Motivated TCU Rallies Past Oregon State for Critical Victory

ARLINGTON, Texas. -- Whatever you do, don't mistake TCU coach Gary Patterson for being bitter.

The man just carries one major chip on his shoulder.

ESPN college football talking head Lee Corso was the latest person to play into Patterson's game within a game agenda when he predicted the sixth-ranked Horned Frogs would lose to No. 22 Oregon State by three touchdowns during Saturday's season opener. Corso, however, apparently didn't factor in some critical points. TCU was playing a bowl-like nationally televised game virtually in its own backyard at Cowboys Stadium. He also may not have realized the Horned Frogs returned pretty much every significant offensive player from last season's team that ran the table during the regular season and came within a second of perhaps being the first non-automatic qualifier to earn a spot in the BCS national championship game.

Corso also couldn't have known that "someone" was going to approve opening the retractable roof at Jerry's World to let all the northern Texas heat and humidity in on the Oregon State Beavers (wink, wink).

At any rate Corso had provided the bulls-eye the Horned Frogs needed and, after securing an impressive 30-21 win over the Beavers in front of 46,138 spectators, Patterson took aim.

---

---

"We get a lot of sentiment that we must prove ourselves," Patterson said. "Then you have Corso's comment, here we are preseason ranked sixth or seventh ... I didn't see Florida being picked a three-touchdown underdog.

"He did me a favor, he did my whole team a favor today, because, as usual, no matter what we do or how we do, we are always having to prove ourselves. That's OK with us. We'll get ready for Tennessee Tech and we will go prove ourselves then we will prove ourselves against Baylor and on down the road."

Not surprisingly, the TCU players have bought into the whole "no respect" mentality. It's not surprising where it comes from.

"When you have a coach like that, he makes it pretty easy," said senior center Jake Kirkpatrick.

Patterson, of course, is beating a dead horse and he knows it. No automatic qualifiers are in the business of proving themselves week-in and week-out with zero margin for error.

The Frogs cleared a significant hurdle to that end Saturday night by defeating a very solid Oregon State team that is expected is to be in the Pac-10 championship mix for a third-straight season. The Frogs lose their opener Saturday and all of the talk of them possibly playing in the national title game and making the BCS for a second straight season go away in Week 1.

"I chose this game when they came to me because I knew TCU needed one of these kind of ballgames if we were going to be preseason ranked No. 6 in the country to prove to people we can play," Patterson said. "It's you guys who keep saying we can't play with certain people. It's not me.

"At the top of my chart it says national championship. It's those out there that say we can never play for it, but we will find out if we can or we can't some day. Maybe it will be this year or maybe it will be years. But I'll tell you this much, I may not be here in 10 years."

Still, the conversation about this season and the possibilities continues into Week 2 and quite possibly much longer after TCU didn't play its best but still managed to defeat a big-time opponent from a much more powerful conference. Senior quarterback Andy Dalton seemed to pick up where he left off in last season's Fiesta Bowl by throwing two costly interceptions in opening drives in the first and third quarters. Yet it was Dalton who raced into the end zone from four yards out to give the Frogs the lead for good at 28-21 with 59 seconds left in the third quarter.

For a while, it didn't look like TCU would get much going on the ground, but after a slow start Ed Wesley stepped up big off the bench with 134 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries to help the Frogs finish with 278 total rushing yards.

The defense, minus star end Jerry Hughes and some other significant players from last year's dominant unit, at times was susceptible to the big play against star OSU receiver James Rodgers. But cornerback Greg McCoy provided the play of the game in the fourth quarter when at the last possible second he reached in to break up a deep pass from Ryan Katz to James Rodgers that would have for sure been trouble.

Also not to be overlooked is how the defense continued its run-stuffing ways by not allowing speedy back Jacquizz Rodgers to get much going on the ground. He was limited to 75 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, while the Beavers were held to just 73 total yards on the ground on 25 runs.

All of these things added up to a significant and must-have win for the Horned Frogs. That isn't to suggest there won't be more trouble because in two weeks they host a dangerous Baylor team, followed by a road game against rival SMU -- and once in Mountain West play you have to circle the Nov. 6 game at Utah as problematic, if for no other reason than TCU hasn't won there since joining the conference.

But for now, there is just some solace in coming away with a win in what may have been the most intriguing matchup Saturday.

"It makes us 1-0, that's the biggest thing," said Patterson, whose defense capitalized with a safety late in the fourth quarter to provide the nine-point win. "We are only one of two or three teams that played a ranked team. You didn't see a 55-3 game on national TV. To get one of your tougher games behind you and you won is a big difference for us. I think it's a confidence deal for us because tomorrow we are going to go in knowing we beat a pretty good football team and we made a lot of mistakes."