas -- If there were questions about the BCS worthiness of the TCU Horned Frogs, they were answered -- and resoundingly -- Saturday night.

The fourth-ranked Horned Frogs made their big game against 16th-ranked Utah seem like an exhibition as they stunned the naysayers and maybe even themselves by routing the defending Mountain West champion Utes 55-28 in front a record crowd of 50,307 at Amon G. Carter Stadium.

The most immediate result is that the undefeated Horned Frogs have a major leg up in the MWC race by getting past nemesis Utah in convincing fashion. Even bigger, the Horned Frogs sent a clear message to the BCS community that they deserve to be part of the BCS conversation, not just for one of the four big bowl bids but for a real shot at the national title game.

If Saturday night's game is any indication, the Horned Frogs are as dominant on defense as Texas and Alabama, and as potent on offense as Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators. TCU, ranked fourth in last week's BCS standings, made it look easy against a quality Utah team in a game that broke ranks with the recent competitiveness of this series.

The Frogs, sparked by highly efficient night by quarterback Andy Dalton and a stifling defensive performance, led the Utes 38-14 at halftime and never looked back as they moved to 10-0 overall and 6-0 in the MWC for the season. Utah slipped to 8-2, 5-1 on the season.

The Utes, who were supposed to be the closest thing to TCU athletically in the MWC, seemed several steps slow as running backs Matthew Tucker, Ed Wesley and Joseph Turner along with Dalton all converted explosive plays on the ground while receivers Ryan Christian and Jeremy Kerley couldn't be defended most of the night.

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Defensively, led by All-American defensive end Jerry Hughes, the Frogs gave Utah running back Eddie Wide little room to run while harassing quarterback Jordan Wynn all night long.

Putting forth such a convincing performance on such a major stage, which included ESPN's GameDay crew and several national media members, will make it difficult to keep the Horned Frogs out of the national title discussion should Florida, Alabama and Texas falter in these final two weeks of the regular season. But to keep the conversation going, TCU also can't afford a letdown in its final two regular season games at Wyoming and then home against New Mexico.

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