TCU Horned Frogs @ Utah Utes Football Preview

The TCU Horned Frogs and the Utah Utes have pointed to this game all season long. Now they’ll meet to decide the Mountain West championship, and possibly a lot more.

The Horned Frogs could have looked ahead to this game last Saturday night in Las Vegas, but Coach Gary Patterson’s team didn’t miss a beat. TCU hammered UNLV, 48-6, in yet another standout performance by the Horned Frogs’ elite defense. There’s no question that TCU has a national-championship-caliber gang of 11 on that side of the line of scrimmage. The Frogs have allowed just 10 total touchdowns in nine games this season, and they’ve allowed more than one touchdown in only two of their nine outings. TCU’s defense has allowed just two touchdowns in its last five games and has held each of its last five opponents to seven points or fewer.

One thing to watch with TCU is that the Frogs – who lost at Utah in 2008, in a game with virtually identical conference-championship implications – will be able to play this game on a Saturday afternoon. The 2008 loss in Salt Lake City, a wrenching 13-10 defeat on a last-minute touchdown drive by the Utes, came on a Thursday night. TCU had to deal with short rest and a night game, and Utah took advantage of that fact. This year, the longer rest period plus the daytime start (3:35 p.m. Eastern time) will make it easier for TCU to handle a hostile crowd at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

On the other side of the divide, the team TCU will tackle this weekend – though perhaps not as mature as the Utah team that waited out the Horned Frogs in 2008 – is developing the poise of a worthy adversary. After pulling out a tough win at Air Force this past weekend, it’s clear that this Utah team knows how to win with Wynn. Jordan Wynn is the Utes’ newest star quarterback - the sophomore took over the starting job in the middle of last season as a freshman, and he quickly grew into the position. This year, he’s become the unquestioned leader of the Utah offense and hasn’t lost a game in two months of action. Utah beat TCU two years ago because its quarterback, Brian Johnson, didn’t lose his nerve in tense situations during that taut thriller.

Wynn shows signs of being that kind of quarterback, the steely leader who can lead a last-minute drive just as Johnson did in 2008.

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Meanwhile, in comparison to Jordan Wynn (and Johnson, the man who beat him two years ago) TCU signal caller Andy Dalton – while immensely gifted and able to light up the scoreboard on his best days – is still profoundly inconsistent. TCU scored only six points in the first half against Colorado State on Oct. 2 and just three points in the first 28 minutes of the first half against Brigham Young on Oct. 16. TCU has gotten off to slow offensive starts in many games this season, and if that happens again on Saturday, the Utes are definitely good enough to take advantage of that deficiency on the part of the Horned Frogs.

TCU’s outlook is simple, and accordingly, so is the basis for predicting the game. If Dalton plays really well, TCU will win comfortably. If Dalton plays very poorly, Utah will win decisively. If Dalton is so-so, the game will be close, with a few key situations creating the margin between victory and defeat. TCU needs to do what it can to ensure that its quarterback gains a rhythm, while Utah must do everything possible to disrupt the trigger man who initiates the Horned Frogs’ offense. For at least the first three and a half quarters, the focus will be on TCU, as America – and some intrigued power-conference teams – will want to know if the Horned Frogs have become good enough to win their biggest conference game on the road, something they couldn’t do in 2008. If this game does remain close, and TCU can’t finish off the Utes heading into crunch time, the spotlight will then shift to Wynn, who will try to follow in the footsteps of Brian Johnson, the last man to lead a Ute movement against the big, bad Horned Frogs of Fort Worth.

TCU and Utah. The Dalton Gang versus the Wynning Crew. The Horned Frogs and the Utes will be sick of the hype come Saturday afternoon. All that’s left is to play for a conference title, a BCS bowl bid, and possibly – if the chips fall in just the right places – a spot in the BCS National Championship

Game.

No pressure, guys. No pressure at all.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer