FORT WORTH, Texas — Bring on any opponent for TCU. The undefeated Horned Frogs are going to bust into the BCS for the first time. The only questions left are where are they headed and who will they play.
“We can play with anybody,” coach Gary Patterson said after TCU wrapped up its first undefeated regular season in 71 years.
“We’re going to look forward to the challenge, we’ll find out what that’s going to be and we’re going to get ready for it. . . . This team can play with a lot of people, and not just this year.”
Hard to argue after the fourth- ranked Horned Frogs improved to 12-0 with a 51-10 victory over New Mexico on Saturday — their seventh consecutive win by at least 27 points, a stretch including BYU and Utah, last year’s BCS buster.
While there should be no question if TCU (12-0, 8-0) will be part of the Bowl Championship Series, the Frogs have to wait another week to make travel plans.
Representatives from the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls were in attendance.
“They’re sure way up there,” said Alan Young, the Fiesta Bowl board chairman. “It’s an easy sell to our board of directors. . . . TCU is right in the middle of our mix.”
After some near-misses in the past, including a 10-0 start in 2003 and a one-loss season two years after that, TCU is higher in the BCS standings than any team from a conference without an automatic bid has ever been this late in the season. The Frogs are fourth behind Florida, Alabama and Texas, respectively.
“Well, we finally did it,” Patterson said to open his postgame news conference.
Andy Dalton matched a career high with four touchdown passes, two to Antoine Hicks in a 12-second span that put the Horned Frogs up 30-0 early in the second quarter. Dalton had already run for a score.
Dalton, a junior and third-year starter, was 15-of-24 for 228 yards while earning his 29th career victory, matching the school record set by “Slingin’ Sammy” Baugh (1934-36). Dalton pushed his career TD passing total to 43, three more than Baugh and six shy of Max Knake’s school record.
TCU has a 14-game winning streak, matching the school record set by the 1938 team led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Davey O’Brien that went 11-0 and clinched the team’s only AP national championship. The school also claims a national title in 1935, the only other time the Frogs won 12 games.
No. 18 BYU 26, No. 22 Utah 23, OT
PROVO, Utah — Max Hall threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Andrew George in overtime for the Cougars’ third victory in four years in the in-state rivalry.
Hall found George open for a quick dump-off over the middle, and George had nobody between him and the goal line, hugging the ball with both hands as he went for the winning score.
The game was decided by a touchdown or less for the 11th time in 13 meetings. The victorious Cougars finished with just 265 yards of offense.
Joe Phillips kicked five field goals for Utah, including a 40-yarder with 29 seconds left that forced the overtime and a 29-yarder on the first possession of OT.
UNLV 28, San Diego St 24
LAS VEGAS — UNLV’s Omar Clayton threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Phillip Payne with 1:24 to play for the Rebels, who trailed 24-7 early in the third quarter before closing the game with 21 unanswered points.
