TCU bounces BYU from BCS picture

Oct 17, 2008 - 8:24 PM By Jim Ralabate PA SportsTicker College Football Editor

Max Hall and BYU had a chance to cause major headaches for the BCS selection committee this season. After all, the Cougars were halfway through an undefeated season - and the finish line was in sight.

Then, in a flash of purple and black, it was all over.

The Cougars' dream of a perfect record and a BCS berth received a rude awakening Thursday night when TCU crushed BYU, 32-7, in a game that could dramatically swing the bowl picture in a few months.

"This was tough," said Hall, who registered a career-worst 53.1 quarterback rating. "Any time you lose a game like that, it's tough, and I take a lot of responsibility for this game. We have got to improve and find out who we are."

The majority of the national pollsters thought they knew who the Cougars were prior to Thursday night's beatdown.

Several prognosticators had tabbed BYU as this year's version of Utah (2005), Boise State (2006) or Hawaii (2007) - teams from "mid-major" conferences that crashed the BCS party on the strength of perfect regular seasons.

But after getting spanked by a clearly superior team Thursday, the only words the Cougars could offer were "frustrated," "terrible" and "disappointing."

"It's more disappointing than surprising," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "We knew they were a very good football team. But when you make mistakes like we made against a team like that, that simply is the result."

Had they survived their matchup with the Horned Frogs, the Cougars faced a very manageable four-game stretch of UNLV, Colorado State, San Diego State and Air Force before their season finale against Utah.

That game could have caused major headaches for the BCS committee, as BYU and Utah appeared primed to enter this year's edition of "the Holy War" with perfect records.

But thanks to TCU, which ended BYU's 16-game winning streak, that no longer will be an issue.

"It just hurts," Cougars defensive end Jan Jorgensen said. "The BCS, the winning streak - when you get beat, 30-something to seven, that stuff doesn't matter.

"When you have high expectations like our team has and as hard as we worked to get better, it just feels horrible."

One could use the word "horrible" to sum up the Cougars' performance against the Horned Frogs, who were clearly faster at every position on the field.

Boasting the nation's top-ranked defense, the Horned Frogs completely throttled Hall and the high-powered Cougars.

Hall was sacked six times and completed just 22-of-42 attempts for 274 yards in an effort that likely ended his Heisman Trophy candidacy.

"They were fast, and they got to me," said Hall, who had been sacked a total of just four times in BYU's first six games. "The bottom line is they were strong, and they forced me into some bad decisions.

"I thought that I had been fairly good at handling the pressure, but tonight it just got to me. TCU deserves a lot of credit for their performance."

Gary Patterson's Horned Frogs certainly should be praised for their preparation and execution in a game that they admittedly had been eying for some time.

"BYU has been the top team in our conference the last two seasons, and our guys have been focused on them since January," said Patterson, whose squad ended the longest active winning streak in the country. "We really wanted to come out and be the best TCU football team that we could be, and I think we did that."

Installed as a surprising two-point favorite despite not being ranked, TCU made the Las Vegas oddsmakers look smart by forcing four turnovers while racing for 240 rushing yards against BYU's overmatched defense.

"I'm not taking anything away from them because they are a good football team," said TCU speedster Jeremy Kerley, who ran for 77 yards and scored on a 16-yard highlight-reel TD. "I think we played with some explosion tonight and caught them a little off-guard.

"This is college football and it is a crazy game. Any team can lose at any time and any team can pull out a win at any time."

To say that BYU was caught off-guard is a major understatement. To say that the Cougars' BCS bowl chances are over is a certainty.

The bowl selection committee should be saying "thank you" to Patterson and TCU.

Meanwhile, the fans in Provo probably are saying something totally different: "Good night perfect season. Good night BCS bowl."