TCU not wanting to repeat past in Wyoming
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP)—The last time TCU played at Wyoming, the Horned Frogs lost. The last time they were 10-0, they lost.
Be assured that coach Gary Patterson has reminded his team of that 2007 trip to Laramie, Wyo., where the fourth-ranked Horned Frogs play on Saturday. And the 2003 season when they won their first 10 games before losing at Southern Miss and even 2005, when after winning at Oklahoma to start the season they lost at SMU.
“We were quickly reminded,” defensive tackle Cory Grant said.
But this season is already much different. TCU has reached unprecedented heights while showing no signs of faltering.
The Frogs (6-0 Mountain West) are fourth in the Bowl Championship Series standings, higher than any team from a conference without an automatic bid has ever been this late in a season. Win their last two games and they likely play in one of the big-money bowl BCS games, and maybe even have a chance to be the first outsider to play for the national title.
They are coming off a 55-28 victory over Utah, when they built a 35-7 lead before a record home crowd of more than 50,000 against last season’s BCS buster. And there was an earlier 31-point victory at BYU, the other perennial Top 25 team from the Mountain West.
Patterson is still cautious and reminding his team that they have to go on the road and “take the game.” Yet he also realizes how close the Frogs are to accomplishing something special.
“We’ve been at this point in time,” Patterson said. “I don’t see why this football team would have a letdown.”
Especially since the Frogs are heavy favorites in their last two games, at Wyoming (5-5, 3-3 MWC) where they can clinch at least a share of the Mountain West title, then the home finale the following Saturday against winless New Mexico.
“The thing that makes them so tough is they have no weakness,” Wyoming coach Dave Christensen said. “They have no spot on the field you would consider a weakness. … They’re a complete team.”
TCU is fourth nationally in total defense (245 yards per game) and total offense (468 yards), the only team that even ranks top 15 in both categories. The Frogs have scored more than 50 points in consecutive games for the first time in school history and had at least 500 total yards the last three—and they gave up only 53 total points the last five games.
“We are very confident in what we have as far as this football team, what we’ve established thus far,” Grant said. “I believe if we keep on all the cylinders we are right now, we should do what we have to do and win the next two games and get to the place we want to go.”
The Frogs’ last undefeated regular season was 1938, when Heisman Trophy-winner quarterback Davey O’Brien led TCU to their only national championship.
Still, Patterson’s cautious nature will point out that the Frogs lost 24-21 their last trip to Wyoming. What he will fail to mention is that they beat the Cowboys 54-7 at home last season.
He might note that third-ranked Texas, which went to Wyoming as a nearly five-touchdown favorite in September, trailed late in the second quarter and led only 13-10 at halftime. The rest of that story: Texas won 41-10.
But ask Patterson about his 2003 team that was 10-0 before losing 40-28 at Southern Miss, ending its hope of making the BCS or even winning the Conference USA title that year, he provides a stark and telling comparison that shows his confidence.
“We’re a lot better team,” Patterson said. “We were running of gas when we went to Southern Miss.”
Wyoming needed a 24-point rally in fourth quarter last weekend to win 30-27 at San Diego State, where TCU won 55-12 a week earlier. The Cowboys were outscored 110-16 their previous 15 quarters—including two shutout losses— before that outburst.
Regardless, Patterson wants his team to approach Wyoming the same way they did Utah, BYU and everybody else.
“We’ve got quite a task at hand this week, just because of playing a team that also has a chance to be bowl eligible. So for us, we just need to keep minding our own business,” Patterson said. “Playing at home (to end the regular season), if you could get by this ball game, then I think you can start letting your mind think a little bit more.”
