Wednesday, November 12, 2008

TCU 44, Air Force 10

The Horned Frogs ate Air Force for lunch on Saturday, topping the Falcons by almost 5 touchdowns. TCU held AFA to 161 yards-- its lowest this season; 113 of those yards came on two big plays.

Air Force likely returns to Amon Carter Stadium for the Armed Forces Bowl on New Year's Eve. TCU likely returns to San Diego for its second Poinsettia Bowl in 3 years; Boise State be TCU's opponent. The Broncos beat TCU in the '03 Fort Worth Bowl.


pre-game press: Frogs prepping for AFA; Frogs motivated for AFA; AFA calls TCU a tough test; FWST Monday notes; Denver Post notes; CGP's press conference FWST, excerpts; Calhoun's comments; CBS preview; Hughes a finalist for the Nagurski, Turner at full speed, Calhoun says TCU is NFL-fast; AFA has lots of Texans; FWST focus on DTs; LeBreton on senior night; AFA run v. TCU D; RockyMtnNews notes.
post-game press: FWST lead; tribute to seniors; FWST notes; RMN; DMN; Spitblood (beware the vulgarity)
photo: M.Walters

bowl chatter

TCU is just a few days into a very long break before its last game of the regular season. How shall we pass the time? By speculating about bowl bids, of course!

The early skuttlebutt puts TCU in either Las Vegas to face a mid-level Pac-10 team (Arizona or Oregon), or in Fort Worth to face a low-level Conference USA team (perhaps Rice). For the Las Vegas Bowl to pick the Frogs, it must not have the chance to pick Utah-- which means the Utes must win out and take the non-cartel autobid. The Wimple always prefers to watch the Horned Frogs beat a cartel team, so here's to the Las Vegas Bowl.

Link to this post in the future through the "BOWL" item on the schedule block on the left sidebar.

November 13 update: The MWC bowl picture is slightly less blurry. UNLV beat Wyoming lastnight, to go 5-6 with one game remaining at the very bad SDSU Aztecs. Wyoming is now the third MWC team to become ineligible for a bowl, joining the hapless Aztecs and New Mexico. Colorado State must win both of its remaining games-- New Mexico and at Wyoming to clinch eligibility. Best case scenario, UNLV and Colorado State win out, and the MWC finds bowl berths for a record six teams: Utah, TCU, BYU, Air Force, UNLV, and Colorado State.

Five conferences look unlikely to fill all of their tie-ins: CUSA (St. Petersburgh/New Orleans); Big 10 (Motor City/Champs Sports); Big 12 (Independence/Texas); Pac 10 (Poinsettia/Hawaii/Emerald); and the SEC (Independence/PapaJohns/Music City). Along with the Mountain West, the MAC, Sunbelt, and WAC will be vying to put a conference member into these slots.

November 20 update: Bowl officials are going on record with their preferences, in this or in that scenario. The Las Vegas Bowl has indicated it's not interested in UNLV, but wants one of the MWC's ranked teams; the Poinsettia Bowl says it wants Utah if the Utes fail to make the BCS. I see this to mean TCU goes to the Poinsettia Bowl if Utah wins on Saturday, and like BYU is going to Las Vegas for the... fourth year in a row?

November 22 update: Utah pulled it off; behind sensational performances from their D and Brian Johnson, they reached 12-0 this season, and will receive an autobid to a BCS game-- likely the Sugar or Fiesta. Elsewhere in the MWC, Colorado State topped Wyoming to become the conference's fifth bowl eligible team. UNLV lost to SDSU (who promptly fired their coach-- a regrettable move, methinks), ending its season with only 5 wins.

November 24 update: The MWC bowl picture is pretty clear now. Utah gets the non-cartel autobid; BYU and TCU will go to Las Vegas and Poinsettia (likely in that order). Air Force and Colorado State likely go to the Armed Forces and New Mexico bowls (likely in that order, as well.) Each team's opponent is very much unclear.

December 3 update: The BCS helped college football fans everywhere understand a nuance in the at-large eligibility rules, when it did not oust TCU from its "might pick 'em" list yesterday. The Frogs are outside of the cartel, and did not win their conference-- and now we understand that any top-14 ranked team is eligible for an at-large berth. This is nice news-- but there's precisely a 0.00% chance that a BCS bowl will pick TCU over the ticket-selling behemoths also elilgible, like Texas and Ohio State. But it's nice to know we're allowed to play the game.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Utah 13, TCU 10

The Horned Frogs paved the Utes' way one giant step closer to a BCS berth with a litany of mistakes-- most glaringly true freshman Ross Evans' two missed field goals late in the fourth quarter. Both of Evans' kicks capped failed bids to score only a few yards from the endzone. TCU extended the Utes' next drive with a pass interference penalty on a 3rd down. A couple plays later, Brian Johnson passed for a touchdown, and the Utes' first lead in the game. Down 3 points with less than a minute to play, Dalton drove the Frogs halfway down the field before throwing his second interception of the game. Then it was curtains for the game-- and for TCU's third attempt to jump over the brink of almosts, and jubiliant celebration for the blacked out Utes.


The Frogs have two Saturdays off, before concluding the season against Air Force, in Forth Worth.


Post-game press: FWST lead; Dalton pressured; bowls attending; CGP doesn't blame Evans; LeBreton; CGP staying at TCU, and ain't the type to leave; Graham Watson 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Dr. Saturday; Spitblood; DMN;
In the meantime, here's a theraputic visual for recovering Frog fans, and any aspiring kickers:

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Waiting for Thursday

Thursday's game against Utah is as big a game as TCU has played since its revival in the late 1990s. Frankly, it's as big a game as TCU has played since the 1950s. Not since then has a late-season conference game meant as much as this-- a win in Salt Lake City tomorrow makes TCU the frontrunner for an autobid to the BCS, with only two off weeks and one game left to play.

The football stars do not align very often to create a matchup for cartel outsiders with this much riding on the outcome. In 2000 and '03 the Frogs confronted very similar situations, and lost each time. If TCU can pull off the win (bettin' money is split almost evenly), its strength of schedule and media notoriety very likely will push it ahead of Boise State, to lead the non-cartel teams that are eligible for a lucrative BCS bid. The leader gets the only autobid reserved for the cartel outsiders.

A win tomorrow night would mark a new height for the modern Horned Frogs, who have not ascended to eligibility for a January bowl since two-squad play began. (Ironically, it was TCU's last triumph over Texas in 1962 that provoked the 'Horns' coach to support the switch to two-squad play, hastening its arrival.) Gary Patterson's teams have camped out in the BCS rankings, but have never finished a season eligible for a bid. (Although under current rules, the 2000 and 2005 teams would have received the non-cartel autobid, which wasn't created until '06.)

Pregame Press: Kragthorpe says the Utes are lucky UNM ain't TCU; November is the Utes' defining month; SI looks at the four non-cartel teams still vying for a BCS bid; Utah-TCU winner likely will lead cartel outsiders in BCS poll; BCS elimination game; Brian Johnson is inconsistent; Utes' defense (6th nationally) shut down Lobos; Utes rise in BCS poll; BYU wants Utah to win; FWST on top defenses, lots of penalties, Kerley likely to travel; some Ute fans don't like the blackout; focus on Utes' D-ends; SLTrib notes; SportsIllustrated takes note, and says the MWC oughtta have two BCS bids this year; Stewey Mandel ranks both teams in his top ten; Gordon Monson calls the Utes overrated; SLTrib Wednesday notes; focus on McCain; quotes from Whittingham's presser; Patterson's; FWST's Wednesday notes; DMN on the non-cartel leaders' interest in each others' games;

a little shameless sentimentality from a Ute: