Patterson Should Have Gone for the Late Score Against the Beavers

Accessing the reality after No. 3 Boise State's convincing 37-24 win tonight against No. 24 Oregon State.

- This is the only common opponent both No. 4 TCU and No. 3 Boise played. TCU defeated the Beavers, 30-21, in Week 1.

- First reaction is that TCU coach Gary Patterson made a mistake when he elected not to go for a late score against the Beavers in the season opener when the outcome was already decided in the fourth quarter. The size of the final score matters.

- Oregon State was never really in this game the way it was in the first half against the Frogs. OSU QB Ryan Katz remains too erratic. Both TCU and Boise State are clearly better than the Beavers, especially up front.

- The difference between Boise State and TCU is in two areas - the Broncos defense is more experienced, and it shows. And their JR QB is better than TCU's SR QB. Broncos passer Kellen Moore is having a better season than TCU's Andy Dalton.
This season, Moore is 43-of-68 passing for 585 yards with 5 TDs and 1 int. He's been sacked twice.
Dalton is 67-of-97 passing for 798 yards with 5 TDs and 4 ints. He's been sacked three times.
But these things are fluid.

- TCU has a tougher remaining schedule of the two. The Frogs have Air Force and No. 13 Utah.
The only game Boise State may be seriously be challenged from here out is at Nevada, which is Nov. 26.

- I am tired of hearing how Boise State beat TCU last year and how that should have a factor this season. The two teams are different, and results from any season other than this one should be irrelevant.

- Boise State is not apt to be jumped in the polls just yet; TCU is vulnerable to being jumped by Oregon and Nebraska.

- Mac Engel

Comments

[Darth Venomous]

Convincing? Once again, they had to have trick plays to win. The simple, bottom-line fact of the matter is that Smurf Turf BS State cannot win !$*@! playing straight-up football.

And don't give me that crap that Kellen Moore is better than Andy Dalton. Easy to be "better" when the opposing defensive line isn't twisting your neck around like BS State did to Dalton last year (you remember, the one Fox got a close-up of that never got called, while TCU couldn't so much as _breathe_ on America's Darlings™ without getting flagged).

BS State better than TCU? Not only no, but _hell, no_.

[Florida Frog Fan]

I only watched bits and pieces of BS and OS, but I didn't see a convincing win. OS palyed them well until their D gave out. I don't think 6 points is going to matter that much. If it had been 15 or 20 maybe. TCU still stays at #4.

[HornedFrog1992]

TCU beat OSU by 9 and BSU beat OSU by 13. Even biased Herbstreit stated it was a wash in the post game analysis. So tired of hearing about style points, aka running up the score, and being compared to BSU. TCU has two very difficult opponents left to play(AFA/Utah) and a couple of you never know(BYU/SDSU), so taking care of busines by at least one point, one game at a time is all that really matters. The real season starts next Saturday, with another Pyrimaid goal of winning the MWC!

[Lee Alexander]

Jumped by Nebraska?...a 17-3 winner at home over winless South Dakota State...what a joke.

[BBB]

Regarding your comment: "- I am tired of hearing how Boise State beat TCU last year and how that should have a factor this season. The two teams are different, and results from any season other than this one should be irrelevant."

I agree, that we should not be using last year's game to discredit this year's TCU team. However, I don't agree that this year's BSU team is different from last year's team. We returned 20 of 22 starters, and 42 of our 44 2-deep roster. This year's BSU team virtually is the same as last years, just with more experience.

[Scoob]

"First reaction is that TCU coach Gary Patterson made a mistake when he elected not to go for a late score against the Beavers"

Boise was in position to score late too. BSU dominated the Beavers. The only reason the game was this close was because of taunting penalties and missed tackles on special teams. Look at the game stats. The beavers only had 223 total yards.

@Darth Venomous
Dalton is not better than Moore. Look at the stats vs. Oregon State. Moore is clearly better.

Moore: 19/27, 288 yards, 10.7 average, 3-0 TD/Int

Dalton: 17/27, 175 yards, 6.5 average, 1-2 TD/Int