CFN Analysis
TCU Gets By Oregon State
By
Pete Fiutak
It's not just that TCU beat an Oregon State team that should be good
enough to potentially win the Pac 10 title, and it's not that the success of last
year's regular season has carried over into this year. The point of
TCU's win is that the program looked the part. It looked like it
belonged in a big game. It looked like a team that can be in the
discussion to play for the national title.
One win over Oregon State doesn't make a season, and this game might not
mean much if the Beavers don't go on to be great the rest of the way,
but TCU was on a big stage and produced. On a day when Florida stunk,
Texas was whatever, Oklahoma was lousy, and BCS conference teams Ole
Miss and Kansas lost to FCS teams, coming up with a win, any win, over a
good squad on national TV is a positive. TCU got its share of the
spotlight (especially as America quickly turned away from a clunker of a
LSU-North Carolina matchup), and it won.
Now it's about style. This wasn't an impressive enough win to just
assume that an unbeaten Horned Frog team deserves a shot to be in
Glendale without more big victories to come. Fortunately, BYU's win over
Washington and Utah's win over Pitt will help boost the Mountain West
making future games for TCU become even more important. In a year when
no league looks particularly nasty, this really could be the time for
TCU.
Andy Dalton was terrific on third downs as he kept the chains moving
time and again, and he showed what a playmaker he could be even though
he only threw for 173 yards and threw two interceptions. The defense is
still rebuilding, but after getting hit with some haymakers early on, it
stepped up its play in the second half allowing just one scoring drive.
Being good isn't going to be good enough, though. TCU is going to need
to be dominant from here on, but for now, getting yet another big win
under Gary Patterson is enough.
TCU belongs. At least it looks like it does.
Richard Cirminiello
Another big win for TCU against a team from an AQ conference, but will it have staying power in the minds of voters as the season progresses?
Yeah, yeah, give them a chance to enjoy the 30-21 defeat of Oregon State, but whenever a team from the non-AQ conferences cops an important win, everyone wants to talk about the BCS, right? The issue for the Horned Frogs is that they’re going to be in the media’s version of Serbia for at least the next month. By the time they face Mountain West Conference rivals BYU and Utah in October and November, respectively, they’ll have bullied the likes of Tennessee Tech, Colorado State, and Wyoming without any national attention. And in this lone marquee moment in front of a large audience, it’s not as if the Frogs dominated. Heck, it was basically a home game that ended up being a little more competitive than many observers expected.
Beating the Beavers is a still big deal for TCU, and I’ve got an ample amount of respect for the job Gary Patterson and his staff do year-in and year-out. Few in America are better at coaching kids up. However, from a purely analytical standpoint, I have to wonder if the Frogs maximized their one really good chance to show off in front of the country. It was a workmanlike, at times sloppy effort that’ll have to be one of the highlights of an otherwise soft schedule.
Matt Zemek
From a TCU perspective, this is a modestly encouraging win which could break in one of two directions for Gary Patterson’s crew.
This game could be a blessing if it enables quarterback Andy Dalton to display greater ball security. Dalton turnovers hurt TCU in the Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State last January, and they were the only thing which prevented the Horned Frogs from sealing this game a lot earlier in the proceedings at Cowboys Stadium. TCU had momentum – clear and substantial momentum – on each of the two occasions when Dalton threw a crippling interception. If Dalton realizes that his team’s superior athleticism will carry the day as long as the Frogs don’t give away the rock, Big No. 14 will make TCU that much better. The only times TCU loses are when unforced turnovers – nervous errors – hijack their larger plans.
Therein lies the dark side of this game for the Frogs. If Dalton cannot shake this penchant for making untimely mistakes (there are times in a game and spots on a field when you can afford to turn the ball over, but there are certain times when you can’t), TCU will lose at Utah and give up both a dream of a perfect season and a chance to make the Rose Bowl as a non-automatic qualifier.
This is a good win and one to savor, but if it doesn’t make Andy Dalton a more airtight quarterback, it won’t mean all that much for TCU by the time the regular season ends.