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Friday, November 20, 1998
Rare winning season is a possibility for Texas
Christian
By MIKE COCHRAN Associated Press Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Like a scruffy Cinderella, Texas Christian
closes out a storybook football season Saturday with her gown
torn, hair rumpled, lipstick smudged - but virtue intact.
Back from a 1-10 nightmare, the Frogs fittingly end their third
Western Athletic Conference campaign in glittery Las Vegas against
a UNLV team (0-10, 0-7) that is a mirror image of themselves a
year ago.
Now, a rare winning season is a distinct possibility.
"It's going to be a close, hard-fought, ugly game,"
predicted first-year coach Dennis Franchione with a twisted smile
and a mild confession: "Every week is a trying one for us.
There are no gimmies. I haven't been through a season like this.
"Ever."
At 5-5 and 3-4, TCU's record offers scant surface clues to
the wild ride the Frogs and Franchione have taken to the season
finale against the winless Rebels.
But a year ago the Frogs, like the current Rebels, were 0-10
with a freshly fired coach, Pat Sullivan. UNLV's Jeff Horton got
the ax Tuesday.
This year, the fourth quarter has been pivotal in nine TCU
contests, with five games decided by four or fewer points and
four games decided on the final play.
"Almost all the games could have gone either way,"
says Jeff Dover, a junior quarterback who started only one game,
and only then because the coach wanted to upgrade the passing
game.
"It's strange. We could be 5-5 by winning the games we
lost and losing the games we won. It's been one of those years."
With the emphasis on passing last week, Dover completed only
three of nine passes for 54 yards. Worse, Tulsa intercepted him
three times. Yet TCU won, 17-7.
Franchione, who rarely utters a cliche, says his Frogs have
become adept at both winning ugly and losing ugly. Figure this:
- TCU scored 17 points in the fourth quarter to beat Iowa State,
31-21.
- Trailing once by 11, TCU nipped nationally ranked Air Force,
35-34 - the Falcons' only loss.
- Chris Kaylakie's 50-yard field goal with four seconds left
sent the Vanderbilt game into overtime, and the Frogs won 19-16.
- Kendrick Patterson returned a Fresno State fumble 29 yards
for a late score to preserve a 21-10 TCU victory.
- LaVar Veale returned an intercepted pass 78 yards to the
Tulsa 2 and TCU scored in the closing moments to preserve the
17-7 Tulsa victory.
"Even though the Tulsa game wasn't the prettiest thing,
we've found ways to win those kinds of games this year,"
Dover said.
On the flip side, TCU blew leads to lose to Oklahoma (10-9),
SMU (10-6) and Wyoming (27-23). Then the Frogs lost a 14-12 verdict
to Rice by missing a late 32-yard field goal attempt, fumbling
away an even later possession and committing a final, if controversial,
penalty that torpedoed one last shot at a winning field goal.
Dover agreed with his coach that the Air Force and Vandy games
were the highlights of the year, and Franchione said again this
week that nothing in his 26 years of coaching was quite like the
emotional reaction after those two outings.
"Those were very special moments in my career," he
said.
"I told the Frog Club, 'I wish you could have been in
the locker room to share the feeling the team had after those
games.' "
Although Franchione insists the team never hit a serious low
point this season, Dover said the atmosphere got a bit grim after
the bumbling back-to-back losses to Wyoming and Rice.
"But I think it's good that we got ourselves into position
to win those games and I think we're learning how to win,"
Dover said. "It's exciting. The five-game turnaround is pretty
unbelievable ...
"Hopefully, we'll have another five-game turnaround next
year."
Franchione said while it's "not all rainbows and fireworks
yet," he likes this team, its attitude, its work ethic, its
selflessness and what it accomplished under a new coaching system.
"We've got something to build on with players coming back,"
he said.
He pointed also to a list of "positives," such as
national television exposure, reasonably good attendance, a team
that endeared itself to the community and the student body, and
a visionary administration dedicated to building a first-class
football program with first-class facilities.
"They are fulfilling and supporting that vision,"
he said. "We're all on the same page. I think that's how
great things happen."
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