TCU 32, BYU 7. When I referred to BYU's inflated ranking, it was a reference to the Cougars' schedule through the first six games, not their actual abilities. I expected, right alongside the optimists who lifted the Y into the top 10 for trouncing UCLA and surviving Washington, that its first opportunity against a respectable outfit like TCU would be a validation, not an exposure.

So much for "The Quest" and all that. Not only was TCU's legitimately killer defense validated at the Cougars' expense, but the nondescript Frog offense made BYU's heretofore solid D look slow and lost. That's an all-around butt-kicking. How many times can a wide receiver standing by himself in the shotgun, with basically no hope of attempting a successful pass downfield, take off for a first down? In Jerome Kerley's case, eight times, for 70 yards and a too-easy touchdown. Andy Dalton had his highest pass efficiency rating of the season against a team not named 'Stephen F. Austin.'

This is not exactly an upset -- TCU has made kind of a habit of big seasons under Gary Patterson and might have been a slight favorite at home, objectively. A rout, though, was not in the cards for BYU, in one of its two real chances (the other set up later against Utah, an intriguing rivalry game that just lost most of whatever sizzle it was generating) to make a move against another top 25 caliber outfit. Whatever the Cougars do from here on out to Colorado State and UNLV and the like, it ends in another Las Vegas Bowl (fourth in a row!), at best.

The 'BCS Buster' thing is Utah's scene now, or Boise State's, or maybe Ball State's, if the Utes and Broncos fall by the wayside. TCU is good enough, obviously, maybe the best of the bunch, but that'll teach 'em to schedule Oklahoma in September. Make that Kansas State instead, and the Frogs are looking into rooms in Tempe right now. Oh well -- they'll just have to settle for ending an 18-game conference win streak in dominant fashion, I guess.