The 2005 TCU Horned Frogs football team represented

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...

in the

2005 NCAA Division I-A football season The 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on September 1, 2005 and ended on De ...

. TCU finished with an 11–1 (8–0

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

) record and a #11 ranking in the AP Poll. The team was coached by

Gary Patterson Gary Allen Patterson (born February 13, 1960) is an American college football coach and former player. He served as head football coach at Texas Christian University (TCU) from 2000 to 2021, compiling a record of 181–79. Patterson led the TCU ...

and played their home games at Amon G. Carter Stadium, which is located on campus in

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

. TCU finished with a 27–24 victory over

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State be ...

in the 2005 Houston Bowl. This was TCU's first year in the

(MWC), and they won their first MWC championship. It was TCU's first outright conference championship since 1958. The previous four years TCU competed in

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

Schedule

Season summary

TCU started off the season with a 17–10 victory over #7 ranked

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. It was Oklahoma's first home loss since 2001 and the first September loss for Oklahoma since

Bob Stoops Robert Anthony Stoops (born September 9, 1960) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Arlington Renegades of the United Football League (UFL). He was the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1999 through ...

became head coach. About the loss

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

Adrian Peterson Adrian Lewis Peterson (; born March 21, 1985) is an American former professional football running back who played 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs in football hist ...

said, "Right now, I'm kind of shocked." TCU held Peterson to 63 yards rushing and Oklahoma to 225 yards of total offense. On September 10, in the Battle for the Iron Skillet, TCU lost 21–10 to SMU. It was SMU's first victory over a ranked team since October 1, 1986. During the game, TCU had 4 turnovers to SMU's 1 turnover. TCU had beaten SMU six straight times before the loss.

Placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

Peter LoCoco missed three of his four field goal attempts during the game. TCU beat

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

23–20 in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

on September 15 in a Thursday night game. The victory ended Utah's 18-game winning streak. TCU followed that game up with another overtime victory against BYU. TCU rallied from an 18-point deficit late in the third quarter to force overtime. With just under two minutes to go in the third quarter, BYU led 34–16, but TCU was able to outscore BYU 28–10 through the rest of regulation. In overtime, BYU missed an extra point attempt, after taking the lead on a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. On TCU's ensuing possession, they managed to score a touchdown and score the conversion for the 51–50 victory. After those back-to-back overtime contests, TCU won their next seven games by an average of 25 points. During the streak, TCU beat, in order,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system. SDSU is ...

, Colorado State, and

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

. The

BCS BCS may refer to: American football * Bowl Championship Series, a system that selected matchups for major college football bowl games between 1998 and 2013 * BCS conferences, the six FBS conferences with automatic major bowl bids under that sys ...

eligibility guidelines were revised following this season. Had they been in force during this season, TCU would have received an automatic bid to a BCS bowl. TCU finished the year with a 27–24 victory in the 2005 Houston Bowl over

. The victory extended the Horned Frogs' winning streak to ten games. Peter LoCoco made 44-yard field goal with 5:25 left in the game to break a 24–24 tie. After the game, LoCoco said, "This is perfect. This is redemption. I'm glad I got the opportunity. This was a big confidence booster." He had missed three kicks in TCU's loss to SMU. TCU finished the year ranked #11 in the AP Poll and #9 in the

Coaches' Poll In the United States, the Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I (NCAA), Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I (NCAA), Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. ...

, the only non-AQ conference team to be ranked in either final poll.

Roster

References

{{Mountain West Conference football champions

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

TCU Horned Frogs football seasons Mountain West Conference football champion seasons Houston Bowl champion seasons

TCU Horned Frogs football The TCU Horned Frogs football team represents Texas Christian University (TCU) in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The Horned Frogs play their home games in Amon G. Carter Stadium, which is located on the ...