2011: TCU, 21 vs. Wisconsin, 19

It was like a scene out of a cartoon or a classic tale of a David and Goliath match-up.

First there was the Wisconsin Badgers, the Big Ten champions, whose offensive line’s roar made the earth tremble and stature made it quake.

Then there were the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs. A non-BCS school who had gone 12-0, and as the first Mountain West Conference representative made its first appearance at The Granddaddy of Them All. Compared to Wisconsin, TCU is a smaller school of about 8,000 students and like the student body, its offensive line was undersized as well – the Badgers offensive line tipped the scales at an average of 6-foot-5, 321 pounds; that’s 42 pounds heavier per man than their Horned Frog counterparts.

None of this was lost on TCU head coach Gary Patterson.

“To hear Gary Patterson spin it, TCU arrived at the Rose Bowl last week by covered wagon, having warded off the advances of savages and infidels and marauding sportswriters,” wrote Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News.

“‘If you only knew where we came from,” Patterson told the media (on New Year’s Eve), closing his case, “you’d understand why we play with a chip on our shoulder.’”

            So the scene was set for the 97^th Rose Bowl Game, and like so many cartoons, the little guy prevailed. TCU beat Wisconsin, 21-19, to become the first non-BCS team to win the Rose Bowl Game in nearly 80 years. The Horned Frogs also capped off their first undefeated season – finishing 13-0 – since the 1938 national championship season that featured the legendary Davey O’Brien.

One of the lowest scoring games in recent history didn’t begin that way. The teams traded blows in the first quarter: Wisconsin struck first with a 30-yard Philip Welch field goal. TCU answered with a 23-yard strike from offensive player of the game Andy Dalton (15-23, 219 yards passing, 1 TD; 9-28 rushing, 1 TD) to Bart Johnson to make it 7-3. Wisconsin countered with a 67-yard drive that culminated in a 1-yard run from John Clay (11-76, 1 TD) to take the lead, 10-7. But in what foreshadowed the rest of the afternoon, TCU got the last word, closing out the first quarter with a 57-yard drive of its own that was capped by a 4-yard Dalton TD run. The teams combined for a Rose Bowl Game-record 24 points in the first quarter: TCU 14, Wisconsin 10.

In the second quarter, Wisconsin went with what got them there, with a vengeance. They relied on that massive offensive line to provide holes for the three – count ‘em, three – running backs who would go for more than 1,000 that year: Montee Ball (22-128, 1 TD), Clay and James White (8-23). They gobbled up time of possession, holding the ball for an astounding 13 minutes and 30 seconds of the 15-minute second quarter. But the Horned Frog defense got on its tippy toes and stood strong when it needed to, allowing only a field goal as time ran out to enter the half leading, 14-13.

TCU began the third quarter with a 71-yard drive to make the score 21-13, where it stayed for nearly 25 minutes of football before the Badgers finally broke through again at the 2 minute warning to make the score 21-19.

Needing the two-point conversion to tie the game, they went for it.

Lined up expecting to see that dominating run game bust through to tie the game, defensive player of the game Tank Carder (6 tackles, 3 for a loss, 1 sack) quickly found himself blocked out by the Wisconsin Wall.

“Then I seen him cock his arm back and I jumped and that was the end of it,” said Carder, who batted the ball to the turf to secure his team’s 21-19 Rose Bowl Game victory and perfect season. The little guy had beaten the big guy.

“They not only can play with the big boys,” wrote Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times, “but they can beat them with the sort of unbridled enthusiasm that turned even the oldest among them into, well, just boys.”
 

Attendance

94,118

Weather

57 degrees, sunny

Scoring

First Quarter

Wis – Welch, 30-yard field goal

TCU – Johnson, 23-yard pass from Dalton (Evans kick good)

Wis – Clay, 1-yard run (Welch kick good)

TCU – Dalton, 4-yard run (Evans kick good)

Second Quarter

Wis – Welch, 37-yard field gold

Third Quarter

TCU – Shivers, 1-yard run (Evans kick good)

Fourth Quarter

Wis – Ball, 4-yard run (Tolzien pass no good)

Coaches

Wisconsin: Bret Bielema

TCU: Gary Patterson

Fun Fact

Texas Christian held Wisconsin to its lowest point total all season (19), one of eight teams the Horned Frogs did that to in 2010-2011.

Game Stats

Team Stats                             Wisconsin                   TCU

First Downs                            20                                18  

Net Yards Rushing                 226                              82

Net Yards Passing                  159                              219                      

Total Yards                             385                              301

PC-PA-Int.                              12-21-0                        15-23-0

Punts-Avg.                              3-42                             4-33.2

Fumbles-Lost                          1-0                               0-0

Penalties-Yards                       6-41                             4-20

Individual Stats

Rushing

Wis: Ball 22-132; Clay 11-76; White 8-23; Nortman 1-11; Tolzien 4-(-16)

TCU:  Dalton 9-28: James 4-24; Tucker 4-15; Wesley 4-13; Kerley 2-5; Shivers 1-1; Team 2-(-4)

Passing

Wis: Tolzien 12-21-159

TCU: Dalton 15-23-219

Receiving

Wis: Kendricks 4-36; Toon 3-46; Gilreath 2-23; Ewing 1-28; Abbrederis 1-16; Anderson 1-10

TCU: Kerley 6-58; Young 5-57; Boyce 1-44; Wesley 1-33; Johnson 1-23; Hicks 1-4

Punting

Wis: Nortman 3-126

TCU: Kelton 4-146