Texas Christian Takes Giant Step Toward BCS
FORT WORTH — Texas Christian has threatened to crash the Bowl Championship Series before.
In 2003, the Horned Frogs were undefeated and ranked No. 10 until they lost their 11th game, at Southern Mississippi. Two years later, they stunned fifth-ranked Oklahoma to open the season but lost to Southern Methodist the next week and finished the season with an 11-1 record.
And last season, T.C.U. was in the hunt until losing at Utah on Nov. 6, a defeat that left some of its players in tears. But as close as the Horned Frogs have been, a B.C.S. berth has proved elusive.
“That’s probably the only hurdle that we have left in terms of people saying we can’t do this or that,” said Coach Gary Patterson, who is in his ninth year at T.C.U.
After fourth-ranked T.C.U.’s 55-28 evisceration of No. 16 Utah on Saturday before a record crowd of 50,307 at Amon G. Carter Stadium, those cynics may want to change their tune.
In perhaps their biggest home game in more than 50 years, the Horned Frogs (10-0, 6-0 Mountain West) raced to a 35-7 lead in the game’s first 19 minutes and cruised to their 12th straight victory, the third-longest streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The victory came in front of representatives from the Rose, Fiesta and Orange Bowls. After the game, fans swarmed the field around Patterson and chanted, “Gary! Gary! Gary!”
“If the nation doesn’t think that this was enough style points, then I don’t know what is,” he said.
And with their only remaining regular-season games at Wyoming and against winless New Mexico, which had a combined 4-15 record as of Saturday night, they may have passed their last significant challenge en route to finally clearing that B.C.S. hurdle.
“I understand how big of a win this is,” Patterson said. “I’ve been here. We’re going to finish. That’s what we need to do.”
The dominant fashion of the Horned Frogs’ win is sure to reverberate throughout college football and ensure a B.C.S. berth if T.C.U. finishes the regular season undefeated. And even though Texas is ranked No. 2, the Horned Frogs’ victory put them in the conversation when discussing the best team in this state.
By halftime, T.C.U. had scored more points than Utah (8-2, 5-1) had allowed in any game this season.
T.C.U.’s defense, which entered the game third in the F.B.S., held the Utes to 284 yards. The Horned Frogs had 549, including 342 on the ground, and Horned Frogs quarterback Andy Dalton had another efficient performance, completing 17 of 29 passes for 207 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
And as much of a mismatch as the game was, the score was tied at 7-7 after a 10-yard touchdown run by Utah receiver Shaky Smithson with 4 minutes 48 seconds left in the first quarter.
The tie did not last long. On T.C.U.’s next possession, Dalton threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to tailback Ryan Christian. After blocking a punt, the Horned Frogs scored again on wide receiver Jeremy Kerley’s 3-yard touchdown run.
A 39-yard punt return by Kerley then set up a 1-yard touchdown run by wide receiver Antonie Hicks, making the score 28-7. On Utah’s ensuing possession, T.C.U. linebacker Tank Carder intercepted a pass and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown to push his team’s lead to 28 points with 11:40 left in the second quarter.
The last three touchdowns came in a span of 2:31.
“We got some breaks,” Patterson said. “Some things happened to us.”
Yet as dominant as T.C.U.’s victory was, it will not help much in the B.C.S. standings, said Jerry Palm, an independent analyst and the publisher of collegebcs.com. Palm said he did not expect the Horned Frogs to move up from their No. 4 spot when the new B.C.S. standings are released Sunday.
Palm said he anticipated that T.C.U. would remain behind Florida, Alabama and Texas. The Horned Frogs could eventually be passed by No. 5 Cincinnati, but they should stay ahead of No. 6 Boise State (10-0, 5-0 Western Athletic Conference) and be B.C.S. bound with wins in their last two games.
“If anybody had any doubts about this team, this helps erase them,” Palm said. “People were going to have doubts no matter what because of the league they play in. You’re never going to win those people over, but anybody that was sitting on the fence about this team, they would at least have to be impressed.”
T.C.U. is in control of the conference race, but for it to have any chance of playing in the B.C.S. title game, it will need help from Florida, Alabama and Texas. At a minimum, two of those three teams would have to lose, and maybe Cincinnati as well, Palm said, to give the Horned Frogs a berth in the national championship game.
“And even then, the voters would have to warm up to the idea,” he said.
FORT WORTH — Texas Christian has threatened to crash the Bowl Championship Series before.
In 2003, the Horned Frogs were undefeated and ranked No. 10 until they lost their 11th game, at Southern Mississippi. Two years later, they stunned fifth-ranked Oklahoma to open the season but lost to Southern Methodist the next week and finished the season with an 11-1 record.
And last season, T.C.U. was in the hunt until losing at Utah on Nov. 6, a defeat that left some of its players in tears. But as close as the Horned Frogs have been, a B.C.S. berth has proved elusive.
“That’s probably the only hurdle that we have left in terms of people saying we can’t do this or that,” said Coach Gary Patterson, who is in his ninth year at T.C.U.
After fourth-ranked T.C.U.’s 55-28 evisceration of No. 16 Utah on Saturday before a record crowd of 50,307 at Amon G. Carter Stadium, those cynics may want to change their tune.
In perhaps their biggest home game in more than 50 years, the Horned Frogs (10-0, 6-0 Mountain West) raced to a 35-7 lead in the game’s first 19 minutes and cruised to their 12th straight victory, the third-longest streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The victory came in front of representatives from the Rose, Fiesta and Orange Bowls. After the game, fans swarmed the field around Patterson and chanted, “Gary! Gary! Gary!”
“If the nation doesn’t think that this was enough style points, then I don’t know what is,” he said.
And with their only remaining regular-season games at Wyoming and against winless New Mexico, which had a combined 4-15 record as of Saturday night, they may have passed their last significant challenge en route to finally clearing that B.C.S. hurdle.
“I understand how big of a win this is,” Patterson said. “I’ve been here. We’re going to finish. That’s what we need to do.”
The dominant fashion of the Horned Frogs’ win is sure to reverberate throughout college football and ensure a B.C.S. berth if T.C.U. finishes the regular season undefeated. And even though Texas is ranked No. 2, the Horned Frogs’ victory put them in the conversation when discussing the best team in this state.
By halftime, T.C.U. had scored more points than Utah (8-2, 5-1) had allowed in any game this season.
T.C.U.’s defense, which entered the game third in the F.B.S., held the Utes to 284 yards. The Horned Frogs had 549, including 342 on the ground, and Horned Frogs quarterback Andy Dalton had another efficient performance, completing 17 of 29 passes for 207 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
And as much of a mismatch as the game was, the score was tied at 7-7 after a 10-yard touchdown run by Utah receiver Shaky Smithson with 4 minutes 48 seconds left in the first quarter.
The tie did not last long. On T.C.U.’s next possession, Dalton threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to tailback Ryan Christian. After blocking a punt, the Horned Frogs scored again on wide receiver Jeremy Kerley’s 3-yard touchdown run.
A 39-yard punt return by Kerley then set up a 1-yard touchdown run by wide receiver Antonie Hicks, making the score 28-7. On Utah’s ensuing possession, T.C.U. linebacker Tank Carder intercepted a pass and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown to push his team’s lead to 28 points with 11:40 left in the second quarter.
The last three touchdowns came in a span of 2:31.
“We got some breaks,” Patterson said. “Some things happened to us.”
Yet as dominant as T.C.U.’s victory was, it will not help much in the B.C.S. standings, said Jerry Palm, an independent analyst and the publisher of collegebcs.com. Palm said he did not expect the Horned Frogs to move up from their No. 4 spot when the new B.C.S. standings are released Sunday.
Palm said he anticipated that T.C.U. would remain behind Florida, Alabama and Texas. The Horned Frogs could eventually be passed by No. 5 Cincinnati, but they should stay ahead of No. 6 Boise State (10-0, 5-0 Western Athletic Conference) and be B.C.S. bound with wins in their last two games.
“If anybody had any doubts about this team, this helps erase them,” Palm said. “People were going to have doubts no matter what because of the league they play in. You’re never going to win those people over, but anybody that was sitting on the fence about this team, they would at least have to be impressed.”
T.C.U. is in control of the conference race, but for it to have any chance of playing in the B.C.S. title game, it will need help from Florida, Alabama and Texas. At a minimum, two of those three teams would have to lose, and maybe Cincinnati as well, Palm said, to give the Horned Frogs a berth in the national championship game.
“And even then, the voters would have to warm up to the idea,” he said.
Source: New York Times
