TCU Football: Dalton passes Frogs by Wyoming

by Todd E. Jones of College Football Top Ten

Against Wyoming Saturday night, TCU Horned Frog quarterback Andy Dalton threw for more touchdowns in one game than he had all season. Dalton was 16 of 22 for 334 yards and four touchdowns as the Frogs torched the Cowboy secondary en route to a 54-7 victory at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth. Five of Dalton’s passes were caught by teammate and good friend Jimmy Young for a Frog single game record 226 yards and three touchdowns.

From the beginning of the game it was evident that the Wyoming game plan was to slow down the explosive TCU running game and make the Frogs beat them through the air. TCU did just that. Dalton’s 334 yards was the second best in his career behind his 344 yard effort against Stanford last season.

The Frogs came out flat, without emotion, according to Coach Gary Patterson, and struggled to contain the Wyoming running game. Wyoming Senior running back Devin Moore rushed for 114 yards on 25 carries, the first running back to rush for 100 yards against the Frog defense all year. Wyoming was also able to break a couple of big passing plays testing a Frog secondary who intercepted BYU quarterback Max Hall two times last week. In the end, the Cowboys finished with 221 total yards.

The Frogs broke open the game mid-way through second quarter with an Aaron Brown 85 yard kickoff return for a touchdown. With TCU holding on to a 14-7 lead after a Wyoming touchdown, Brown raced through the kickoff coverage outrunning everybody to the end zone. The Frogs took a 24-7 half time lead after a Ross Evans 24 yard field goal. The second half was all TCU as the defense began to shut down the Cowboy offense.

TCU moves its record to 8-1 in 2008 and 5-0 in the Mountain West Conference. The Frogs will visit the UNLV Running Rebels next week before their big showdown with conference rival Utah.

Frogbits

Quick Strike. The Frogs failed to win the time of possession battle for the first time this year. Part of the reason was their scoring drives. Four of the Frog seven scoring drives took less than two minutes. The other three drives took less than five minutes.

X Factor. Senior running back Aaron Brown provided the Frog X Factor Saturday night. Brown had 201 all purpose yards on only 13 touches.

Finishing strong. The Frogs outscored Wyoming 16-0 in the fourth quarter. TCU has outscored its opponents 78-0 in fourth quarter this year.