What others are saying: TCU reaches championship moment, with Utah in the way

FORT WORTH, Texas — This is why Jerry Hughes came back. This is why they were waking up at 6 a.m. every day this August for practices in the unforgiving Texas heat. This is why they're in the weight room when their coach doesn't require it.

For a game like Saturday night at Amon G. Carter Stadium. For the right to be called champions.

In what thus far has been a dream season, the TCU Horned Frogs will try to turn their vision into reality Saturday night.

With a win against Mountain West Conference rival Utah, the No. 4-ranked Frogs (9-0, 5-0) would take a major leap toward winning their first conference title since 2005. The No. 16 Utes (8-1, 5-0) are the defending MWC champs and the last team to beat TCU. Utah's lone loss was at No. 14 Oregon on Sept. 19, but the Utes have won six in a row since then, the last two behind true freshman quarterback Jordan Wynn, who will start against the Frogs' third-ranked defense.

"We have a great opportunity at hand right now," said Hughes, the All-America defensive end who turned down the NFL for his final year at TCU for two reasons: to graduate and to win a conference title. "It's just up to us to take care of business. Our destiny is in our hands. This is what we'd like to have, so now we have to run with it."

The same scenario was set up last November when the Frogs traveled to Utah in a battle for the MWC title. The Utes, who finished 13-0, drove 80 yards for a touchdown in the final minute to squeak out a victory and win the title. Their packed crowd of 45,000 stormed the field in celebration as the stunned Frogs headed to a somber locker room.

"To see a bunch of guys in tears, that sticks with you," quarterback Andy Dalton said. "That's a feeling you never want to feel."

But it's a feeling coach Gary Patterson has tried to utilize as a learning tool. Since January, Patterson has reminded the team that it's a fine line between winning and losing. Taking even one play off can be the difference.

"To play so hard and tough and come out with a loss was a heartbreaker," said Dalton of last season's loss to Utah in which he threw two interceptions. "I don't think much was said (after the game). What can you say after a game like that? To fight so hard and come away with a loss was tough."

Patterson was still talking about the lessons learned in July, when the MWC coaches met with the media. He has mentioned the loss several times during the season. He has said the memory of that locker room will be with him for a long time.