There is only one game pitting Top 25 opponents against each other this week. Where else would the ESPN College Gameday crew want to be but Provo, Utah, where the 7th-ranked Horned Frogs of TCU will take on the 16th-rated Cougars of Brigham Young this Saturday. The Gameday crew features Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Chris Fowler, and Desmond Howard, with the climax of the show involving a grinning Corso donning the mascot head of the team he is picking to win to the jeers of a rambunctious crowd. The show also often features a guest representing one of the schools who are playing. ESPN radio's College GameDay show, with Ryen Russillo, Trevor Matich and Brad Edwards, will also broadcast from Provo this Saturday. Matich, the starting center for the 1984 BYU National Championship football team, will have his underdog pick of the week, and Russillo will document his trip to Provo as part of his weekly online feature "Russillo on the Road." The football game will be broadcast live on Versus, which is available in over 40 million homes across the nation.
"It's a tremendous opportunity for BYU to host ESPN College GameDay on our campus," said BYU Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe. "The TCU game is sold out and the ESPN shows should add to the great college atmosphere we expect this Saturday." BYU has sold out their last 16 home games in a row now. LaVell Edwards Stadium (named after BYU's 258-win Hall of Fame head coach) seats 64,045. The field itself has been news fodder this year after being replaced for the first time in 28 seasons; the grass has not yet fully taken root and is causing teams to slip and slide during gameplay.
BYU (6-1, 3-0 in the MWC), who celebrated their 500th win since 1922 last week, comes into this game with a boatload of weapons to throw against 6-0 (2-0 MWC) TCU's staunch defense. The Cougar offense ranks #2 nationally in passing efficiency and redzone touchdowns and points, #6 in scoring, #7 in total yards, #11 in passing and first downs, and #1 in third-down efficiency (44 of 71). One of those weapons, senior tight end Dennis Pitta, became the school's all-time leader in receiving yards at that position this week, now totaling 2,543 for his career, passing BYU's NCAA Hall-of-Famer Gordon Hudson. He is also the Cougars' all-time leader in tight end receptions with 193, and has caught at least one pass in 37 consecutive games played. And with 18 career touchdowns, he is just four more TDs away from gaining yet another statistical #1 at a school well known for its productive tight end play. It's interesting to note that Pitta began his career at BYU as a walk-on player. And Pitta may have future accolades in store as well; He currenty leads all tight ends nationally in total receiving yards (471) and receiving yards per game (67.3). On the TCU game, Pitta offered, "It's a big game, and we have a bad taste in our mouth from last year... Fortunately, we get to be at home with our fans."
Junior Cougar running back Harvey Unga leads the Mountain West conference in rushing yardage per game this year (96 yards per game), despite missing the season opener against Oklahoma and most of BYU's second game at Tulane. He has ran for at least one touchdown in each of his last five games, and currently has 575 yards and 9 touchdowns on just 102 carries and is expected to rush for over a thousand yards again this season. This would make the 5th season in a row BYU has had a 1000+ yard runner. Unga's career stats, 2,934 rushing yards for 34 touchdowns, along with 1078 receiving yards for 8 touchdowns, are also close to setting all-time BYU records. "It's homecoming, it's TCU, it's at home. It's a very talented team," Unga said about the coming game. "It's one of those games you kind of wait for the season for. We look forward to having them at home just to test us and see where we're at against those guys. It'll be fun."
BYU also continues to have high hopes for senior quarterback Max Hall, who is second in the nation so far this season with 16 touchdown throws (to 8 different receivers), to go along with two more TD runs. Hall has thrown for more than 300 yards five times already this season and totals 2,069 passing yards to date (9,874 career passing yards, 77 career passing touchdowns, 30 career games throwing a TD). He is also one of only two QBs ranked in the top ten nationally in each of the following statistical categories: Passing efficiency (4th), passing yards per game (8th), total offense (8th), and points responsible for (10th). Also, with 27 wins under his belt, Max Hall is primed to pass BYU's all-time wins leader this season, former Heisman winner Ty Detmer, who earned 29 wins as a starter for the Cougars. Four more wins would also make Hall the first BYU quarterback to lead the team to three double-digit win seasons. "TCU is a very good football team. They have a very good defense and they have a good quarterback (Andy Dalton) who can run," said Max Hall. "There's going to be a lot of things we're going to have to look at on film to prepare for these guys. I think we can win, but we've got to play sound, we can't turn the ball over and we've got to manage the game right. Luckily for us, we have them at home. We're just going to prepare like crazy and see if we can win."
BYU's defense, though perhaps less intimidating than TCU's, will be bouyed this game by a return of players. After missing the game against Florida State due to a hamstring injury, senior captain Scott Johnson has returned to the safety position, grabbing three interceptions in his last two games, upping BYU's total to 8 interceptions so far this season. Senior DT Russell Tialavea should make his return against the Horned Frogs after recuperating from a knee injury suffered early against FSU, and dimunitive 5'6" JC cornerback Brian Logan, who leads the nation with 11 pass break-ups, will finally lose the cast from his right hand. The defensive unit, currently 23rd nationally in run defense, will have to play their best game if they hope to lock down the Horned Frogs rushing attack, ranked 11th nationally in yards per game, to go along with TCU's 16th ranked scoring offense and 21st ranked total offense. That especially means TCU's senior tailback Joseph Turner, who has 399 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns this season, and 1,739 yards 25 TDs over his career.
TCU, coming off of a 44-6 destruction of likely bowl team Colorado State last week, offers one of the most talented defensive ends in the nation for your consideration, Jerry Hughes. Hughes is a QB-eating monster, leading the Mountain West Conference in career sacks with 25 (one more than senior BYU DE Jan Jorgensen, who has started 46 consecutive games for BYU), including 8 already this season (4th most in the nation), along with 19 solo tackles and 31 tackles total. He was the national sack leader last season with 15. “I don’t understand how it works, the numbers or the computers, whatever,” defensive end Jerry Hughes said. “We can’t really worry too much about what the BCS says about us. We’ve just got to go out there and perform and try to win games... One thing we’ve got to do is win a conference championship... That’s our No. 1 goal right now.” The Horned Frogs have the #9 run defense in the nation. TCU also gives us wide receiver Jeremy Kerley, one of the nation's most gifted athletes. Kerley has run back two punts for a touchdown over the last three weeks, and leads the nation in total punt return yards with 325, to go along with 273 kick return yards. “BYU, that’s what I’m focused on,” said Jeremy Kerley after the game against the Rams.
TCU head coach Gary Patterson's thoughts following the win over CSU: “Congratulations, great job. You guys know what’s ahead of you, I don’t need to tell you anything... Everything had to lead up to BYU... No thoughts... We’re in the top 10. We’re playing BYU. If we don’t win this ballgame, it doesn’t make any difference anyway.” The Horned Frogs are infamous in Provo for displaying a BYU helmet on a blocking dummy in their on-campus weight room.
This year, Brigham Young opened up with a 14-13 road win in Texas over then #3 Oklahoma, while TCU has won two ACC road games, at Virginia and at Clemson. Last year, BYU was undefeated at 6-0 and ranked #7 in the nation on a Thursday night in October when the Cougars travelled to Fort Worth, Texas to take on the 6-1 Horned Frogs. Coming in cocky and overconfident after such wins as a 59-0 UCLA game, BYU was humbled by TCU to the tune of 32-7, in which the Cougars threw two interceptions, gave away two fumbles, and were sacked six times, ending their 16-game winning streak, which was the longest in the nation at the time. TCU went on to finish the season ranked in the Top 10 and beat undefeated Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl.
In 2007: BYU beat TCU 27-22. BYU went undefeated in the Mountain West and finished ranked in the Top 15.
In 2006: BYU beat #15 TCU in Fort Worth, 31-17, to snap the Horned Frogs' nation-leading 13-game win streak. BYU would go on to finish undefeated in the MWC and gain another Top 15 national ranking.
In 2005: In their first year in the Mountain West Conference, TCU beat BYU 51-50 in overtime in Provo, UT. The Horned Frogs went undefeated in the Mountain West and finished 11-1. Under current BCS rules, the Frogs would have earned a spot in a BCS bowl game.
In a game where opposing strengths seem to match up, here are some numbers to remember:
-BYU has scored 270 points so far this season. TCU has only given up 82.
-TCU is on an 8 game winning streak.
-BYU in on a 13-game home conference win streak, a conference record.
-BYU has won 23 of its last 27 games playing as a ranked team (and have won 154 games total while ranked). The Cougars have been ranked each of the past 27 polling weeks.
-Under current head coach Bronco Mendenhall, BYU is 37-6 when rushing for 100+ yards, 17-3 when holding opponents under 100, and 38-4 when leading at halftime.
-Both Bronco Mendenhall and Gary Patterson are in the Top 8 nationally in current head coach win percentages.
No matter who wins this year, they'll still have to go through Utah (currently 5-1, 2-0 MWC, 18th in the BCS Poll) later this season. Utah has gone undefeated overall twice in the past six seasons (in 2004 under Urban Meyer and in 2008 under Kyle Whittingam), blowing out Pitt and Alabama in BCS bowl games.
TCU plays at Utah Sat. Nov. 14th.
Utah plays at BYU Sat. Nov. 28th.
*ESPN's College GameDay will air starting at 7:00am PT, Saturday October 24th.
*College GameDay on ESPN Radio will begin airing at 11:00am PT.
*TCU @ BYU is scheduled to kick-off at 4:30pm PT.