Thirsty? Patterson's mixing a batch of BCS Kool-Aid

Joseph Turner and the fourth-ranked TCU Horned Frogs will try to go to 11-0 when they take on the Wyoming Cowboys in Laramie this Saturday afternoon. KillerFrogs.com photo by David May

By David May / KillerFrogs.com Staff Writer

TCU head coach Gary Patterson might not drink the BCS Kool-Aid, but he’s mixing a big pitcher of it – grape flavored, of course.

Ummmm, purple.

Patterson won't make anyone else take a drink. He says should the No. 4 Frogs (10-0, 6-0) win their last two games convincingly, they have done all they can to prove themselves worthy. He is not about to be drawn into comparison discussions with Florida, Alabama or Texas.

"It doesn't do any good to complain about it,” Patterson said at his weekly press conference Tuesday. “My job is to have the best football team I can possibly put on the field. All of those people you are talking about started at the top. You have to give them credit and respect for what they have been able to do up to this point."

A week after one of the biggest games in TCU history – certainly in the past 50 years – TCU knocked off No. 16 Utah, 55-28, before a national TV audience and an Amon Carter Stadium record crowd of 50,307 and then some. The win kept the Frogs as one of six unbeaten teams in the nation.

TCU has reached the 10-win mark for the sixth time in the last eight seasons. A victory Saturday would give the Frogs their fifth 11-win campaign since 2003. TCU is 10-0 for the first time since 2003, the second time since the 1938 national championship season and for just the fourth time in school history (1935, 1938, 2003 and 2009). The Frogs currently have the nation’s third-longest win streak at 12.

TCU can clinch a share of its second MWC title in five years when it travels to Laramie, Wyo., to face the Cowboys (5-5, 3-3) in a 1 p.m. CST kickoff, carried on The Mtn.

It’s a game Patterson knows has potential pitfalls for his team, which is closing in on its first BCS bowl game and is in the national discussion and debate of playing for a BCS championship.

"It's business as usual,” said Patterson, now 83-27 at TCU. “We've got two games left. We need to win one to tie for a conference championship and two to win out and prevent anything interesting from happening. Right after the game Saturday, even with how exciting the Utah win was, we started talking about Wyoming. The last time we went up there, we got beat. We have to be ready to play."

Wyoming, a team that led Texas at halftime earlier this year in a game played in Laramie, still has something to play for itself – a bowl game, needing one more win with two games to go to become bowl eligible. Wyoming beat TCU, 24-21, doing something a team has done only once against a Gary Patterson squad – producing two 100-yard rushers.

"We are going to play against a Wyoming team that was down 27-6 at San Diego State and came back to win 30-27,” Patterson said. “They don't have any quit. They have an opportunity to go back to a bowl game. We have to get ready for a fight."

"We just need to keep minding our own business,” Paterson added. “Playing our last game on the road, I think we will be better off just keeping our nose to the ground."

Last Saturday's Wyoming win was one of its biggest comebacks in school history. Quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels threw for 246 yards, rushed for 51 and had 297 yards of total offense in the game. He ran for one touchdown and threw another in the fourth quarter. Ian Watts kicked a 43-yard field goal with only 23 seconds remaining to seal the win.

Carta-Samuels and Watts were named Mountain West Conference Players of the Week for their efforts.

"They've got a freshman quarterback who is going to grow up every year,” Patterson said. “They have gone back to some basics and said we are going to be good at what we do. Both offensively and defensively, they play hard. Dave Christensen is a good football coach. I have followed his career from Toledo all the way to Missouri. He came from a small school in Washington, so he has been at all of the levels and knows what it takes to be successful. He's done a good job of recruiting. You become a head coach to make a team better, and he is on the right track."

Another Wyoming freshman, tight end David Tooley, was honored this week as the national tight end of the week by CollegePerformance.com. after he caught four passes for 70 yards and one touchdown against SDSU. His TD reception tied the game at 27 all with 2:07 remaining in the game.

The win snapped a 10-game conference road losing streak for the Pokes.

Saturday’s game will mark just the sixth meeting between the two teams, with TCU holding a 3-2 edge. The Frogs crushed Wyoming last year in Fort Worth, 54-7.

Wyoming’s wins this season have come against Weber State (29-22); UNLV (30-27); Florida Atlantic (30-28); New Mexico (37-13); and SDSU. Their losses have come to Texas (41-10); Colorado (24-0); Air Force (10-0); Utah (22-10); and BYU (52-0).

Statistically, this game is a big mismatch. Wyoming ranks 103rd in the nation (out of 120 teams in the Football Bowl Series division) in total offense, averaging 317.3 yards per game. The Pokes’ 135 yards average on the ground ranks 79th, and its 181.7 yards in the air ranks 95th. Wyoming scores an average of 17.6 points per game, ranking 110th.

They will put those numbers up against a top 10 TCU defense that ranks fourth in total defense (244.9 ypg); sixth in rushing defense (87.20 ypg); sixth in passing defense (157.7 ypg); eighth in scoring defense  (12.9 ppg); and seventh in passing efficiency defense (97.09). All-American end Jerry Hughes ranks seventh in the nation in sacks with 12.

Then there’s the Wyoming defense. They are allowing 387.2 yards per game (82nd nationally); 26.2 points per game (77th in the nation); 234.8 passing yards per game (80th); and 152.4 rushing yards per game (71st.)

Meanwhile, TCU is on one of its biggest offensive rolls perhaps in history. TCU ranks among the top in several categories. The Frogs are fourth in total offense (467.6 ypg); fourth in scoring offense (39.2 ppg); fifth in rushing offense (252.1 ypg); and eighth in sacks allowed (8).

Junior quarterback Andy Dalton’s passing efficiency rating of 157.84 ranks sixth nationally. The Frogs have topped 300 yards rushing and 500 yards of total offense in three consecutive games.

The Frogs are also producing on special teams. Jeremy Kerley ranks eighth nationally in punt returns, averaging 14.77 yards per return. TCU ranks third nationally in kickoff returns, averaging 28.64 yards per return, with Kerely averaging 27.94 yards per kick return.

It is almost staggering how balanced, efficient and dominating TCU is in all three phases.

The only negative – if you really must look for one – is the 28 points Utah put up on the Frogs, the most allowed by TCU this season. Miscues such as fumbles and red zone penalties have cost TCU points at times in games.

Yeah, so TCU should have hung 70 on Utah and won by about 40 points.

What mistakes TCU is making, what opportunities it fails to capitalize on, the team has proven to possess way too much firepower and can, so far, overcomes its mistakes through tenacity, efficiency and talent.

This TCU team just keeps bringing it.

Patterson knows they need to keep bringing it if it wants to realize its dreams this season – going to and winning a BCS game and maybe, just maybe, a national championship.

"We've been here before,” Patterson said. “We were here going into the Utah game last year. I don't see why this football team would have a letdown. We will have to try to find a way to win. I see no reason why we would be any different about this game than we have been up to this point. They have done an unbelievable job this season of going on the road, keeping their focus and doing the things they needed to do to take ball games.”

Hey coach, I’ll take a glass of that Kool-Aid. Ummmm, BCS.