FORT WORTH, Texas -- TCU head coach Gary Patterson said all the right things after his Frogs' stunning 37-33 victory over No. 3-ranked Oklahoma Saturday night.
He was going to eat dinner and then start focusing on next week's game at Baylor. All Saturday's win did was move his team to 4-0 and 1-0 in the Big 12 as they prepare to head to Waco for another matchup against what will be a top-five team. He was going to give his players 24 hours to celebrate the school's first win over a Top 5 team since beating Boise State in 2011.
But then even Patterson admitted that Saturday's win that was followed by a field storming by the purple-clad faithful at Amon G. Carter Stadium meant a little something extra.
"Am I really excited?" he said. "Do I want to go out and scream? Yeah."
He and the rest of the Frogs would have every right to do so after getting a statement win in their third season of Big 12 play and letting the rest of the conference know that the newbies will have a say in how the Big 12 is decided.
TCU did that because the offense it installed before this season for games like Saturday's worked to the tune of 469 yards of total offense. And then a Patterson program that was built on defense showed its mettle late, with linebacker Paul Dawson scoring the game-winning touchdown on a 41-yard interception return early in the fourth quarter. Then the TCU defense survived after two turnovers gave the Sooners (4-1, 1-1) more chances late.
The first of those chances ended when Marcus Mallett stuffed Samaje Perine on a 4th and 1 play at the TCU 22 with just over three minutes remaining in the game. OU's final drive ended when quarterback Trevor Knight's desperate heave from the TCU 46 sailed through the Horned Frogs end zone just seconds before fans streamed onto the field.
Now a TCU team that snuck into the top 25 last week can do no sneaking anymore. They are fine with that too.
"I feel like if they don't know (about TCU) they know now," said junior quarterback Trevone Boykin, who accounted for 395 yards of offense and two touchdown passes. "They'll soon find out if we ever get a chance to play of what TCU's all about. This basically gives us confidence. Basically the only thing we've been working on is swag and stuff like that. Knowing we can play with guys like OU, because a lot of Big 12 championships have gone through them. You know you've got to go through OU and Austin and Waco to win a Big 12 championship and that's what we're trying to do."
TCU outplayed the Sooners early, scoring 14 points in the first 10 minutes to take a 14-0 lead. The Frogs also showed they could take OU's best shot.
Oklahoma took its first lead of the game midway through the third quarter on a 7-yard run by Perine. But TCU came right back with a Boykin 29-yard pass to Deante' Gray to tie the game at 31 with 6:48 left in the third quarter.
The Sooners were then forced to punt on their next two drives and then Dawson had the play of the game on the first OU possession of the fourth quarter.
He was supposed to blitz Knight on a 3rd and 2 play from the OU 46 but instead read Knight's eyes and jumped in front of a pass attempt. He went untouched 41 yards for the decisive score.
"He (Knight) had been throwing slants and balls on a rope the whole game," Dawson said. "Once he was looking to my side I felt it coming. I stepped out, read it, caught the ball and six points."
Those six points were quickly blunted by a blocked extra point that was returned for two points. But not even that miscue was able to keep the Frogs down on a big day in Fort Worth.
It was a day Patterson knew was coming, even if he didn't do any screaming.
"Maybe you guys didn't expect it, but these kids did," Patterson said. "I told them in pregame to not look at the scoreboard and play every minute. That's how you beat really good football teams. You play every minute. Each team got break, but you have to find a way to win."
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