TCU Finishes Second In Major Polls
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.com/AP) - TCU finished second in the Associated Press and USA Today college football polls, marking its highest season-ending ranking since its 1938 national championship team was No. 1.
The Horned Frogs (13-0) posted their third straight top-10 final ranking and fourth in the last six years. It's the first time TCU has finished in the top 10 in three consecutive seasons.
Over the last three years, TCU's average season-ending ranking of 5.0 tops the nation. The Horned Frogs finished sixth last year and seventh in 2008.
TCU is the only school in the nation to finish in both the AP and USA Today top 10 the last three years.
In 10 seasons under head coach Gary Patterson, TCU has posted seven top-25 finishes.
TCU defeated Wisconsin, 21-19, in the Rose Bowl to cap its first undefeated season since finishing 11-0 and capturing the 1938 national championship.
It's the first 13-win season at TCU and just the second undefeated and untied campaign in program history.
The Horned Frogs will return 11 starters in 2011.
Coach Gary Patterson says it's "very gratifying" for his Horned Frogs to be the No. 2 team in the final college football polls.
When Patterson arrived as defensive coordinator after the 1997 season, the Frogs were coming off a 1-10 season. He's now 98-28 in 10 seasons as head coach, and TCU has won at least 11 games in six of the last eight seasons.
Patterson watched Auburn's 22-19 BCS championship game victory over Oregon by himself in a hotel room Monday night. He says he watched as a fan, not a coach.
