Dalton on the verge of history

If you're not normally a stats nerd, you may be during the Fiesta Bowl on January 4th. You'll want to keep an eye on the production of junior quarterback Andy Dalton, because he is poised to challenge some long-standing school records:

-If Dalton can just reach 141 passing yards against Boise State, he would break the TCU single-season record of 2,624, set by Max Knake in 1994. With 186, he would break Knake's career record of 7,370.

-With 3 touchdown passes in the Fiesta Bowl, he would break the single-season school record of 24, which Knake also established in 1994. If he goes bananas and throws for 7 touchdowns, he would break Knake's school record of 49.

-So far this year, Dalton has completed 62.4% of his passes. If he maintains that pace through the bowl game, he will break the single-season record of 61.9% set by Jeff Ballard in 2006.

-And of course, the most important statistic for any starting QB is wins. With a win over Boise State, Dalton would earn his 30th career victory as the starting quarterback at TCU. Right now, he sits at 29 career W's, good enough to tie him for the record with...Sammy Baugh.

Patterson Bowl Luncheon

Random highlights and notes:
Fiesta Bowl added to TCU's alloted tickets to 20,000. TCU is selling about 1,000 tickets a day.

on recruits:
-he cant say enough about how the fans and the city help recruiting. Alot of the kid's that de-committed and changed to TCU were at the Utah game.

-3 or 4 recruits are going to graduate early and enroll for next spring. He did not say much about it for "ncaa regulations" but that they were positions that are currently held by graduating seniors.

-he was more impressed with the crowd for the New Mexico game than Utah, simply because people came back early, brought their family that was in town, etc.

-brought up how Suh talked about Hughes in his opening statement and that is says alot about the character of our players, and Suh has been with Hughes on the "Award Tour" and that Hughes made enough of an impression that Suh felt compelled to say something.

-I think they were saying he was a finalist for the Coast of the year, but it would be announced later today (might need verification from someone from the lunch)

-2010 schedule: OOC Baylor, SMU, Texas State. ESPN is trying to schedule something, but Patterson does not like it. Made it seem like they were trying to do it at the end of the season so it would be televised. not exact quote but close: I am not going to change my schedule around just to make tv people happy, scheduling is a huge part of a season, and if they want to put an OOC game at the end of the season I just won't do it. It's not who we are playing or the caliber of team, that does not matter, I just won't work my schedule around there's.

Overall he was in a good mood, joking and all. He goes back 10 years in watching tape, has been staying up till 1 AM and back at the office at 6AM. Took an unusual break and went to New York City for the National Football Foundation Awards, and that all the buzz was about TCU. We usually have bowl games on the 23 or 24 of December so he can't make it, but he did this year. Also the team gets the 23-26 off, practice starts again on the 27th, and they will leave for the Fiesta Bowl on the 31st.

AA adds more DFW PHX flights for the Fiesta Bowl

American Airlines has announced a couple of extra flights to Phoenix to accommodate the Frogs. Check out the email to Boschini below.

Chancellor Boschini:

I wanted you and your staff to know that today we added two additional round trips to Phoenix to help accommodate TCU fans. I noticed yesterday that even though we fly nine or ten flights per day each way in the market, we’d sold out much of the capacity in the days surrounding the game. So I asked our folks to schedule “extra sections” and that those flights are now available to customers. We will serve these flights with our Boeing 757 aircraft. I will keep my eye on the loads and if necessary, we will make other adjustments. We just want to make sure we help people get out to Phoenix to cheer on the Horned Frogs.

Thank you and GO FROGS!!

American Airlines Extra Flights

Saturday, January 2^nd

#2503 add 75W DFW 1225 PHX 1410

#2504 add 75W PHX 1500 DFW 1815

Tuesday, January 5^th

#2509 add 75W DFW 0930 PHX 1110

#2510 add 75W PHX 1200 DFW 1515

Other points

· American Airlines wishes to accommodate all of those that want to support the Horned Frogs and do our part to help produce a huge crowd of cheering fans. We will continue to monitor the flight bookings and may make other modifications as necessary.

· Fans may book travel through AA.com, American Airlines Reservations, or through their favorite travel agency.

· American Airlines is proud of the close relationship it enjoys with TCU and the TCU community. We are the Official Airline of TCU Athletics, which includes support of football, men’s basketball, and baseball.

· American Airlines is also proud to operate the charters which fly the football team to each of TCU’s away games during the regular season.

Kyle W. Mabry| AmericanAirlines®

2009 Regular Season Highlights

Put together by one of our readers. Good work, thanks.

Suh Class Act

I've always said that I'm a fan of Nebraska just because of how respectable their fans and players are, and after reading this article on espn, I hope Suh wins all the awards that Hughes doesn't have a chance to win. No need to take the blame for us not making the national championship, it was another damn kicker that screwed us from making the big game.

Morning Dump

Lady Frogs pressure their way past SMU Star-Telegram

House subcommittee passes anti-BCS measure Star-Telegram

Here are 12 reasons a Frog Fiesta is cause for a celebration McClatchy Papers

Mountain West wrap ESPN

Playoff doesn't hold all the answers Dallas Morning News

Time for a new college football tradition: a playoff Dallas Morning News

Alabama's in title game, but is BCS tide turning? Washington Post

There oughta be a law...against the BCS? USA Today