No. 4 TCU hosts FCS foe Tennessee Tech
NCAA Football Betting Lines
09/08/2010 - Fort Worth, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With one of the toughest games on their schedule already out of the way, the fourth-ranked TCU Horned Frogs now focus their attention on the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech in a non-conference showdown at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth.
TCU, which lost to Boise State in the postseason to close out the 2009 campaign, opened up 2010 with a fight against nationally-ranked Oregon State and took care of the Beavers with a 30-21 final at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington last Saturday.
"For us, you've heard me say it, it was a like a blind date," commented TCU head coach Gary Patterson after the hard-fought victory. "You don't know what you're going to get...What a great game to play in. I tell ya, if there's a stadium better to play in than this one, as far as the crowd, and all the things that go along with it, I want to know what it is. Because this was awesome."
As for the Golden Eagles, they too were locked up with a nationally-ranked squad in the first week of the season, but in their case the outcome was much different as they fell hard to Arkansas by a final of 44-3 in Fayetteville. Granted, Tech did score the first points of the game, but from the second quarter on the Razorbacks ripped apart the visitors as expected.
"We're leaving a better team than when we came here," remarked Tech head coach Watson Brown. "When you come and play a team that good, in a hostile atmosphere you can't do anything but get better."
In 2009 the Golden Eagles kicked off with a 51-10 thrashing of Pikeville College, so clearly the team bit off more than it could chew by scheduling back-to-back games against nationally-ranked programs to begin 2010. The only true test the team encountered last year was when Kansas State ripped them apart in a 49-7 final in Manhattan.
This game marks the first-ever meeting between these two schools on the gridiron.
A 27-yard field goal by Matthew Barker in the first quarter of Saturday's game may have given the Golden Eagles some reason to believe they could compete against Arkansas, but that was before the Hogs really dialed up their offense and scored 44 unanswered points between the second and third quarters before calling off the dogs. Tre Lamb converted 6-of-13 passes as the quarterback for Tech, leading to 99 yards, but he was also sacked twice and that took the team's overall rushing total down to a mere 79 yards on 43 attempts. Cass Barnes, who converted his one pass attempt for nine yards, topped the team with 31 rushing yards on eight carries.
Sure, the Tech defense may have been feeling good through the first 15 minutes of action, but that was before the Razorbacks broke through and completely demolished the Eagles with 196 yards and three touchdowns on the ground and another 323 yards and three scores through the air. Sandwiched in between a couple of interceptions made by Richmond Tooley and Dustin Dillehay, the defense allowed five straight touchdowns by the Hogs.
Dillehay played a huge role for the Tennessee Tech defense a year ago when he ranked first on the unit with 78 tackles and was also tied for the team lead with three interceptions, which he returned for a combined 70 yards. Tooley was also a player to be reckoned with in 2009 with his three picks and team- leading 12 passes defended and nine breakups, but most of those numbers came against teams that are far from the caliber of TCU and the rest of the schools at the FBS level.
Last season, Dontay Gay led the Golden Eagles in rushing with 556 yards and scored six times on an even 100 carries, yet the team moved away from him for some reason in the opener this time around and he was credited with a mere 15 yards on seven carries.
"We fought hard the whole game," said quarterback Andy Dalton of TCU's victory over Oregon State in the opener. "We knew all we had to do was win by one. We came out and played really hard. We never got too down and we never got too high. We kept fighting. We do whatever it takes to win."
Dalton, who is now first on the all-time wins list as a starting quarterback for the Horned Frogs with 30, was certainly not going to let his teammates down as he converted 17-of-27 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown, but was also picked off two times and sacked once, which played into the team needing to hang on. With less than a minute to play in the third quarter, Dalton used his feet to get into the end zone on a four-yard bolt to the left side of the end zone. The TD run was the second of the game for Dalton, who is one of the more complete players in the Mountain West Conference again this season.
Running back Ed Wesley also played a significant role in the win as he registered 134 yards and a score on 17 carries, nearly doubling the output of OSU which tallied just 73 yards on the ground.
Finding a replacement for Jerry Hughes, one of the most dominating defenders in the MWC the last couple of years, won't be easy but Wayne Daniels may have already assumed that place on the TCU defense after coming up with two sacks, three total tackles for loss and a forced fumble in the opener.
"We have a lot more to prove," said Daniels after the victory. "We can be a little bit better than we were tonight. We just have to keep working and getting better."
Coach Patterson isn't about to let the Horned Frogs relax and feel good about their win in the opener because the team ran the table in 2009 and ended up getting beaten by a determined Boise State squad in the postseason. The defense will be asked to make big things happen for TCU, just as it did last year when it ranked first among all 120 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision with a mere 239.7 ypg allowed. The group may not have been the best at stopping plays in the backfield last season, placing 31st in sacks (2.46 per game) and 50th in TFLs (5.92), but rarely did opponents gain huge yardage because there was always someone there to greet them.
Dalton may not bet the most productive passer in the MWC, but at least he can hit his marks when called upon. Better still, Dalton's ability to gain yards on his own means opponents have to plan for such action and rarely do they make the right decisions on coverage with a group that placed fifth in the nation last season with almost 240 ypg on the ground. There may be a few new faces coming out of the backfield on offense for the Frogs, but they are all cut from the same cloth and will cause opponents like Tennessee Tech to be stretched to their limits.
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Big 12 Conference betting odds
Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State
Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.
Work left to do:
Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.
Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.
Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.
Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence
Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.
Work left to do:
Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.
Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.
DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...
West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.
Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.
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