BYU and TCU: Sharing the Same Goals

So far this season just about everything has gone the way the Mountain West needed it.  To have three teams in the top 25 at this stage of the campaign is almost more than could be hoped for by the conference.  

The only real disappointments are perhaps the poor overall performances of teams such as Washington, UCLA and Michigan.  Before the season, these looked like good opponents to have on the schedule but unfortunately, victories over them have not helped BYU or Utah much in poll perception or BCS strength of schedule. 

Still, both schools need to keep scheduling opponents such as these—the luck will change.

Before the season began, I thought BYU would lose tonight’s game at TCU in Ft. Worth.  However, TCU’s offense has not shown enough spunk and the large BYU following expected at Amon G. Carter Stadium should help propel the Cougars to victory.

Will a victory over TCU and Utah be enough to propel the blue and white into the national championship game?  I also wrote before the season in these pages that I thought an undefeated BYU had a decent chance of playing in the title game.

However, with the implosion of UCLA and Washington, any chance they did have has probably been dashed. 

Odd things do happen though.  In fact, if you look carefully you may see that BYU and TCU are actually fighting for the same two goals tonight—a Mountain West Conference Championship and a spot in a BCS game. 

Either BYU or Utah would be virtually guaranteed a spot in a BCS bowl by winning out either of their seasons.  Either team would finish no lower than number twelve and that would be enough to ensure an invitation to the big time. 

But whoa! What about TCU?  What happens if TCU manages to win out its season?  Victories over two undefeated teams on national TV would certainly impress the voters. With five games to go, TCU could conceivably jump inside the top 16 in the polls.  

From there, the Horned Frog’s strength of schedule would enable it to pretty much hold its position in the BCS rankings. 

Now look at the ACC and the Big East.  Both of these conferences would need to have at least one team in the top sixteen in order to squeeze TCU out.  Certainly if any of the teams in these two conferences with only one loss manages to win the remainder of its games, then it will finish in the top sixteen.  

But with two conferences and no dominant team in either, it actually looks like there is a good chance that one conference will fail to meet the requirement.  In particular, the ACC might play itself out of the BCS if its top ranked team gets beaten in its conference championship game. Then, Voila! TCU would sneak in the back door when nobody is looking. 

If ifs and buts were cherries and nuts we’d all have a Merry Christmas.

Notes

TCU’s special teams have been a big part of their success so far. 

True freshman kicker Ross Evans is 35 out of 38 on field goals and extra points with one of the misses being blocked. 

250 pound punter Anson Kelton has averaged 42.1 yards on 32 punts with an incredible 19 being downed inside the 20. He has had one blocked and returned for a touchdown.

Aaron Brown has performed well as a kick-off return man with a 29 yard average including a 79 yard return against Oklahoma.  Prior to Brown’s return the Sooners had already had one kickoff returned for a touchdown.  (Bob Stoops is certainly ruing the fact that he did not see these returns as siren signals for a weakness in his kick-off team.  After being scorched by Texas for a TD on a return last Saturday he has finally decided to change personnel on his coverage team.)

On punt returns, Sophomore Jeremy Kerley has made good decisions and returned the ball fairly well for a first-year punt returner.  Most importantly, he has not muffed or fumbled any balls and seems quite relaxed at the duty.

Coach Gary Patterson looks quite favorably on walk-ons.  Deep kicker Drew Coombs and deep snapper Clint Gresham are both walk-ons who have earned scholarships.  In addition there are another four walk-ons on the two-deep roster, three of whom get serious playing time.  The most notable are tailbacks Ryan Christian and wide-out Bart Johnson.