NCAA Football

TCU Is More Than Just BCS Buster

Posted Nov 15, 2009 1:46AM By Terrance Harris (RSS feed)

Filed Under: TCU, Utah, BCS, Mountain West

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Andy DaltonFORT WORTH, Texas -- Gary Patterson really doesn't want to lobby the BCS for inclusion into its national championship mix.

The fourth-ranked TCU Horned Frogs' impressive body of work should be enough.

They are just one of six remaining undefeated teams in the country, and have collected quality road wins at Clemson, Air Force and BYU en route to moving into fourth place in the BCS standings, the highest such ranking ever for a non-automatic qualifier.

But the Horned Frogs made their boldest statement yet this season Saturday, luring the 16th-ranked and reigning Mountain West champion Utah Utes into their place with the promise of another close contest only to lock the gates on them at Amon G. Carter Stadium. When it was all over, the Frogs had thoroughly waxed their nemesis 55-28 in front of a record overflow crowd of 50,307 in Amon Carter Stadium.

So voters and computers were you paying attention?

"If the nation didn't think this was enough style points then I don't know what is," said Patterson, who is now 2-3 all-time against Utah. "We are just going to go about our business because that was a good football team."

The Utes' 8-1, 5-0 MWC record and lofty national ranking were tangible proof how good Utah was. The ease in which the Frogs, who are 10-0 for just the second time since 1938 when they won their last national championship, handled the Utes in all facets proved just how much better TCU is.

The Frogs amassed 342 yards rushing with running back Ed Wesley racing for 137 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Andy Dalton added 207 yards and a touchdown through the air, while the defense limited the Utes to 65 yards on 27 carries for the night. The specials teams units got into the act, as well, with a blocked punt and return specialist Jeremy Kerley was again his spectacular season.

"They were who we thought they were," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, whose team dropped to 8-2, and 5-1 on the season. "Tonight, that was a good football team. I have been a head coach for five years, that is the best team I've ever faced."
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High praise from a man who beat the team ranked No. 1 for most of last season, Alabama, in the Sugar Bowl last season.

The only negatives were a missed 26-yard field goal and a muffed punt and then a couple surrendered deep balls after the game was well out of hand. All correctable breakdowns.

Overall, It was the kind of overwhelming performance you would expect from Texas, Florida and Alabama -- the three teams ranked ahead of them in the BCS rankings. TCU, led by a stifling defense and a highly efficient offense, is beyond good.

These Horned Frogs are flirting with greatness. But in a college football universe where the big time programs call all the shots, TCU likely will never get to test that greatness.

Oh sure, the BCS brethren from the Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl all showed up Saturday willing to extend an invite to the Frogs. Utah and Boise State have had enough success in those second-tier BCS games that the little guy stepping up to challenge Goliath has been embraced.

But the most logical and deserving next step for TCU should be the BCS national championship game in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl following the season, provided they win out against Wyoming and New Mexico to conclude the regular season.

The Frogs' defense, led by All-American defensive end Jerry Hughes, is as dominant as Texas' and Alabama's units. And quarterback Andy Dalton has transformed the offense into one that's every bit as explosive as the Tim Tebow-led Florida Gators.

The compelling argument against the Frogs being the first outsiders to make their way into the BCS national title game is they haven't faced week-in and week-out challenges that exist in the SEC and Big 12 South in the Mountain West. You can't disagree there.

But since you can't blame the program that was left in the cold when the Southwest Conference broke apart to form the Big 12 anymore than you can blame the Longhorns for a joke of a non-conference schedule this season, don't you want to know how TCU would measure up against, say, Texas?

"It would be a great opportunity for the school and for our team," Hughes said Saturday night of the possibility of meeting Texas, Florida or Alabama in the national championship game. "But at the same time, we've got to take care of next week because Wyoming is a great team."

There is little reason to believe the Frogs won't handle a mediocre Wyoming squad in Laramie, Wyoming next week. But if you are Patterson, you've been down this road before where your team hits 10-0 as it did in 2003 only to have a letdown.

So you can understand his quandary as the TCU coach wants to aim for the sky for his team, but he doesn't want his players to lose sight of what's in front of them. While the MWC title seems a certainty -- the Frogs are 6-0 in league play -- they still haven't won anything.

Of course, you wouldn't have known that by the way the fans stormed the football field Saturday night.

"The biggest thing with us is we need to finish," Patterson said. "We have two games left, one on the road. I understand how big a win this is. I've been here. I've beaten Oklahoma and then got beat by SMU. We are going to finish. That's what we need to do, we need to finish."

Tags: Andy+Dalton, AndyDalton, BCS, Gary+Patterson, GaryPatterson, Jerry+Hughes, JerryHughes, Kyle+Whittingham, KyleWhittingham, TCU+Horned+Frogs, TcuHornedFrogs

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