With a 25-10 win over the UNLV Rebels on Saturday, the Frogs have moved up in the national polls and in the Mountain West Conference standings.TCU (6-2 overall and 2-2 conference) is now ranked No. 31 in the nation, receiving seven votes in the USA Today poll and two in the AP poll. The BYU Cougars (7-2, 5-0) are ranked No. 27 in the USA Today poll and No. 25 in the AP poll. After the win, the Frogs moved ahead of the San Diego State Aztecs (1-7, 1-3) for sixth place in the Mountain West Conference.
Saturday’s win was also head coach Gary Patterson’s 49th career head-coaching win at TCU. If the Frogs win next week against the New Mexico Lobos, Patterson will be the fastest TCU football coach to reach the 50-win plateau.
Senior kicker Peter LoCoco was named the Mountain West Conference special teams player of the week for making all four of his field goal attempts. The four field goals were from 42, 33, 40 and 29 yards. The kicks were a career-best for LoCoco. The current record for field goals made in a game for TCU is five, set by Nick Browne in both the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
Senior quarterback Jeff Ballard now has a record of 18-2 as a starter, which ties him for the highest quarterback winning percentage at TCU with Howard Grubbs (1928-29). Both Ballard and Grubbs have a 87.5 winning percentage as starters.
The Frogs have won 13 straight Saturday games, dating back to last season. They have also lost just one Saturday game dating back to last season.
The win also put the Frogs’ Mountain West Conference record to 10-2 all time. Both in-conference losses have come this season, and the Frogs have an equal record of 5-1 both on the road and at home in conference games.
This is the fourth time in Patterson’s six-year tenure as head coach that the Frogs have started the season with a record of 6-2 or better.
The Frogs’ rushing defense remained in the top five in the nation, allowing less than 70 yards per game on the ground. The only teams ranked ahead of the Frogs are the Michigan Wolverines, Texas Longhorns and Miami Hurricanes.
