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TCU moves into 4th place in BCS standings
Kansas State, Nebraska use defense to emerge in Big 12 North
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This is going to be huge.
The TCU football team plays one of the most important regular-season games in school history Saturday as reigning Mountain West Conference champion Utah comes to town for a 6:30 p.m. showdown at Amon G. Carter Stadium.The Utes (8-1, 5-0) are riding a six-game winning streak and seek to dash the Horned Frogs’ hopes of a MWC title. TCU has lost to Utah three consecutive years, including a 13-10 heartbreaker at Utah last season.But more than a MWC title is on the line. TCU (9-0, 5-0) moved up two spots to No. 4 in the Bowl Championship Series standings, the highest BCS ranking ever for a team from a conference without an automatic BCS bid. TCU is attempting to finish the regular season undefeated for the first time since 1938, when the Frogs finished 11-0 and won the national championship. TCU jumped past No. 5 Cincinnati (9-0) and No. 10 Iowa (9-1), which dropped six spots after losing to Northwestern. Utah is 16th in the BCS and The Associated Press, and 14th in USA Today’s coaches’ poll. The Frogs, who have their highest AP ranking since 1956, when they were also No. 4, have won 11 consecutive games since losing to Utah on Nov. 6 of last year.TCU moved up two spots to fourth in the AP poll, remained No. 4 in the USA Today coaches’ poll and is up one spot in the computer ranking used in the BCS equation. Florida is the consensus No. 1, while Alabama (No. 2 in the BCS) and Texas (No. 3) continue to jockey for the No. 2 spot. Texas, No. 2 in both the AP and coaches’ polls, dropped from third to fifth in the computer ranking, behind TCU. More importantly, TCU is still in a battle with No. 6 Boise State for poll position in hopes of earning a BCS bowl berth. Only one team from a non-automatic qualifying conference — the MWC for TCU and the Western Athletic Conference for Boise State — is guaranteed an invitation to one of the five BCS bowls.Of course, all the speculation, rankings and hoopla will evaporate if TCU doesn’t beat Utah. Gary Patterson has preached this verse all season."It won’t be special unless we win this one," he said. "We’ve had teams right up to the cusp, but if you can’t win a conference championship, you can’t be special. We’ve been here before. We were playing awfully good football last year."The Frogs were 9-1 and ranked No. 12 in the BCS when they faced the No. 8 Utes, then 9-0. Utah finished 13-0 and defeated Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. TCU finished 11-2 with a victory over Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl."They’re very physical and they play hard and they know how to win," Patterson said of Utah. "They know how to play in big games and we’ve learned how to play in the big games. Now we’re going to see the final test of that story."Hello, Davey O’Brien ...Andy Dalton may have been overlooked by his hometown when the selection committee for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award — named in honor of the legendary Frogs quarterback — neglected to name him a semifinalist, but his name is starting to be dropped for top awards, such as the Heisman Trophy, by smitten national talk-show hosts and commentators.Dalton, who is on the watch list for the Manning Award, is fourth in the nation in passing efficiency (162.71) behind Boise State’s Kellen Moore, BYU’s Max Hall and Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen. Dalton is ahead of many notable Heisman candidates, including Florida’s Tim Tebow, Texas’ Colt McCoy and Houston’s Case Keenum.
No. 4 TCU vs. No. 16 Utah 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Amon G. Carter StadiumTV: CBS College SportsRadio: ESPN/103.3 FM, KTCU/88.7 FMRecords: TCU 9-0, 5-0 Mountain West; Utah 8-1, 5-0
Stefan Stevenson, 817-390-7760
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