FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -TCU coach Gary Patterson repeatedly emphasizes scoring just one more point than the opponent – whatever it takes to win.
This week, Patterson also talked about the 15th-ranked Horned Frogs proving they belong among the nation’s best teams.
Those separate thoughts certainly contradict each other for TCU (1-0) going into its home opener Saturday night against Texas State (1-0), a Football Championship Subdivision foe.
With the lofty goal of finally making it into a Bowl Championship Series game – which requires moving up in the polls and impressing people who only see the scores and not the games – TCU obviously needs to have more than a one-point victory against a lower-division team.
,” Patterson said.
The national perception of the Frogs could take a significant hit without a lopsided score.
With a couple of non-BCS teams already ahead of them in the polls – BYU and Boise State – and a trip to Clemson looming the following week, the Horned Frogs can’t overlook Texas State, which is 18th in the FCS coaches poll.
“That’s not something we take lightly at all,” offensive tackle Marshall Newhouse said. “If you don’t show up, no matter who you’re playing, you can’t really can’t expect to win if you don’t bring your ‘A’ game.”
Listening to the Frogs, it doesn’t sound like they feel they were at their best for last weekend’s opener at Virginia. Yet, TCU won 30-14 and the Cavaliers didn’t get their two touchdowns until the closing minutes of the game.
“We didn’t play our best game, should have done that better,” linebacker Daryl Washington said.
Consider that Virginia finished with only 177 total yards, 83 of them coming on late TD passes after it was 30-0. The Cavaliers never snapped the ball inside the TCU 20.
“The good thing is to win a game and we don’t feel like we played our best game,” Patterson said. “That’s where you want to be as a program. If we felt like that was the best game we could play the rest of the year, then everything is going to be downhill from there.”
land Conference team has played a higher-division opponent every season since, losing each time.
“It’s going to be a tough deal this weekend,” coach Brad Wright said. “We have a monumental task ahead of us.”
The Bobcats did have an extra week of preparation, off last weekend after a season-opening 48-28 victory over Angelo State.
Bobcats offensive coordinator Travis Bush and receivers coach Kevin Brown were graduate assistants at TCU under Patterson. They are familiar with what TCU does and use many of the same ideas with their own offense that concentrates on the run while also using play-action passing.
Quarterback Bradley George, a 27-year-old fourth-year starter, threw for 328 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions in the opener. The 6-foot-6 George played minor league baseball before going to Texas State.
With 1,000-yard rusher Karrington Bush out because of a knee injury, the Bobcats may have to depend more on George to make things happen.
TCU is playing only its fourth lower-division team in 10 years. Since losing in overtime against Northwestern State in 2001, the Frogs have taken care of such games, 46-13 over UC-Davis in 2006 and 67-7 against Stephen F. Austin last season.
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