NEW YORK — TCU's big victory wasn't enough for the Horned Frogs to make a move up the BCS standings.
TCU (10-0) on Sunday remained behind Florida, Alabama and Texas in the race to the national title game.
The Horned Frogs defeated Utah 55-28
on Saturday night in what figured to be the most difficult game left on
their schedule. But they remained stuck in fourth place in Bowl
Championship Series standings.
TCU, from the Mountain West
Conference, last week became the first team from a league without an
automatic BCS bid to break into the top five of the standings this late
in a season.
If the Horned Frogs can beat Wyoming
and New Mexico to finish a perfect regular season, they will earn their
first BCS bid and cross off another achievement on the pyramid of goals
coach Gary Patterson has on display for his team.
"If we win two games, we have an
opportunity to color in a box higher than we've ever colored in in this
program, to go to a BCS," he said Sunday. "That's about as far as I
take it."
Unless Alabama, Florida or Texas slip up, that's about as far as TCU will be able to take it.
Florida has been in first since the standings were initially released last month. Alabama is second and Texas is third.
The Gators and Crimson Tide meet in
the SEC championship on Dec. 5. If they can both reach that game
undefeated, a spot in the BCS title game on Jan. 7 would be guaranteed
to the winner.
If Texas can win its remaining two
regular-season games and the Big 12 championship game, it's a virtual
lock to play for the national championship at the Rose Bowl.
Undefeated Cincinnati is in fifth place and unbeaten Boise State is sixth in the latest BCS standings.
Like the Horned Frogs, the Bearcats
and Broncos need help from the teams in front of them in order to make
a national title game appearance.
At least the Bearcats control their
fate when it comes to getting into one of the other four big-money bowl
games. If Cincinnati can beat Pittsburgh in the regular-season finale,
it will earn the Big East's automatic BCS berth for the second straight
year.
Boise State from the Western
Athletic Conference is in danger of being left out of the BCS after a
perfect regular season for the second consecutive year.
Only one team from the conferences
without automatic bids can earn an automatic bid by finishing in the
top 12 of the final standings, and TCU is in line to earn that invite.
The Broncos are in position to be
eligible for an at-large bid but no team from outside the six
automatic-qualifying leagues has ever been an at-large selection.