By Matt Welnack staff reporter TCU scored 14 points within two minutes to give the Horned Frogs a 21-10 lead going into halftime against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane Saturday, en route to a 56-17 victory. TCU scored 35 points in the third quarter to put the game away, and the rushing game accumulated 356 yards and five touchdowns. "Tulsa did a good job controlling the ball against us last year," head coach Dennis Franchione said. "I really thought (Saturday) would be another close game. But, in the third quarter, we were able to put the game away." Junior tailback LaDainian Tomlinson, the nation's leading rusher, scored a career-high four touchdowns, including an 80-yarder in the second quarter to give the Frogs the lead for good. "Playing at home the last two weeks has helped us a lot," Tomlinson said. "On my 80-yard run, (Printers) gave me a good pitch, my (offensive) line and fullback gave me great blocks and I was able to hit the seam." The Frogs have enjoyed an offensive explosion in the past two games, scoring 98 points and racking up 992 total yards in offense. "Our offense is getting closer to the way we want it to look," Franchione said. "We ran only 21 plays in the first half, so it was nice to be able to score 21 points. This offense is getting to where teams have to worry about both the run and the pass." Both quarterbacks, freshman Casey Printers and senior Patrick Batteaux, threw touchdown passes to senior receiver Mike Scarborough. Printers was five of seven passing for 94 yards, and Batteaux's one pass was the touchdown throw for 15 yards. Scarborough's two touchdowns were his only catches of the day. "(Printers) is getting more and more confidence, and he has a good understanding of the offense," Franchione said. "He gets to go out and make practical application every Saturday. I can't reach into my pocket and hand him experience." But the game belonged to the ground crew. Tomlinson rushed for 178 yards, and as a team, the Frogs gained 356 yards on the ground. Batteaux added 77 rushing yards and scored a touchdown at the end of the second quarter to give TCU a 21-10 lead. A total of 10 TCU players rushed with the ball Saturday. Sophomore receiver LaTarence Dunbar rushed for 45 yards on quick handoffs and reverses. Dunbar also caught two passes for 28 yards and scored a touchdown on a blocked punt by junior linebacker Chad Bayer. For the fifth consecutive game, TCU scored on the first drive of the game. Tomlinson capped off a 10-play, 80-yard drive with a one-yard leap to tie the game in the first quarter. Tomlinson won the Western Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week award for the second week in a row for his performance against Tulsa. He has rushed for 523 yards and seven touchdowns in his career against Tulsa. The Frogs improved their record to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the WAC. TCU will travel to Houston this week to play Rice at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Owls are in first place in the WAC with a 3-0 conference record.
Matt Welnack
By Todd J. Shriber staff reporter Both the defense and the offense came together Saturday to lead the Horned Frogs to a 56-17 win over Tulsa. Things got off to a bumpy start for TCU as Tulsa had its way with the Horned Frog defense on its first drive of the game. The Golden Hurricane marched 83 yards in 16 plays, eating up almost eight minutes of clock, on their way to an early 7-0 lead. The touchdown came at a price for Tulsa though. Starting quarterback Michael Wall, who was five-of-five passing on Tulsa's first drive, left the game before the touchdown after injuring his knee. TCU safety Reggie Hunt hit Wall after a passing play broke down, forcing Wall to scramble for a critical first down. Freshman Josh Blankenship took over for the Golden Hurricane after the Wall injury, and it was downhill from there. He was able to guide his team to the game's first score but had a rough time the rest of the night. Tulsa gained 99 yards of total offense in the first quarter but finished with only 216 for the game. It would seem TCU's defense made all the right adjustments, but coach Dennis Franchione said that wasn't the case. "I don't know how many adjustments Gary (Patterson, TCU defensive coordinator) made," Franchione said. "We needed to just come out and see what they'd do. They really had us reeling on that first drive by making some good first down calls, but once Gary got a feel for what they were doing, we were all right. I'm sure playing against a freshman quarterback helped, too." The TCU rush defense proved why it's ranked the best in Western Athletic Conference by limiting Tulsa to 103 yards on 44 carries. In comparison, TCU's offense piled up 356 yards in the same amount of carries. A big reason for Tulsa's inability to mount any kind of ground attack was the presence of TCU junior defensive tackle Shawn Worthen. Worthen's night was accentuated in the second quarter when he broke into Tulsa's backfield and leveled D.J. Barnett with a punishing blow for a four-yard loss. Worthen said the Horned Frog defense has been playing better as of late. "We've been doing a good job of getting to the ball," Worthen said. "All the guys on the front four (the defensive line) have been doing their 1/11th. Now we've got to prepare for the option against Rice." TCU also was equally effective against the pass, limiting the Golden Hurricane to 113 yards passing on the night. Blankenship seemed to be throwing under heavy pressure all night long, and it showed as he threw two interceptions. Linebacker Shannon Brazzell got his hands on the first Frog interception at the Tulsa 15 and brought it back to the seven-yard line. The Horned Frogs would score two plays later for 21-10 heading into halftime. Hunt offered a metaphor for the TCU defense that Tulsa would probably agree with. "We (the defense) were like piranhas in the water out there tonight," Hunt said.
Todd J. Shriber
By Steven Baker staff reporter The men's and women's cross country teams kept pace with the competition at two separate competitions over the weekend.
Head cross country coach Dan Waters said both teams will be physically and mentally prepared for the Western Athletic Conference Championships in two weeks. "We are in really good shape," he said. "All we need to do is improve our speed and it will come together a little better for us." After having their worst showing of the year - placing eighth at the Texas A&M Invitational - the men rebounded in their last race before the WAC Championships.
Steven Baker
It was only a matter of time. Bud Selig and company screwed around with baseball, and now we have a post-season void of justice and void of the mystery that has always been unique to baseball in October. I didn't bristle too hard when the baseball higher-ups decided to adopt a system that would give a second-place team a chance at the World Championship. I mean, at least they're still ahead of other sports that go through months and months of regular season play and don't even eliminate half of the league. But I was overcome with a sense of foreboding when baseball trampled on sacred ground in 1997 with the advent of interleague play. It was only a matter of time. And this year, these words will be uttered during the World Series: "When these teams met in the regular season " The World Series has become the NBA Finals. The one thing that always made baseball's post-season head and shoulders above all other sports' was that it consisted only of champions, and it culminated in a battle between teams that had never met before on a diamond. Now, with all four teams being from the East division, not only is there a fair chance that a second-place team will win the World Series for the second time in three years, it is an absolute certainty that they will have met before during the season. This should not be. Although I'm sure the Braves will eventually put the Mets away, they already proved themselves the superior team over a grueling 162-game schedule - 6 1/2 games superior. The Yankees also look like they will ultimately go back to the Series. They had to stave off one of the few teams, the Red Sox, that gave them trouble during the regular season in order to do it - and their ancient, bitter rivals, no less. What is the point of beating a team over 162 games when you have to turn around and do it all over again? The Braves were in a similar situation in 1997. They had beaten the Marlins by comfortable margin in the regular season, but they struggled against them head-to-head. They lost in six games. The reason the baseball season isn't some sort of round-robin tournament is that whatever advantages a team might have in head-to-head match-ups should be canceled out by the long season and the rest of the competition. The best teams should rise to the top, and these teams are the ones who get to play for the ultimate championship. The ones who fall short are - or at least should be - out of luck. I actually like the Red Sox - a heck of a lot more than the Yankees, in fact. But I find myself unable to root for them with any passion, because my sense of justice says the Yankees shouldn't even have to bother with them. People say that the wild card enhances pennant races. In some years, that's true, but most years it waters them down. Many times, what would normally be an intense pennant chase is reduced to ho-hum level, because both teams know they're going to the play-offs regardless. Think about this year, for example. Assuming the Diamondbacks would be in the West in a two-division format, the N.L. West race would have been an epic battle with the 96-win Reds finishing fourth, behind the Braves (103 wins), Diamondbacks (100) and the Astros (97). The A.L. West would have been the same; the Mets would have won the N.L. East by a comfortable margin, but the A.L. East would have been an intense three-team race between the Yankees, Indians and Red Sox. It would be nice to see how the Indians would respond to some competition in their division, for a change. As bad as the wild card is, interleague play is worse ninefold. It's bad enough to have to sit through those mid-season exhibitions. Now they will serve as the basis for commentary for how the two World Series teams stack up. The best thing about the World Series has always been that the only history the two teams ever had with each other was other World Series. Before free agency brought so much player movement, that was all the history most of the players had against each other. Now the last trace of that mystery is gone. Baseball lost its virginity to marketing schemes and the almighty dollar long, long ago. But now, with interleague play, it has become an ugly prostitute. But it still has a long way to go before it's as bad as the NBA.
Stephen Suffron is a senior broadcast journalism major from League City, Texas. He can be reached at (sdsuffron@delta.is.tcu.edu).
By James Zwilling skiff staff It took 30 games, but this weekend, for the first time in school history, the TCU men's soccer team defeated Southern Methodist University. The Frogs beat the No. 22 nationally ranked SMU Mustangs, 1-0, Sunday at the TCU Soccer Complex in their sixth-straight win. Head coach David Rubinson said his team was ready to challenge SMU. "It has been a long time coming, and it is well-deserved," he said. Assistant coach Blake Amos agreed. "Our boys felt like it was time to win," he said.
Rubinson, although excited about the winning streak, remains cautious when it comes to confidence. "The minute we think we're good, we're in trouble," Rubinson said. Rubinson said he believes the loss to St. Mary's (Texas) early in the season humbled any overconfidence the team may have encountered. "The best thing that happened this season was our loss to St. Mary's," Rubinson said. "It reminded us that we can be beat." The Horned Frogs entered their third WAC game ranked No. 5 in the Midwest Region. The first half of the game remained scoreless after the two teams exchanged only eight shots combined. The lone score of the game came 67 minutes into play when TCU junior midfielder Doak VanEnk scored from 15 yards out off an assist from sophomore midfielder Nick Baker. Amos said he was impressed with Baker and VanEnk's performances. "Nick and Doak are two of the most skilled players I have worked with," Amos said. "They have phenomenal ability and they are phenomenal players." VanEnk's abilities also impressed Rubinson. "It's wonderful when our first guy off the bench is at that caliber," Rubinson said. Amos said the defense was really the key to winning the game. "The key was remaining strong defensively after the goal," he said. "We never gave them anything." Junior goal keeper Ian Keate recorded three saves on the day, leading the Horned Frogs to their 1-0 victory. The Horned Frogs claimed first place in the WAC after defeating SMU, and they remain No. 5 in the Midwest Region. Rubinson said the team's success probably comes as a surprise to the competition. "It's always surprising to the other teams when we win because we have been the doormat for years," Rubinson said. Rubinson said his team has nothing to hide. "We don't have any real magic or any real secrets, but we do have something to prove," he said. "I guarantee that every time we step out onto that field we are the underdog." Rubinson said he believes the key to the team's success is the quality of the players. "There is leadership all over the place," he said. "I've said it before and I'll continue to say it, whether we win again or not, this is still the best group of players we have ever had." The Horned Frogs head to Springfield, Mo., Friday to play Drury in their fourth WAC match of the season, and then on to Tulsa, Okla., Sunday to face Tulsa.
James Zwilling
By Victor Drabicky staff reporter The TCU women's soccer team split two Western Athletic Conference games in California last weekend. The Horned Frogs beat San Jose State 4-1 on Friday before losing to Fresno State 3-1 on Sunday. Head coach David Rubinson said a below-par performance contributed to Sunday's loss. "We played lethargically against Fresno State," Rubinson said. "We didn't have the fight in us that we needed to win." After scoring first, TCU was unable to stop Fresno State's Jill Pearson who scored three straight goals for the Bulldogs. Sophomore goal keeper Keith-Ann Wagner said Sunday's loss was frustrating.
Freshman defender Brenda DeRose said the players' heads were not in the game. "We had a mental breakdown," DeRose said. "Friday, we played for each other. Sunday, we played against each other." On Friday, the Horned Frogs managed to keep 50 percent of their shots on goal en route to a 4-1 victory over San Jose State. In comparison, SJS managed one shot on goal out of 17 shots. Rubinson said freshman midfielder Lori Robbins' goal early in the game helped lead the Frogs to victory. "We got started early," Rubinson said. "We moved Lori into a forward position, and she used her technical skill to put one in the back of the net at a time when we were struggling to find a pulse." Rubinson said San Jose State's game-tying goal just before the half was characteristic of TCU's recent problems. "We have been giving up soft goals," Rubinson said. "In the past, giving up easy goals has been a big problem for us." The second half brought about a barrage of scoring by TCU. Sophomore forward Crystal Pratz and junior midfielder Jennifer Maunder scored for the Frogs in addition to Robbins' second goal of the game. Wagner said the Horned Frogs played well in the second half of Friday's game. "Everything just started to go right for us," Wagner said. "It turned out to be a fun game for us." DeRose said the Horned Frogs benefited from their hard work. "Our first goal had a domino effect," DeRose said. "The goals just kept coming in the second half." The Horned Frogs will return to WAC play when they host SMU at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the TCU Soccer Complex.
Victor Drabicky |
Senior David Lagat dashed to his fourth victory Friday in
the 8,000-meter race at the Southwest Texas State Invitational in San Marcos,
as he led the men to their second first place finish of the year. The women
traveled to the University of Arkansas Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival,
where they picked up a fifth place finish Saturday in a field of 22 teams
in the 5,000-meter race.
The victory extends the Horned Frogs' record to 3-0 in Western
Athletic Conference play and 8-3-1 overall.
"We never could get organized," Wagner said. "We
had a chance to be tied for first in the WAC. We just never really clicked."| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |