Horned Frogs Sweep Sporting News Awards
12/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 19, 2009
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Sporting News announced its individual award winners from all 11 conferences with TCU the only team in the nation to sweep the honors for its respective league.
Quarterback Andy Dalton and defensive end Jerry Hughes were named the Offensive and Defensive Most Valuable Players in the Mountain West Conference, while tailback Matthew Tucker received Freshman of the Year accolades. Gary Patterson was named Coach of the Year.
Dalton ranks fourth in the nation in passing efficiency with a 159.59 rating. He is one of 10 finalists for the Manning Award, honoring the nation's top quarterback. Dalton has 29 career victories as a starting quarterback, tying him with Slingin' Sammy Baugh for the most in TCU history.
Dalton received votes for the Heisman Trophy. He has completed a TCU single-season record 62.4 percent of his passes with 22 touchdowns and just five interceptions. He is fourth on the Horned Frogs with 522 yards rushing on a 4.9 per carry mark.
Hughes, the 2009 Lott Trophy and Ted Hendricks Award winner, is just the second two-time consensus All-American in TCU history (Darrell Lester, 1934-35). He has 15 tackles for loss, including 11 1/2 sacks, among a career-high 54 stops this season.
Also a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Rotary Lombardi Award and Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, Hughes received a Local Hero Award from Bank of America for his community involvement. The Sugar Land, Texas, native is key in TCU leading the nation in defense for the fourth time in the last 10 seasons.
A true freshman from Tyler, Texas, Tucker places second on TCU with 667 yards rushing and eight touchdowns. His rushing total ranks fifth all-time for a single season by a Horned Frog freshman.
Tucker averages 6.4 yards per carry. His top-five rushing efforts of the season have come in the last five contests, including a season-high 134 yards and two touchdowns on just 11 carries in the 45-10 win at Wyoming. He also ran for two scores the previous week in a 55-28 victory over Utah.
Patterson has led TCU to a 12-0 record, Mountain West Conference championship and its first BCS game, a Jan. 4 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl date with Boise State. The Horned Frogs have just 13 seniors on the roster with only six in the starting lineup.
In his ninth season as head coach and 12th overall at TCU, Patterson has also received National Coach of the Year honors from the Walter Camp Football Foundation in addition to being named the recipient of the George Munger Award and Woody Hayes Award.
