Boise State Broncos vs TCU Horned Frogs Football Recap

TCU 36, Boise State 35

It seems when Gary Patterson circles a game on a calendar, it simply gets won by his TCU team—a fact Patterson alluded to in his on-field post-game comments this past Saturday in Boise, Idaho. An elite coach has just given his elite program one more particularly memorable moment, a sweet conquest that will carry the Horned Frogs into the offseason... and possibly into a BCS bowl this season.

Patterson mentioned how TCU had taken down BYU and Utah, and then won a Rose Bowl in the 2010 campaign. After a 2007 loss to BYU, TCU put BYU helmets on tackling dummies for all of the next year’s practices, resulting in a 32-7 win over the Cougars. But in that year, a frustrating 13-10 loss to Utah made the Utes the next target. So the following year, the Frogs annihilated Utah 55-28.

You see, TCU takes pride in winning anywhere and everywhere. While Pat Hill at Fresno State uses the “anyone, anytime, anywhere” motto, the Horned Frogs actually take care of that business. So when TCU—who has won five conference championships in three different conferences over the last ten years—was told the Mountain West was moving its match with Boise State to the blue turf of Boise, November 12, 2011 simply became another circled date. It is a place Boise State hadn’t lost a conference game since 1998. So when Casey Pachall hit Brandon Carter for a touchdown pass with one minute to play to pull TCU within one point of the Broncos, there was no doubt TCU was going for two. Pachall connected with Josh Boyce at the one-yard line, and Boyce shook his defender for the conversion to give TCU a 36-35 lead.

But it wasn’t over yet. Kellen Moore, the nation’s all-time winningest quarterback, had one last gasp for Boise. Aided by a questionable pass interference call, the Broncos moved to TCU’s 20-yard line, where Boise head coach Chris Petersen opted to play for a field goal. Dan Goodale lined up for a 39-yarder, but surely to Moore’s horror pushed it right, and TCU escaped with the thrilling victory. In Moore’s illustrious career that currently sports a 46-3 record, those three losses have come by a combined five points, and in those three games, his kickers have missed five field goals.

Boise State was behind 20-14 at halftime, which marked the first time in the Kellen Moore era the Broncos had trailed at halftime. They moved quickly to reclaim the lead with a fumble return for a touchdown by Tyrone Crawford followed by a D.J. Harper touchdown run. But the huge plays the Broncos surrendered in the first half came back to bite them. Pachall connected on touchdown passes of 74, 75, and 69 yards in the first half. Pachall also converted two two-point conversions in the second half to help the Horned Frogs to the victory.

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By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer