Brigham Young @ Texas Christian preview
Amon G. Carter Stadium
Last Meeting ( Oct 24, 2009 ) Texas Christian 38, Brigham Young 7
BYU has decided to leave the Mountain West after this season and become an independent. That is a huge blow to a conference trying to get invited to the BCS party, and TCU knows it.
So, although the fifth-ranked team in the country won’t say it publicly, TCU (6-0) will surely have that in the back of its mind when it hosts BYU (2-4) on Saturday.
The series began back in 1987, but the two schools didn’t play annually until both were in the MWC in 2005. Since then, the Horned Frogs have won three of the five games, including the past two.
But TCU doesn’t need any added motivation to make it three straight or send BYU out of the MWC with a loss. After all, the Frogs are playing for their second straight BCS Bowl appearance this season.
TCU is coming off two impressive shutouts. Last week, the Horned Frogs rolled to a 45-0 victory over Wyoming, a solid encore performance from its 27-0 victory over Colorado State the previous week.
It’s the first time they had back-to-back shutouts since 1955.
Junior safety Tekerrein Cuba had a career-high 12 tackles against Wyoming, the most recorded by a player this season. Senior defensive end Wayne Daniels had a sack in the first quarter and now has 5 ½ on the season, which matches his output from last season.
Offensively, the Frogs had their best outing of the season, compiling a season-high 578 yards.
Senior quarterback Andy Dalton completed 14 of 17 passes for a season-high 270 yards and three touchdowns. He also had 42 rushing yards.
On the ground, Frogs sophomore running back Ed Wesley had 115 yards on 17 carries, including a 17-yard scoring run. He has three 100-yard games this season.
BYU, meanwhile, is off to one of its worst starts in recent memory.
Last week, the Cougars snapped a four-game losing streak by narrowly defeating San Diego State 24-21.
BYU does have a freshman quarterback in Jake Heaps, who is trying to fill the shoes of Max Hall, and a junior running back in JJ Di Luigi, who is trying to replace Harvey Unga.
Both played well against San Diego State. Heaps completed 15 of 22 passes for 126 yards. Di Luigi rushed for a career-high 134 yards on 22 carries, including a 3-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
Defensively, the Cougars have struggled all season, especially during their four-game losing streak. They allowed more than 31 points a game over that stretch.
BYU has been without junior defensive back Steven Thomas, who has missed the last three games with a concussion. He is listed as questionable this week.
Saturday’s game is themed “Frogs for the Cure,” an annual TCU breast cancer awareness event in support of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. An estimated 800 breast cancer survivors will be on the field before the game and there will be a video tribute at halftime.