Two Sugar Bowl officials were on hand to watch TCU’s 54-7 win over Wyoming on Saturday night, marking the first time since 2003 that the school has had representatives from a BCS bowl at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
In 2003, officials from the Fiesta Bowl watched the No. 10 Horned Frogs move to 10-0 with a 43-10 win over Cincinnati.
TCU was No. 14 in the initial BCS standings released last Sunday, and Sugar Bowl representative Elliott Laudeman said TCU "is a team that would be in consideration for a BCS bowl game if they win out."
"We know their fans would certainly like to be there,"
said James Fabacher, the other Sugar Bowl official who attended the game. The Allstate Sugar Bowl is scheduled for Jan. 2, 2009, in New Orleans.
Laudeman said his organization has been impressed with the Horned Frogs, particularly their defense.
"That game last week [against BYU] that was nationally televised, it was remarkable what they did,"
Laudeman said.
Hicks adds to duties
TCU receiver Jeremy Kerley was limited to just holding on PATs and field goals Saturday because of an injury, so freshman Antoine Hicks, the former Mansfield Timberview quarterback, saw significant playing time.
Hicks took over the "Wild Frog"
package that Kerley ran last week against BYU, taking snaps from the shotgun formation late in the third quarter. Hicks had six carries for 23 yards, returned one punt for 11 yards and blocked a Wyoming punt in the fourth quarter that rolled out of the end zone for a safety.
"We added some to his role and he did some good things,"
coach Gary Patterson said.
Moore impresses
Wyoming running back Devin Moore became the first back this season to rush for 100 or more yards against the Frogs.
Moore rushed 25 times for 114 yards, including a 42-yard touchdown run. New Mexico’s Rodney Ferguson was the previous high rusher against the Frogs, going for 59 yards in the season opener.
"I want to go on record as saying Devin Moore is pretty much the best running back we’ve faced this year,"
TCU linebacker Robert Henson said. "He made us go back to the basics of tackling, which is breakdown, wait for him to make a move and take him out then. He earned it, every bit of it. He took every hit."
Moore had 135 rushing yards against TCU last season.
Big Henson hits
Wyoming starting quarterback Karsten Sween was knocked out of the game with a concussion after taking a hard hit from Robert Henson in the third quarter. It took Sween a few minutes to walk off the field with assistance, but he walked out of the locker room after the game on his own.
"I felt bad about the hit on the quarterback,"
Gary Patterson said. "I’m not sure if it was a bad hit, but it doesn’t matter. You don’t want it to happen."
On Wyoming’s next series, Henson sacked backup QB Dax Crum, forcing him to fumble the ball, which sophomore defensive end Wayne Daniels recovered at the Wyoming 19-yard line.
Playoff?
Gary Patterson has a solution for the possibility that there could be two or more non-automatic qualifiers in the top 16 of the BCS standings once the regular season is over:
"Instead of letting the polls decide it, they should just do a playoff game,"
he said. "If everybody wants to make more money, whoever the top two are, play it and whoever wins gets into the [BCS] game. Utah, Boise [State], ourselves, whoever it is, let’s go. It’ll bring in more revenue, and we’ll play in a neutral spot. Just make it warm."
