Ranked Teams To Meet In Poinsettia Bowl
12/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 19, 2008
TCU Bowl Guide Section 1 | TCU Bowl Guide Section 2
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia BowlNo. 11 TCU (10-2) vs. No. 9 Boise State (12-0)
San Diego, Calif. -- Qualcomm Stadium (66,000)
Tuesday, Dec. 23 -- 5 p.m. Pacific
Television: ESPN [Rece Davis (PBP), Lou Holtz (color), Mark May (color), Todd Harris (sideline)]
Radio: TCU/ISP Sports Network -- KRLD-AM 1080, 88.7 KTCU, KNTH-AM 1070 Houston, GoFrogs.com (Yahoo), [Brian Estridge (PBP), John Denton (color), Sean Stilley (sideline)]
TAKING NOTE OF THE HORNED FROGS
*No. 11 TCU makes its 10th bowl appearance in the last 11 seasons when it faces No. 9 Boise State in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.
*It's the 24th bowl appearance in the Horned Frogs' history. TCU is 10-12-1 all-time in bowl games.
*TCU has won three straight bowl games for the first time since the opening three bowl games (1936-39) in its history.
*TCU is 6-3 in bowl games with Gary Patterson on its coaching staff and 4-3 with him as head coach. Prior to Patterson's arrival on campus in 1998, the Frogs had just four bowl wins in their history.
*This will be Patterson's 100th game as head coach of the Frogs. The dean of Mountain West Conference coaches is 72-27 (.727) in eight seasons. Patterson's 72 victories are two shy of tying Abe Martin (74, 1953-66) for second place on TCU's career win list.
*In No. 9 Boise State, TCU is facing its school-record fourth top-10 team this season. The Frogs have already lined up against No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 8 BYU and No. 9 Utah (all rankings are from the time of the game). Prior to this season, the Frogs had faced only three top-10 teams since 1996.
THE MATCHUP
*TCU and Boise State will face each other for just the second time in their history.
*The first meeting also featured a battle of top-20 teams as the 18th-ranked Broncos defeated the 19th-ranked Frogs, 34-31, in the inaugural Fort Worth Bowl in 2003.
*Only four other bowls (all BCS games) feature two teams with a higher combined current ranking than the Poinsettia Bowl (20).
*It's the first time the Frogs have played in a bowl game with the two teams having a combined ranking this high since the 1959 Bluebonnet Bowl, when No. 11 Clemson defeated No. 7 TCU 23-7.
*TCU is facing a team from the Western Athletic Conference for the first time since a 44-0 win over SMU in 2004. The Frogs were members of the WAC from 1996-2000.
REMEMBER ME?
*TCU head coach Gary Patterson was the linebacker coach at UC Davis in 1986 when Boise State head coach Chris Petersen was playing quarterback for the Aggies.
*Peterson was Boise State's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach when the Broncos faced TCU in the 2003 Fort Worth Bowl.
MILESTONES
*TCU has reached 10 wins for the third time in the last four years and the sixth time since 2000. It's the fifth 10-win season in the last seven years under head coach Gary Patterson. No other coach in TCU history has more than two 10-win campaigns. Before 2000, TCU had only four 10-win seasons in its history.
*TCU has 40 wins in the last four seasons, allowing this year's seniors to tie the 1932-35 period for the most wins over a four-year stretch at TCU. The 1935 team won the national championship. Since freshmen weren't eligible to play in the 1930s, the 2008 TCU seniors are the winningest class in school history with a 40-10 (.800) record.
