The 2011 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

2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2011 NCAA Division I FBS 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, 2011, and ended on ...

. The Horned Frogs were led by 11th-year head coach Gary Patterson and played their home games at Amon G. Carter Stadium. They were members of the

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 ...

. They finished the season 11–2, 7–0 in Mountain West play to win their third straight conference championship. They were invited to the

Poinsettia Bowl The Poinsettia Bowl was an annual college football bowl game held in San Diego, California, from 2005 to 2016. The game was originally played from 1952 to 1955 between military services teams; in 2005 it was re-created by the organizers of the ...

, where they defeated

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

champion

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

, 31–24. This was the Horned Frogs last year as a member of the Mountain West. They were originally set to become a member of the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

in the 2012 season. However, on October 10, they accepted a bid to join the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

.TCU joins Big 12 for 2012–13

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. October 11, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2011. The Big 12 has several other former members of the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

, notably Baylor, one of TCU's most intense rivals in history.

Before the season

During the 2010–2011 campaign, the Horned Frogs finished the season undefeated, 13–0 and being voted #2 in the Coaches and AP polls. The Horned Frog's 2010 season was capped off with a 21–19 victory over

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

in the 2011 Rose Bowl. During the off-season, quarterback Andy Dalton, who had won 43 games for TCU, left for the NFL, leading to

Casey Pachall Casey Pachall (born November 14, 1990) is an American former professional football quarterback. He played college football for the Horned Frogs of Texas Christian University. Early life Pachall attended Brownwood High School in Brownwood, Te ...

to take over as quarterback.Deitsch, Richard
Gary Patterson on winning, defense and replacing QB Andy Dalton

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

. August 25, 2011. Retrieved December 19, 2011. At the Mountain West Conference media day, the Horned Frogs were picked to finish 2nd in the conference.Boise State Picked to Win 2011 Mountain West Football Title
. themwc.com. July 26, 2011. Retrieved December 19, 2011.

Recruiting

TCU's recruiting class was ranked #26 by Rivals.com and #28 by Scout.com.Rivals.com 2011 Team Recruiting Rankings
Rivals.com. Retrieved December 17, 2011.Football Recruiting 2011
Scout.com. Retrieved December 17, 2011. The top 10 recruits according to ESPN grades are listed below:

Schedule

2011–2012 SCHEDULE
Texas Christian University Horned Frogs. Retrieved December 17, 2011.

Regular season

TCU began the season being upset by then-former (and future) conference rival Baylor 48–50, ending the Horned Frogs' 25-regular-season-game winning streak.Baylor blows 24-point lead but recovers to edge No. 14 TCU

. September 2, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2011. TCU then won their next three games against

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 ...

, Louisiana–Monroe and Portland State before losing in overtime 33–40 to SMU in Battle for the Iron Skillet.SMU halts No. 20 TCU's 22-game home winning streak in OT

. October 1, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2011. After the loss against SMU, TCU won out the rest of its regular-season schedule to win its third straight

championship.Mountain West champ TCU eyes possible BCS bowl after routing UNLV

. December 3, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2011. TCU's biggest victory was against #5

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It ...

at Bronco Stadium. TCU won the game 36–35 on a two-point conversion. The victory ended Boise State's record 65-game regular-season home winning streak and 47-game conference home winning streak.TCU mars Boise State's perfect record after Broncos miss late field goal

. November 12, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2011. After

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

lost the 2011 Conference USA Football Championship Game, there was a chance for TCU to reach a BCS game for a third straight year.Adelson, Andrea
Final: Southern Miss 49, Houston 28

. December 3, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2011. However, TCU finished #18 in the BCS standings and missed out on attending a BCS bowl.Caplan, Jeff
Nothing to feel blue about for TCU

. December 6, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2011.

2011 Poinsettia Bowl

On December 4, 2011, the TCU Horned Frogs accepted an invite to represent the MWC.. PoinsettiaBowl.com. December 4, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2011. Their opponents were the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, the 2011 WAC champions. The game was played at

Snapdragon Stadium Snapdragon Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in San Diego, California, located on the campus of San Diego State University (SDSU). It is the home of the San Diego State Aztecs football team of the Mountain West Conference (MW), San Diego FC o ...

. TCU won the game 31-24. With the win, TCU coach Gary Patterson picked up his 109th victory, tying Dutch Meyer for the most wins in TCU history.Gemmell, Kevin
Instant analysis: TCU 31, La. Tech 24

. December 21, 2011. Retrieved December 22, 2011.

Rankings

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 Poinsettia 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 ...