Utah Utes football: Home game vs. TCU has major BCS implications

There are big games and really big games. Then there are really, really big games.

Such is the case Thursday at Rice-Eccles Stadium when Bowl Championship Series contenders Utah and TCU square off. The Utes (9-0) are No. 8 in the latest BCS standings, while the Horned Frogs (9-1) are in close pursuit at No. 12.

The game is sold out and will be broadcast to a national audience on the CBS College Sports Network.

It's the highest-ranked matchup in Utah football history. The Utes are 10th in the latest Associated Press poll, and TCU is 11th.

This will be just the fifth game a ranked Utah team has ever played against a ranked opponent. The most recent was the 2005 Fiesta Bowl when the fourth-ranked Utes defeated No. 19 Pittsburgh 35-7.

The other three games came in 1994, and Utah prevailed each time.

While ranked 18th in the AP poll, the Utes traveled to Fort Collins and topped No. 15 Colorado State 45-31.

Four weeks later, No. 21 Utah edged No. 20 BYU at Rice-Eccles Stadium by a 34-31 margin.

The Utes rose to 14th by the time they defeated 18th-ranked Arizona 16-13 in the Freedom Bowl later that year.

Historically speaking, when it comes to rankings, Thursday's game tops them all.

Bill Marcroft, who broadcast Utah football games for 36 years through the Fiesta Bowl victory, calls it a "dream matchup" between the Utes and Horned Frogs. Especially, he said, with all the ramifications, including the BCS.

In that regard, Marcroft noted, this week's game could be the biggest in Utah history.

However, he still points to the annual rivalry with BYU as the grandest of them all. Whenever and wherever it's played.

"Any Utah-BYU game is always bigger than any other game," Marcroft said. "Particularly when it's for all the marbles, and that's the way it should be every year. Every year Utah and BYU should play for it all at the end."

This year, however, TCU is in the way. Led by quarterback Andy Dalton and defensive end Jerry Hughes, the Horned Frogs knocked BYU out of the driver's seat with a 32-7 victory in Fort Worth, Texas, on Oct. 16.

Since then, Utah and TCU have been on a collision course. The team that prevails Thursday will remain in the running for a lucrative BCS bowl bid.