CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) -The only three letters TCU coach Gary Patterson wants to discuss this week are SMU, not BCS.
Southern Methodist is next for the rising Horned Frogs (3-0), up four spots to No. 11 after their 14-10 win at Clemson (2-2) on Saturday. Patterson is wary of the Mustangs, but his bigger fight may come during the week with blunting Bowl Championship Series talk with the TCU closing in on the Top 10.
The country’s No. 1 defense last year, the Horned Frogs toughened up in the second half to limit the damage done by Clemson star tailback C.J. Spiller and the rest of the speedy Tigers to leave soggy Death Valley with a win.
For Patterson, that’s just the latest, measured step for a team far from finished with its growth.
“I told them before we walked in the game, all I wanted to do through the nonconference (games) was keep getting better,” Patterson said.
That was job the Horned Frogs accomplished, particularly on defense.
yards the last two quarters and choked off Clemson’s two best chances to move in front in the fourth quarter.
After advancing to TCU’s 17, Tigers kicker Richard Jackson was left on a 34-yard field goal try – his first miss under 40 yards this season.
A series later, Clemson got inside the 20 again. This time, quarterback Kyle Parker threw incomplete on fourth-and-13.
Spiller rushed for 112 yards and Clemson’s first TD on the ground this season. Yet, the Horned Frogs limited his explosiveness on special teams, punt Anson Kelton kicking them high and short so Spiller never got the chance at a game-chaning return.
As the Horned Frogs have done so often in Patterson’s previous eight seasons, they put it in the hands of the defense to close things out.
“The game’s never over,” linebacker Daryl Washington said. “You got to play four quarters strong. Our defense, we knew we had to be accountable. That last drive was a big drive and I’m glad we pulled out the win.”
Won’t this success get the players thinking about the big opportunities to come?
“We’re not worried about the BCS,” Washington said. “We’re just trying to focus in on every game one at a time.”
Count Clemson among the impressed.
Receiver Jacoby Ford said the Tigers had to be more productive “to beat a good team like TCU.”
ore handing out praise. His offense was timely, but far from unstoppable. The defense? Well, it nearly let Clemson back in with the two fourth-quarter drives.
“Basically, we did what we needed to do,” Patterson said.
The Horned Frogs will likely have to stay perfect to reach the BCS. One loss, as Mountain West Conference rivals BYU and Utah found out last week, and the buzz is just about over.
After SMU, TCU starts league play at Air Force on Oct. 10. There’s a trip to BYU two weeks after that and a home game with Utah, which ended the Horned Frogs conference title hopes in 2008, on Nov. 14.
“You can’t really think about it,” Dalton said. “Yeah, there’s a great opportunity there. But if you don’t win the next week, none of that matters.”
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