Frogs Omaha-bound

Schloss's crew, following sophomore Kyle Winkler's dominating performance on the mound, knocked Texas out of the baseball post-season, and earned their first trip to Omaha for the college world series. Congrats, Frogs. Florida State awaits.









For a hilarious bit of gamesmanship, hear a Longhorn fan heckle Bryan Holiday ("get in the batter's box and shut up") second before Holiday hits one out of the park (literally) to put the game on ice.

The decade's most dominant programs

Last in this series about the most dominant teams from 2000 to 2009 are the top ten. There is a qualitative difference in this group, compared to the others in the posts below. Here, bad years are those during which a team falls out of the top 40 in the Dominance Ranking-- and for the Texas, Boise, Oklahoma, and Virginia Tech, "bad" means below the top 20 (there are only three such years between them!).

Of these ten programs, only Boise State, Virginia Tech, and Georgia lack a first-place finish in the Dominance Ranking any year this decade, and only Georgia lacks also a runner-up finish (its highest finish was sixth, in 2002).

1. Texas- 7.50
2. Boise State- 9.90
3. Oklahoma- 10.20
4. Virginia Tech- 10.70
5. Florida- 14.90
6. USC- 17.80
7. Ohio State- 20.40
8. TCU- 21.90
9. LSU- 22.00
10. Georgia- 24.60

ESPN analyist favors TCU over UT

Texas 34, TCU 13

TCU held the Longhorns scoreless for the first half of Saturday's marquee matchup, but were unable to sustain any offensive drives in the third quarter. After playings defense for more than ten minutes in the third quarter, the Frogs ran out of gas, and were routed.

The Frogs never found their running game, which surprised nobody-- UT's rush defense was one of only two that ranked higher than TCU's own last year, and the Frogs' best tailback was injured last week and unavailable for the game.

TCU faces Air Force's triple-option attack in Colorado Springs on Thursday night.

What TCU takes to (and can bring home from) Austin

The immensity of tomorrow's game in Austin is worth a few words. TCU isn't playing Texas for just a win-- that could be done with less fanfare against almost any other program in the nation. The Frogs have not circled this came on their schedule so that they could bask in the national spotlight, or re-live the glory days of the Southwest Conference.

What's possible tomorrow is both the closing of the door to a painful adolescence, and the re-opening the path to a forgotten throne. When football was young, the Frogs reigned, and purple-clad legends named Baugh, O'Brien, Aldrich, Matthews, Swink and Lilly ruled. Fort Worth's dynasty was toppled by the Longhorns in the '60s, however, and by the time the Southwest Conference dissolved, TCU was accustomed to penury.

The Frogs were ignominiously born again, as it were, in that dissolution. Being orphaned by the state's politically powerful programs in the '90s, TCU grew, and has become surprisingly strong. But, like a fatherless young man who suddenly meets his deadbeat dad only to discover that he is an heir in the kingdom, the Horned Frogs have a chance Saturday to throw off their childhood demons, and live independently, among their grandfather's peers. And all the king's men are watching to see if he will do just that.

This is a tremulous moment-- it can be a coming-of-age for the ages. The whole world is watching, so to speak, for the first time. Some of them paid brief attention when TCU beat a weakened aristocrat in the 1998 Sun Bowl. More still cocked an eye toward Fort Worth's little private school when the Frogs took a 10-game winning streak to Hattiesburg in 2003. After that game they smiled like a parent who dusts off a lost child who's scraped his knee, and sends him home where he belongs-- to the other side of the tracks. More still took a double take, and said politically correct things when the Horny Toads waylaid Oklahoma, a reigning aristocrat on a usurped throne, in 2005-- in Norman, no less. But when the Frogs were destracted by the glad words, and toppled by another scrabbling SWC orphan, the watching world turned away again.

But that world was not the same. The comfortable confines on the rich side of the tracks seemed less safe, when a TCU or a Boise State could raid with so much success among them. Next fell Texas Tech in Fort Worth, and the chattering class began to hedge their bets whenever the Frogs were on the table.

And so tomorrow, amid a torrent of carefully hedged publicity, TCU goes to battle another of college football's ruling elite- the same princely program that ousted the Frogs from their own throne generations ago. It should not surprise us that TCU has everybody's attention now. Their foe is their own grandfather's foe, figuratively speaking; the modern doyen of Texas Football, the Frogs' own crowned brother who watched with secret glee as the Frogs withered, and when finally TCU was powerless to resist, ousted them from the kingdom altogether. Since then UT has crowned itself "State Champions" when it won less games than TCU; it has received the BCS Championship Trophy with the fallacious commendation, "On behalf of the eleven BCS conferences..."; it has countenanced-- nay, spawned-- the outrageous condenscension of TCU's privileged twin in Waco; in sum, UT-- the Frogs' own brother-- has declared the Horned Frogs bastards: illegitimate, irrelevant, underprivileged, ostracized.

And tomorrow, Texas must defend its house.

From forgotten ashes in Fort Worth have risen the heirs to the house that Baugh built. The Lone Star State's very center of gravity is unsettled anew, and the reigning gods of the state cannot find comfort in their Austin tower. Their dirty deeds are shouted from the rooftops by the very syccophants who cheered them: Thy Brother Lives, and Hath Returned!

Indeed, the true giants of Texas's football history will not be forgotten, and in the awesome shadow of their descendants does all of Texas shake.

TCU v. Texas-- hype

The Dallas Morning News points out that TCU will be a much tougher win for Texas than Arkansas State was, and the Indians almost upset the 'Horns. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram agrees. One Sports Illustrated columnist even forecasts (through a crystal ball) an upset on September 8. UT's coach is on the bandwagon, saying that TCU would flourish in the Big XII, and that he ranked TCU somewhere near 10th on his post-season coaches' ballot last season. We'd believe that more if we saw it, but the final ballots are, conveniently, not public. A UT fan and writer at Pegasus News is convinced the Frogs will upset the Horns.

Sporting News, SI.com, CBSSports, The Washington Post, and CSTV all have color pieces on the game. The Sporting News has two reprises and a Q&A with Chase Ortiz; ESPN one; the Austin-American Statesman has run dozens of articles about TCU and its tilt with Texas. Here're a few. Stewart Mandel predicts Texas will win by one point.

CFN's team preview for 2007 highlights this game, as does nearly every other pre-season look at the Frogs. Top's Corner at KF.C has been replete with articles focused on September 8 since the middle of the summer. CBS Sports lists the game in its "Key Dates" script on its front page (this won't archive, but it's been posted there for months.) In short, this game is probably the most intensely scrutinized game TCU has played since Davey O'Brien was under center in the 1930s.

Analyzing the '07 schedule, predicting the outcomes.

9/1 BAYLOR- the Bears will bring a hungry, but sadly under-talented, under-experienced team to Fort Worth for the season opener. Coach Patterson's game-plan will feature running, short passes, and more running, as he breaks Marcus Jackson into the starting role under center, and Andy Dalton takes his first college snaps; Coach P won't want to give anything away for Texas's scout team, either- not that anyone is sure TCU's new QBs could handle difficult plays, anyway. TCU's marquee defense will stifle Baylor; Frogs win with a low score.
9/8 at Texas- Not since Texas Tech came to town early last year has an opponent fired the competitive juices in Fort Worth like the Longhorns. TCU will turn in a tremendous defensive performance, and might pull off an upset. A Frog win would be just that, however: an upset. More likely, Colt McCoy will find just enough room to lead a balanced attack, and will win a close game. Horns win with a close, and probably low, score.
9/13 at Air Force- On four days' rest, the Frogs begin conference play at Colorado Springs, facing their second veteran quarterback of the season, Shawn Carney. Air Force's rebuilt offense won't find any traction against the Frogs' defense, however, which will have Carney on his back time and time again. Either Jackson will cement his starting role with a solid performance, or lose it to Dalton, who will have pressured Jackson in every game so far. In the first case, Frogs will easily. In the second case, Frogs win in another low scoring tilt.
9/22 SMU- As Tech learned last year, nothing motivates TCU like revenge, and the Frogs' kitchen has embarassingly been short one iron skillet for two years too many. SMU will bring a good crowd, but they'll have nothing to cheer about. TCU blasts SMU relentlessly.
9/29 COLORADO STATE- If winning generates momentum, TCU will have plenty of it by now. Sonny Lubick's Rams will come to Amon Carter Stadium for their second time, and their second slaughter in Cowtown. TCU wins in style.
10/6 at Wyoming- TCU will fly to Laramie ranked again, and Wyoming either will be ranked also, or flirting with the polls, having upset Boise State a few weeks earlier. The Frogs win this one, but barely. Jeff Ballard's toughest game as a new starter came in Wyoming; Jackson or Dalton's toughest as a newbie under center will be there, too.
10/13 at Stanford- The bottom-feeder of the PAC 10 will consider breaking its contract for a second game with TCU before this one's over; TCU will decimate the Cardinals.
10/18 UTAH- On a short week, Utah and TCU will square off in a battle to each others' strengths: the Utes will bring a national top-five offense to Fort Worth, facing the Frogs' national top-five defense. If Utah has won two or three of its non-conference games, this will be a clash of titans. The Frogs are likely to win in a close, hard-fought game.
11/3 NEW MEXICO- Like Wyoming, New Mexico may surprise in the Mountain West this year, especially after their re-tooled offense and offensive line gels. They won't be able to surprise the Horned Frogs, however, who will be well rested, and will turn in their first complete game against the a bowl team, winning by a large margin.
11/8 at Brigham Young- The Cougars are in a similar position as TCU and Utah: if they can win most of their non-conference matches, they'll garner a great deal of media attention. If BYU and TCU bring significant winning streaks to this game, the match-up may be the most anticipated game in MWC history. If the game features two unbeaten teams, then a BCS berth, and unbelieving discussion about a national title will echo from the Wasatch Front. Both teams will boast first-season, but very experienced quarterbacks, strong lines, and budding stars. Expect an emotional triumph, but don't expect a score prediction from me this far out from the contest.
11/17 UNLV- TCU wins this one easily, and Mike Sanford's seat begins to get warmer than its Las Vegas surroundings...
11/24 at San Diego State- TCU finishes the regular season with another win, although it may be more difficult to come by than last season's record-setting demolition of the Aztecs.
BOWL- TCU, if 10-2, will tie for first place in the conference, and likely play in the Armed Forced Bowl against Arizona, UCLA, or Oregon. The Frogs will win, and finish the season ranked between 14 and 21.