No question.  As soon as TCU took the field last night they made it clear, no one in the Mountain West is in the same class as them.  They demolished the Utes from kickoff till the final seconds winning 47-7.  They also made it pretty clear that Utah was not the team the BCS computers thought they were.

While the Horned Frogs showed just how much better than the Mountain West they are the beating they laid on Utah might have hurt their chances of making the National Championship game without some more losses from the top teams.  Mainly what this dismantling did was prove just how weak the rest of the MWC really was and make most of TCU’s conference wins fairly meaningless.

That beating of their strength of schedule might have lost them some of their biggest supporters, the BCS Computers.  What had propelled TCU past Boise State into the 3rd spot in the rankings this week was the huge ratings they got from the computers.  TCU was still behind in the human polls this week but the computers which rely heavily on strength of schedule had them ahead of Boise who plays in the seemingly weaker WAC.

Now I don’t think Boise will jump back ahead of TCU after their own dismantling of Hawaii but the gap between these two and the remaining undefeated teams from the automatic qualifying conferences will likely widen.  If TCU is gonna get into the National Championship they are gonna need a lot of help from the teams ahead of them and maybe even the teams behind them with LSU showing its worth as a one loss team.

Strange to be this negative after the Frogs ran the number 5 team in the country out of their own stadium but in the same night they exposed their conference as a phony contender for an automatic bid.  Kinda made me look like an idiot for defending the Mountain West so strongly a couple days ago as well.

At least the Frogs can take solace in one thing.  They are definitely making the PAC 10 rethink their choice of Utah to join their conference next year and who knows this could make the big conferences come calling for TCU to be the next team to jump ship from the Mountain West.  Sure are a lot of Texas schools in the Big 12 now anyway whats one more?

Its time for TCU to prove themselves.  This week is TCU’s biggest game of the year.  On Saturday the 3rd ranked Horned Frogs face off against 5th ranked Utah.  This game will likely send one team to the national championship and another home with nothing.

That’s the price you pay for being in a non automatic qualifying conference like the Mountain West.  This game might make the case for the Mountain West to have that status changed.

The argument for the Mountain West as an elite conference is very strong this season.  The first point being that these two teams ranked three and five are the only two teams from the same conference in the top 5.  That’s right the Mountain West has two teams in the top 5 of the BCS standings.

They didn’t just get their by beating bunnies either.  TCU has beaten 21st ranked Baylor and Oregon State who is 4-3 with losses to TCU and 4th ranked Boise State.  Utah beat 15th ranked Pittsburgh to start their season and will play Notre Dame next week.

This game is huge not only for the future automatic bid for the Mountain West but it could catapult one of these teams to a national title this season.  It is not out of the realm of reason that a top 5 team beating another top 5 team should earn that team a number one ranking the next week.  That’s right next week you could see a team from the Mountain West ranked number 1 overall.

Well I’ve been absent the last couple weeks but I’m glad to be back.  Not much has changed since you last heard from me at TCU.  I’ll give you a wrap on the last two weeks.

This week TCU faced off against the 1-7 Running Rebels from UNLV.  It wasn’t much of a game as TCU got ahead quickly and stayed ahead winning 48-6.  TCU forced two turnovers running one interception back for a score.  They also scored on 4 runs and totaled up 273 rushing yards.  Andy Dalton had a good game as well throwing for 257yds and 3 touchdowns.

It was not much different two weeks ago as the Horned Frogs demolished Air Force.  TCU dominated the game on the ground.  Air Force couldn’t contain Ed Wesley as he ran for 209 yds and 2 tds.  Andy Dalton added 93 more yds on the ground and 185 in the air to lead the Frogs to a 38-7 victory.

The BCS rankings came out today and I am a little confused as to what the heck kind of numbers they are feeding into the computers.  Oklahoma took the top spot on the rankings which I disagree with but the computers close to unanimously ranked them first so I’ll let that slide.

What I really think is ridiculous is the rankings both TCU and Oregon got from the computers.  Since I am the TCU blogger I’ll start with them.

The Frogs received low ranks across the board ranging from 5th to 7th.  Well low ranks for what I think they deserve.  Anyway after TCU rolled through Oregon State and just plain beat on everyone else they have played you’d think they’d have some style points with the computers.  Apparently not though.

The Frogs were also jumped in the AP and coaches polls by Oklahoma.  Now after a good win in the red river rivalry last week I would have totally understood Oklahoma making this jump but they beat Iowa State this week.

If TCU is gonna be punished for playing weak teams Oklahoma should not move up after a win over as bad an opponent as Iowa State.  Especially as TCU pounded BYU this weekend.

Texas’s win over Nebraska this week could have contributed to the jump but all that really shows me is the Corn Huskers really weren’t the team we thought they were.

It was overall just a bad week for TCU rankings wise.  There was another team whose ranking confused me even more than TCU’s and that was Oregon.  I thought I’d give them a mention because they got absolutely played this week.  Something is wrong with those computer’s if they don’t think that kind of dominance in the PAC 10.

I guess I should end with a little wrap on TCU’s game.  The dominated.  That’s about all that needs to be said about it.

This week will be the final time TCU faces BYU in conference play.  After this season the BYU Cougars will be leaving the Mountain West Conference to become a Division I Independent team.  TCU would love to give them a memorable goodbye and show them how competitive the Mountain West really is.

The Cougars have not looked much like their teams of the last few years so far this season but the Frogs should not look past this team.  BYU took a beating early on with a tough string of games including Florida State, Air Force , and Nevada sending them to a 2-4 record.  This team is much better than their record shows however.  They started their season with a good win over Heisman hopeful Jake Locker and would love nothing more than to dash the Frogs national championship hopes.

With all that said I don’t see it happening.  I think this game will be close early but look for TCU to start to pull away in the 2nd quarter when they wake up from the two snoozers they have played against Colorado State and Wyoming the last two weeks.  There is just too much talent on this Frogs team for the boys from Utah to handle.  Also BYU’s recent struggles stopping the run do not do well against this Frogs team which lives on its ground game.

My pick TCU 35-14

TCU’s got style points.  Also Wyoming is awful.  TCU rolled to their sixth win of the season against a Cowboys team that looked over-matched to say the least.  They racked up 45 pts and completely smothered Wyoming for their second shutout in a row.

Though unlike their game last week the win wasn’t in doubt for long after the opening kick off.  TCU scored on every one of their possessions in the first half and sealed the game with two more scores to start the 2nd half.  Andy Dalton rebounded from his worst statistical game of the season to against a disimal Cowboys defense to throw for 270 yds and 3 tds.  The Horned Frogs running game looked good as well nearly breaking the 300 yd mark with 297 combined rushing yds.

The TCU defense was the real star of the game.  They held Wyoming to under 200 yds of total offense and only allowed the Cowboys inside the 30 once in the entire game and that was well after the outcome had been decided.  In fact the Cowboys on only saw the TCU side of the 50 three times in the game.

This win gave TCU the style points they needed after last weeks snoozer at Colorado State.  With Alabama falling this week the TCU moved up to 4th in the AP Top 25.  They will still need some help if they want a shot at the national title.  TCU will need one of the teams ahead of them to lose if they are to get into the top 2 in the BCS.

Hope you all missed me while I was gone.  Sorry I wasn’t able to post a game wrap last week for TCU.  I was up in Minnesota and apparently they haven’t quite figured out this internet contraption yet.  Not that I missed much, though TCU scared me a little in the first half they were luckily playing Colorado State and ended up winning easily.

As with last week I’m still looking for that time machine to skip this Saturday as the Frogs will host the equally dreadful Wyoming Cowboys.  The Cowboys are likely to see a beating similar to the 51-6 drubbing put on them by Boise State a few weeks ago.  While the Frogs don’t have quite the offensive firepower the Broncos have their defense should all but make up for it.

Even with two wins on their record I don’t think this Wyoming team has much of a shot at even making this game interesting.  They have no real strengths to lean on against the Frogs and those two wins I mentioned before were narrow victories against Southern Utah and Toledo.

My main concern for TCU this week is just that they make up for a mediocre performance against Colorado State last week. Only the BCS system could make 27-0 win something you need to make up for, but the Frogs could use some real style points this week if they want any chance at a National Championship.

TCU opens conference play this week against a Mountain West Conference foe you may have never heard of, the Colorado State Rams.  The reason you may have never heard of them is because they are awful…  absolutely, dreadfully, awful.  Even coming off their win last week against Idaho I don’t see this team being much of a struggle for TCU.

The Rams are ranked 120th, that’s right dead last, in rushing offense with a dismal 59 yards per game.  They aren’t much better in average pts. scored per game ranking 117th and 107th in points allowed.

The only bright spot for the Rams might be their passing game which comes into this week ranked 26th in the country in yards per game.  Unfortunately all of those yards have only gotten them 4 passing touchdowns and have resulted in 7 interceptions.  That is very bad news for the Rams since they are going up against one of the best defenses in the country in TCU.

What I’m trying to say is this week is gonna be a snoozer for the Frogs and don’t hold out hope for next week being much better when 1-3 Wyoming visits TCU.  Though it will be fun to watch and see if the Frogs high powered offense can break 100.  How many style points do you think that would earn with the BCS computers?

On Friday the SMU Mustangs took the field against TCU looking unimpressed by the Frogs number 4 ranking.  SMU scored on their 2nd possession and looked to be evenly matched with TCU throughout the first half.

TCU took a four point lead into the locker room at halftime but Andy Dalton’s first pass of the 2nd half was picked off by SMU.  The Mustangs scored on their next play and took a 17-14 lead.

Suddenly Andy Dalton and the Frogs woke up.  TCU scored on their next three possessions.  SMU pulled within 11 late in the 4th quarter but the Frogs put the game away with an interception return for a touchdown to go back up 41-24.  The game ended with the same score.

Though TCU looked shaky in the 1st half they righted themselves in the 2nd and looked more like the number 4 team in the country.  Unfortunately for the Frogs National Championship hopes Boise State survived their game against Oregon State and secured their place in front of TCU in the rankings.

With more tests coming up for TCU and a weak conference schedule ahead for Boise the Frogs will have to hope that they can rack up some style points against their much tougher conference schedule to pass Boise in the rankings.

This Friday TCU heads to Gerald Ford Stadium to take on June Jones’ SMU Mustangs.  This is the last game between TCU and the start of their conference schedule but should not be overlooked by the Frogs.

This Mustang team is showing glimmers of hope for the first time since the NCAA handed down the “death penalty” and canceled their 1987 season for recruiting violations.  Under June Jones they have improved greatly for their 1-11 season his first year into a real contender for the Conference USA title this season.

This SMU team does not however play like his Hawaii teams.  So far at SMU Jones has abandoned the wide open Run and Shoot offense that set so many records in favor of a more balanced attack.

That is not to say though that this offense is any less dangerous.  The Mustangs are averaging nearly 400 yds of total offense per game and have scored at least 27 pts in every game this season.   When this old rivalry is renewed on ESPN this week watch out for the Mustangs to give TCU quite a game.

All that said I don’t think the Frogs will falter this week.  They match up very well defensively and SMU does not have the defensive talent to stop them.  Look for this game to be close for the first half but for the Frogs offense to begin to take over in the 2nd.

For all you die hard TCU fans out there the game you should really be watching with interest will be played on blue turf this week.  Oregon State whom the Frogs defeated in week 1 is heading to Boise to take on the 3rd ranked Broncos.  This game will likely decide whether Boise State or the Frogs is more worthy of a shot at that crystal football.