College football: Now TCU can talk about BCS

PROVO, Utah — Coach Gary Patterson didn't want to talk about the BCS until after TCU faced BYU on the road.

Considering what the Horned Frogs did to the Cougars, there will be no escaping the Bowl Championship Series potential for unbeaten TCU now.

The Horned Frogs passed Boise State in the standings on Sunday, a day after beating BYU 38-7. Now the unbeaten Horned Frogs are in position to be this season's BCS buster.

Patterson was still a little reluctant to talk about the BCS after Saturday night's win, but did acknowledge that it was a huge step for the Frogs (7-0, 3-0 Mountain West).

"We'll see how the votes and the computers and all those people do that stuff and see how it turns out," Patterson said after the Frogs' ninth straight victory.

TCU (7-0, 3-0 Mountain West) has five games remaining and only two are against teams with winning records. The Frogs will be back at home for No. 19 Utah (6-1, 3-0) on Nov. 14 and on the road the following week against Wyoming (4-3, 2-1).

The defending conference champion Utes appear to be the biggest hurdle the Frogs have left to clear and there will be plenty of incentive. Utah pulled off a late comeback last year and gave TCU its only loss in conference play en route to the Utes' second BCS appearance.

The Frogs are hoping for their first BCS berth, but still have to keep an eye on Boise State. The Broncos, whose only loss last year was to TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl, appear on their way to another perfect regular season, too.

Any chance the BCS will make room for teams from the Mountain West and Western Athletic Conference?

"If we were ever going to do things for the right reasons sometimes, maybe it might be one of those times that this might get done," Patterson said. "We'll see. We'll see what happens in five weeks."

The Frogs certainly bolstered their argument Saturday.

Andy Dalton passed for 241 yards and three touchdowns, including a 75-yard play to Antoine Hicks that put TCU up 31-7 with 5:53 left in the third quarter.

Dalton improved to 24-6 as TCU's starter, just five wins behind the school record of 29 victories held by Sammy Baugh.

"We've got a lot of athletes. My job is just to get them the ball," said Dalton, who completed 13 of 24 passes.