Utah football: Frogs await rematch after letting '08 game slip away

Trudging off the artificial turf at Rice-Eccles Stadium last November, nearly every TCU player shot a quick glance at the scoreboard before disappearing into the locker room.

It was like the Horned Frogs were double-checking, to make sure what just happened wasn't a bad dream.

Utah 13, TCU 10.

Welcome to Saturday's rematch in Fort Worth -- one the Frogs have now been replaying for 371 days, given the incomprehensible nature of the defeat.

TCU dominated the Utes statistically and could have iced the victory if kicker Ross Evans had made one of two chip-shot field goals in the final minutes.

Instead, Evans missed and Utah drove 80 yards for the winning touchdown -- after gaining only 195 yards in the game's first 57 minutes.

Quarterback Brian Johnson completed seven of nine passes on the Utes' only sustained drive of the game, including one for 11 yards on fourth-and-five.

Earlier this season, TCU coach Gary Patterson said, " ... In the 27 years that I have been an assistant or head coach, I've never been in a tougher locker room than the one I was in that night -- where kids wanted something so badly. There wasn't a dry eye in the whole place."

Utah was the first TCU first opponent in 57 games under Patterson to win despite being held to 17 points or less.

Fast-forward to Saturday:

With a win in another showdown with the Utes, fourth-ranked TCU takes a giant step toward an unbeaten

season, a Mountain West Conference championship and possible berth in a BCS bowl game.

According to Patterson, avenging the last season's "heartbreaking loss" in Utah does not figure into the equation.

"It really hasn't served as motivation as much as a learning experience," he said.

The lesson?

"... The difference between winning and losing is a very fine line," said Patterson.

Bryan Estridge is the veteran radio voice of TCU football who believes Patterson is sincere when he claims the Horned Frogs won't be motivated by last year's defeat.

"Gary is not really a revenge-type of guy," Estridge said. "He lives for the moment. He always talks about taking them one at a time. So it's not so much revenge as this being a big game -- a big opportunity."

Since losing to Utah, TCU has won 11 straight games. Along the way, the Horned Frogs have had only three close calls.

They rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat Boise State in the 2008 Poinsetta Bowl, 17-16.

This season, the Horned Frogs earned narrow wins in the rain at Clemson (14-10) and in the snow at Air Force (20-17).

In front of 85,000 hostile fans at Death Valley, TCU took the lead in the fourth quarter and stopped two Clemson drives into the red zone.

At the frigid Air Force Academy, the Frogs had to hold off a last-minute rally by the Falcons.

The loss to Utah played a role in those three wins because it "helped us grow and mature," Patterson said. "I learned from the experience and our team learned from the experience. We've shown that already."

In 2005, TCU learned a different lesson. After beating mighty Oklahoma, the Frogs lost to neighboring SMU.

This season, TCU's players have remembered that the most important game is the one straight ahead.

"I know it's a cliché, but it seems like coach Patterson has been able to keep them pretty focused on the next game," said Travis Brown, sports editor of the TCU Daily Skiff .

After the Frogs' 55-12 win at San Diego State last week, however, TCU could finally start concentrating on Utah.

"I really didn't say too much to them [the players] in the locker room," Patterson said. "They know what they have to do."

TCU will wear new uniforms for the Utah game, which is already sold out.

It will be the Frogs' first sellout since a 2006 non-conference battle against Texas Tech.

"We understand Utah is the kind of team that's going to come after you," Patterson said. "But this is the kind of game you want to be a part of. ... It gives you a chance to prove what kind of player you are -- what kind of team you are."

Last year in Utah, the Frogs were the kind of team that played exceptionally well but still lost.

"... As the saying goes," Patterson said, "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger."

luhm@sltrib.com