For Frogs, it's eight down, four to go

By David May / KillerFrogs.com Staff Writer

TCU returns this week to the friendly confines of Qualcomm Park, where it has won four games in the past four years.

But three of those wins were not exactly easy, and that includes two games against San Diego State, this week’s opponent and one of four teams standing between the Frogs and a BCS berth.

“"Everyone left on the schedule, with the exception of New Mexico, is playing for something,” said Frogs head coach Gary Patterson. “San Diego State is playing for a bowl game. Wyoming is 4-4 and they will be playing for a bowl game. Utah is playing for a conference title and to go to a big bowl game. When you play teams at this time of year and everyone is playing for a bowl game, every week is a fist fight. Why would you want it any different?”

TCU (8-0, 4-0) has been here before only to have its hopes and hearts crushed. It’s that time in the season that could cause Frogs fan to go, “Uh oh.”

But these aren’t your 2000, 2003 or 2008 Horned Frogs. Are they?

TCU, ranked sixth in the BCS standings and with its highest AP ranking (sixth) since 1956, travel to San Diego State this Saturday (3 p.m. CST kickoff, Versus TV) to take on an improved Aztecs team. Might the mighty Frogs be tempted to look past SDSU in anticipation of the following week’s highly anticipated showdown in Fort Worth against Utah? Can Patterson keep his team focused and avoid the slips he has encountered in previous seasons in Frogland?

It is hard to go undefeated in any league, in any sport, at any level. There is almost always that one week …

"I know they are staying focused and doing the things they need to do, but the biggest thing you worry about is getting through these next three or four ball games without a letdown,” said Patterson. “If you do have one, can you still find a way to win? That's the hard part. It's just hard to keep up that kind of intensity for so many ball games. You always worry more about it on the road than you do at home."

TCU hasn’t exactly throttled lesser SDSU teams at Qualcomm Stadium. In 2005, TCU squeezed out a near-choking 23-20 win over an Aztecs team that finished the year 5-7. In 2007, TCU claimed a 45-33 win over an SDSU team that went 4-8. The Frogs last year defeated SDSU in Fort Worth by a 41-7 margin.

So what does all that have to do with this Saturday’s game? The answer is not much. It’s a new year and two different teams in many respects.

This year, SDSU (4-4, 2-2) is improving under first-year head coach Brady Hoke. The Aztecs have won consecutive games for the first time in four years, though they struggled at home last week and had to rally for a 23-20 victory over still winless New Mexico. SDSU has their best record at this point of the season since 2003.

"We've got our work cut out for us this week, obviously,” Hoke said during his weekly press conference. “(They are the) fourth-ranked team (USA Today coaches’ poll) in the country. It's a tremendous challenge for us, a tremendous opportunity. There's nothing in their game that they do poorly from offense to defense, their kicking game, their return game. (They are) well coached, Gary and his staff continue to do a great job of coaching and having those guys ready to play. We've got a big challenge and a great opportunity and a lot of work to do in the next couple of days."

With four games to play – TCU, Wyoming, Utah and UNLV – SDSU can still get bowl eligible and perhaps receive a bid to play in the Poinsettia Bowl played in their home stadium, which has been declared an H1N1 Safe Zone in San Diego by the Centers for Disease Control because practically no one goes to an Aztecs game.

Hoke hopes to see more people in the stadium this week, but said he doesn’t really pay attention to attendance.

“To be honest with you, I get so locked in [with] tunnel vision, I don't probably notice as much as maybe ... that's a big facility we play.” he said.

SDSU’s player and coaches have more than the turnstiles to worry about Saturday.

The Aztecs cannot run the ball (66.5 yards per game, ranking 119th out of 120 FBS teams) – and they sure won’t this week, facing a TCU defense ranking eighth nationally in rushing defense, allowing 89.38 yards per game.

Quarterback Ryan Lindley is putting up better passing numbers of late.  He was 22 of 38 for 253 yards with three touchdown passes against New Mexico. The previous week, in a 42-28 win at Colorado State, Lindley threw for 327 yards and five TDs in the second half. SDSU is averaging 278 yards passing per game, good for 19th nationally. He has thrown for 2,142 yards and 20 TDs on the year.

He will go again this week without one his top receivers, Vincent Brown, who is out.

Lindley said SDSU’s ability to rally and win will help the team gain confidence.

"We've known it helps, having done it a couple of times, that we can come back and we can strike quickly,” he said. “We have the opportunity and the potential to make plays and make things happen quickly and we know that even if we get down, even if we're down by a couple of scores that we can make things happen, and as a team we can come back into games."

But outside of net punting (10th nationally at 39.68 ypp) and punt returns (21st nationally at 13.27 yards), the Aztecs don’t measure up well statistically. Besides their conference wins over CSU and New Mexico the last two weeks, their other two wins have come against Utah State and New Mexico State.

"I think you take every team for the challenge that they are, but when it comes down to it, it's about us executing no matter who we play,” said Lindley. “It doesn't matter who you play, if you don't execute, you're not going to be successful, you're not going to win. This is a game we just need to go in, get game plan down, and just execute within the game plan."

A number Lindley will be most concerned with Saturday is 98 – TCU’s All-American defensive end Jerry Hughes. But he said there is more to TCU’s defense than just the purple sack master, fifth nationally in that category with nine this season to go with 10.5 tackles for a loss.

"I think (Jerry Hughes) a great player to start off,” he said. “As a whole they have a ton of guys on their team [who] can make plays and they've got a lot of speed. I think there's some things we might try to protect against him and make sure we've got a couple of guys on him. I think really based on that, you can't really think about that or it'll get you off your game. You just need to keep going on your reads, doing what you need to do on offense."

After the Frogs’ 41-0 shellacking of UNLV this past Saturday, TCU again is the nation’s top ranked defense, ranked first in total defense (235.75 ypg); is ranked third nationally in scoring defense (11 ppg); eighth nationally in rushing defense (89.38 ypg); and sixth in passing defense (146.38 ypg).

Not only is TCU’s defense once again dominating, but the offense, under junior quarterback Andy Dalton working behind one of the best offensive lines in the nation with a stable of outstanding running backs and a battery of receiving threats, is showing that TCU is no longer one dimensional. The Frogs possess a solid offense and highly ranked special teams units.

With return threat Jeremy Kerley, TCU ranks fourth nationally in kickoff returns with an average of 29.76 yards per returns, and 12th nationally in punt returns, averaging 14.62 yards per return with two touchdowns, both by Kerley. The Hutto Houdini is sixth nationally in punt returns with a 16.48 average and 21st nationally in kickoff returns with a 28.33 average.

Dalton is currently the nation’s sixth-ranked passer with an efficiency rating of 158.36. The big rooster has completed 118 of his 187 attempts (63 percent) for 1,642 yards (8.78 avg.) and 14 touchdowns with just three interceptions on the year.

The Frogs were a top offense last season, a sign that things were changing on that side of the ball. This year the team has taken even more steps to establishing itself as one of the nation’s top units. TCU has the nation’s seventh best rushing offense (233.38 ypg); 11th-ranked scoring offense (35.25 ppg); and 12th-ranked total offense (447 ypg).

Consider how the Frogs are going about piling up their huge rushing numbers. The best example came this past week when TCU rushed for a whopping 392 yards on 48 attempts (the most since 2003), with redshirt freshman Ed Wesley the leading rusher with 86 yards on just seven carries.

TCU has taken running back by committee to a new level. This past Saturday 10 different players had carries. Two weeks ago against Colorado State, 14 Frogs backs had touches. It’s almost an embarrassment of riches at that position that gets even richer next season.

Senior running back Joseph Turner says he has no problems with the backfield rotation.

“I like to think that as hard as we practice and as hard as we push each other, we get a lot of rest out there,” he said. “We get to come in fresh and full speed.”

Hoke said his team cannot worry about all those statistics but rather focus on executing its game plans.

"We're going to just worry about what we have to do,” he said. “Our kids know they're a good football team. I don't have to talk to them about it, to be honest with you … we've got to be who we are and what we do best. We'll stick with that, first of all, and we'll try and find some other ways that we think we can attack them."

Hoke said no one has to tell him how fast and athletic TCU is overall.

"I told my wife they remind me [when] we played Alabama in the Orange Bowl in 2000,” he said, referring to his time at Michigan as the Wolverines’ defensive line coach. “The speed of that team reminds me of the speed of this team."

Patterson is taking nothing for granted.

"Like I said earlier this season, if we are going to do it, it's going to be the hard way,” he said. “Sometimes, things work out where you play somebody that lost somebody or is statistically out of it. It won't be that way until we get to the final ball game, and they (New Mexico) are playing better. We've got to go play. If we can pull it off, it will make it more memorable because you can do those kinds of things. That's what I'm excited about."

The Frogs’ boss is fully aware of the buzz around his team and hopes to keep the good times rolling.

"I'm excited for our fans,” Patterson said. “I'm excited they have something to talk about. Nationally, we have gained a lot of attention. My job is to make sure the fans don't get their hearts broken. We need to finish up and do the things we need to do. There's a lot of excitement here. There's a lot of people excited about where we're at, what we're doing and how we're doing it."

Saturday is one of TCU’s four chances to stub its toe, or prove this program is one that has learned its lessons and is ready to show it belongs on the national stage. To answer an earlier question, no, this team is not your 2000, 2003 or 2008 Horned Frogs. This team is much better overall.