Patterson proud of No. 2 TCU's resilience

Oct 5, 2015 - 5:43 PM DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Gary Patterson called No. 2 TCU's four-game stretch before its bye week the most important one of the season.

The Horned Frogs are halfway home.

TCU (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) followed a back-and-forth 55-52 win at Texas Tech (3-2, 0-2) with one of their most impressive wins under Patterson, a 50-7 home thrashing of Texas last weekend.

Patterson and the Horned Frogs have a pair of road games left; Saturday at Kansas State (3-1, 0-1) and on Oct. 17 at Iowa State (2-2, 1-0) before finally getting a week off.

TCU's unbeaten start has been particularly impressive considering that they've lost more than half of their starting defense to injuries. But Patterson said that defensive end Terrell Lathan could be back for this weekend's game against the Wildcats.

''They've had a lot of resiliency. I've been proud of them. With everything that's happened to them, they just keep fighting,'' Patterson said.

TCU's success came at the expense of reeling Texas (1-4, 0-2) which has dropped back-to-back games to the Horned Frogs for the first time since 1958-59. It won't get any easier this week.

The Longhorns limp into the annual Red River Showdown with Oklahoma in Dallas with the second-worst record in the Big 12 behind Kansas (0-4, 0-1).

''They're eager to get back on the field and let people know that wasn't our team,'' coach Charlie Strong said.

But Oklahoma was in a similar spot two years ago as a heavy favorite against the Longhorns - and got beat 36-20.

''It's safe to say that that will be brought up,'' Stoops said.

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DOWNED: Kansas State was victimized by an officiating error late in the first half of last week's 36-34 loss to No. 21 Oklahoma State (5-0, 2-0). The chains were set for a 1st-down-and-15 following a holding penalty on Oklahoma State, but it should have been a 1st-down-and-20. The Cowboys, who were down 28-13, went on to score a touchdown on that drive. The Big 12 acknowledged the mistake, but Wildcats coach Bill Snyder wasn't too happy about being victimized by something he had no control over. ''Maybe we need a better system than what we have,'' Snyder said. ''I'd like to labor under the assumption that those things will be taken care of by other people.''

EXTRA POINTS

-Kansas will enter next week's game against No. 3 Baylor (4-0, 1-0) as one of the biggest home underdogs in recent memory. The Bears, who've won all four of their games by at least four touchdowns, were a 42-point favorite against the Jayhawks as of Monday. The rebuilding Jayhawks were manhandled by Iowa State (2-2) in their opener 38-13, while Baylor beat Texas Tech 63-35. ''I'm not really sure how you slow these guys down, because I don't know many people that have,'' Kansas coach David Beaty said.

-Coaches preach about avoiding turnovers because they're often the difference between winning and losing. West Virginia, which led the Big 12 in turnover margin heading into October, committed five in their 44-24 loss to Oklahoma last weekend. ''We've got to play a little bit smarter,'' West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen.

-"I've been in involved in college football now for 30 years almost, and I'm not actually sure what makes kickers tick. He's very low key. He's a hard worker. He's disciplined. He doesn't get too emotional.'' - Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy about kicker Ben Grogan, who has hit game-winning field goals in each of the last two games. Grogan hit a 37-yarder with 32 seconds left to beat the Wildcats.

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