CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) -TCU coach Gary Patterson isn’t worried about busting the BCS or raising the national profile of his No. 15 Horned Frogs.
He is aware TCU (2-0) will do both – if it gets past Clemson (2-1) on Saturday.
“We understand we’re ranked, and to stay in the (Bowl Championship Series) hunt you’ve got to win it,” Patterson said. “But more importantly for me is I want my team to get better. It’s still about winning the (Mountain West) conference championship, and it’s still about doing all the things we need to do.”
e plan.
“It’s like I told my team, ‘This is why you came to TCU. You came here because we go play people like Clemson,”’ Patterson said.
And to collect a $1 million guarantee, the fee for the Horned Frogs filling a hole in Clemson’s schedule last winter after Central Michigan dropped out.
TCU could leave Memorial Stadium with the money and the victory.
The Horned Frogs have already beaten an Atlantic Coast Conference club this year, opening with a 30-14 win at Virginia. They beat Stanford last fall, Texas Tech in 2006 and stunned the Sooners, 17-10, four years ago.
“Everybody likes to coach in these kind of games. Everybody likes to play in these kind of games,” Patterson said. “The key to it is, you have to keep it relative.”
The Frogs stout defense, ranked No. 1 in the country last season, will also have keep a lock on Clemson’s quick, offensive stars like tailback C.J. Spiller and receiver Jacoby Ford.
return yards, 1,000 receiving yards and 500 punt return yards.
Ford, an NCAA 60 meter sprint champion, is tied for third in the ACC with 14 catches.
The Tiger defense showed some muscle last week, limiting Boston College to 54 yards and one touchdown. Clemson’s special teams continued to shine with Spiller’s punt return score and a 6-for-6 day on field goals from junior Richard Jackson.
TCU will count on defensive star Jerry Hughes, last year’s national leader with 15 sacks, to continue the dominating pace he’s set so far. Hughes, a senior, has 4 1/2 sacks in two games so far.
Tiger coach Dabo Swinney knows that beating TCU can give his young program a solid stepping stone for the rest of the season.
“We want to continue to advance, have a special year, and these are games you’ve got to do well in,” Swinney said. “Its not going to cost us the ACC championship.”
A loss by TCU might cost the Mountain West Conference its last, best BCS shot. The league has already seen BYU and Utah, two of its supposed contenders for the sports’ biggest, most lucrative bowls get waylaid with a loss. BYU, which beat Oklahoma to start the season, lost at home last week to Florida State. Utah fell at Oregon last Saturday.
“Clemson, it’s going to be huge for us, winning that game, whether it’s in the polls in the public’s eye,” said Horned Frog wide receiver Bart Johnson.
wants his players and staff locked into this week’s matchup with Clemson and not considering opportunities that are months away from happening. His philosophy has long been to improve each week and, if they do, in November “we’ll have a chance and people will be talking about us.”
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AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins in Forth Worth, Texas, contributed to this report.
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