TCU Football: The Horned Frogs finish the year ranked in the top ten

by PegNews wire

Fort Worth, TX--The TCU football team is seventh in the final AP and USA Today polls, representing its highest season-ending ranking since 1959 and its second top-10 finish in the last four years.

Since the BCS was established for the 1998 season, TCU (11-2) has the highest finish in the polls by a two-loss team from a non-automatic qualifying conference.

The Frogs haven't been ranked this high in a final poll since the 1959 squad was seventh. TCU went 8-3 and was a co-champion of the Southwest Conference. Included in the win column that season was a 14-9 victory at No. 2 Texas. The Frogs fell 23-7 to Clemson in the Bluebonnet Bowl.

In 2005, an 11-1 TCU team closed the season ranked ninth in the USA Today poll and 11th by AP.

Under head coach Gary Patterson, TCU has its fifth season-ending top-25 ranking in the last seven seasons.

At the time of the game, TCU faced four undefeated top-10 teams this season. The Frogs posted a 32-7 win over No. 8 BYU on Oct. 16 before closing the campaign with a 17-16 victory over No. 9 Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl. TCU's only two losses were to Oklahoma and Utah.

This year's Frogs have the third-best ranking by a Mountain West Conference team in the league's 10-year history, trailing only Utah's undefeated squads in 2004 and 2008. Both those Ute teams finished in the top five.

For the first time in its history, the Mountain West Conference placed three teams in the final top 25. The MWC is tied with the Big 12 and SEC with two teams in the top seven. Utah was second in the AP poll and fourth in the USA Today listing. BYU was 25th in AP and 21st in USA Today.

Posted by tej