TCU kept its hopes of a BCS bowl alive Saturday night, beating No. 16 ranked Utah 55-28 before a sold out crowd.

The announced crowd of 50,307, the largest ever at Amon G. Carter Stadium, watched the Frogs amass 549 yards of offense while the defense held Utah to 284 yards total.

“I’m very proud of my team, our fans and Fort Worth,” TCU head coach Gary Patterson said after the game. “ESPN GameDay and CBS College Sports gave us an opportunity to show people TCU football and Fort Worth. I was very humbled by the situation and very humbled by the way our kids played tonight.”

TCU set the tone early on with an eight play 87-yard scoring drive capped by Matthew Tucker’s 41-yard touchdown run on its first possession.

The Utes would even the score at 7-7 later in the quarter with a four play 43-yard touchdown drive topped off with a 10-yard touchdown run by Shaky Smithson.

TCU would go on to score 28 unanswered points, scoring on each of its next four possessions. Tank Carder highlighted the first-half scoring with his first career interception in the second-quarter that he returned 15 yards for his first career touchdown.

“We had to come alive,” Carder said. “At the beginning of the game, we knew it was going to be a challenge and when they scored, we were able to turn it on.”

Utah ended its scoring drive late in the first half with a 50-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Wynn to David Reed. The Frogs answered with a 30-yard field goal made by kicker Ross Evans in the waning seconds of the second quarter, making the score at the half 38-14 in the Horned Frogs favor.

After another Evans field goal in TCU’s first possession of the second half, Utah scored a touchdown on a one-yard Eddie Wide run.

On their next possession the Frogs would answer with a 14-yard touchdown run from running back Ed Wesley who ran for a team-high and personal best 137 yards, making him the first TCU freshman to rush for 100 yards in a game since Aaron Brown ran for 105 yards vs. UNLV on Nov. 12, 2005.

The last time Utah allowed over 50 points to an opponent was to Rice in 1996.

“They were who we thought they were. Tonight, that was a good football team. I’ve been a head coach for five years and that is the best team I’ve faced,” Utah Head Coach Kyle Wittingham said.

With a 10-0 record, TCU is off to its best start since 2003 when it also won its first 10 games. Patterson, however, while pleased with his team’s performance, was quick to keep things in perspective.

“The biggest thing for us is that we need to finish,” Patterson said. “We have two games left, one on the road. I understand how big of a win this is but I’ve been there. I’ve beaten Oklahoma and gotten be
at by SMU…we need to finish.”

4th quarter

5:06 remaining: TCU 55, Utah 21 – TCU utilizes the ground attack en route to another scoring drive capped by Matthew Tucker’s nine-yard touchdown run.

12:50 remaining: TCU 48, Utah 21 – The Horned Frogs answer on their next possession with a seven play 83-yard drive. Ed Wesley scored on a 14-yard run. PAT good by Evans.

3rd quarter

1:03 remaining: TCU 41, Utah 21 – Utah responds to TCU’s third quarter field goal with a 10 play 63-yard scoring drive topped off by Eddie Wide’s one yard run for a touchdown.

2nd quarter

0:10 remaining: TCU 38, Utah 14 – The Horned Frogs score on a 30-yard field goal made by Ross Evans just before half-time.

5:35 remaining: TCU 35, Utah 14 – Utah capitalizes on an interception in the end zone with a three play 90-yard scoring drive that took 1:19 and was capped by a 50-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Wynn to David Reed.

12:26 remaining: TCU 35, Utah 7 – TCU makes use of another short field, scoring on a three play 29-yard drive capped by a one-yard touchdown run from Antoine Hicks. TCU scores again on Utah’s next possession thanks to an interception returned for a touchdown by Tank Carder.

14:11 remaining: TCU 21, Utah 7 – TCU capitalizes on a blocked punt with a four play 23-yard scoring drive. Kerley scored on a three-yard run. PAT was good by Evans.

1st quarter

3:00 remaining: TCU 14, Utah 7 – TCU answers on next possession with a six play 80-yard scoring drive capped by a 16-yard pass from Andy Dalton to Ryan Christian. PAT was good by Evans

4:48 remaining: TCU 7, Utah 7 – Utah evens the score after a four play 43-yard drive capped by a 10-yard touchdown run from Shaky Smithson.

9:52 remaining: TCU 7, Utah 0 – TCU scores on the opening possession and forced a fumble on ensuing kickoff but could not score.