Patterson Named To Bryant Award Watch List
11/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 14, 2008
HOUSTON -- TCU head football coach Gary Patterson has been named by the Paul "Bear" Bryant Awards committee of the American Heart Association to the Bryant Watch List for the 2008 College Football Coach of the Year.
Patterson is also one of 15 semifinalists for the George Munger National Coach of the Year Award by the Maxwell Football Club.
In his eighth season as head coach, Patterson has led TCU to a 9-2 record and a No. 15 national ranking. The Horned Frogs, with just three preseason All-Mountain West Conference selections, were picked to finish third in the league.
Patterson has a 71-27 record with the Frogs. With one more victory this season, TCU will record its fifth 10-win campaign in the last seven years under Patterson. No other coach in TCU history has more than two 10-win seasons. Prior to his arrival on campus as defensive coordinator in 1998, TCU had just four 10-win seasons in its football history and none since 1938.
This year's senior class needs two wins to reach 41 victories and set a TCU record for most wins in a four-year period.
TCU's defense leads the nation in 2008 in run defense (39.5 yards per game), sacks (40) and fewest first downs allowed per game (12.3) while ranking second in total defense (220.0 yards per game) and third in scoring defense (11.0 points per game). Only four of 11 opponents have scored in double figures on TCU.
Offensively, the Frogs are on pace to score 445 points this season which would shatter the school record of 410 in 2000. TCU ranks second in the MWC in both scoring offense (34.2 points per game) and total offense (409.2 yards per game). The Frogs' average of 409.2 yards is their best mark since 2004. TCU has scored in 34 of 44 quarters (77.3 percent) this season. Only eight teams nationally have tallied points in a higher percentage of quarters in 2008.
