Like UNLV, Texas Christian on a downward spiral

Steve Carp

Wednesday, Oct. 30, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Of the six Western Athletic Conference "expansion" teams, Texas Christian appeared to be the school with the best chance of competing right away with the established powers.

And when the Horned Frogs upended Oklahoma 20-7 in their season opener, all it did was enhance the thinking of the prognosticators. Pat Sullivan looked like he had a pretty good team, maybe even good enough to challenge Brigham Young and Utah.

Today, TCU has got that run-of-the-mill look of most expansion teams. The Horned Frogs are 1-3 in the WAC's Mountain Division, 2-5 overall.

"We need to get some confidence going," Sullivan said. "We've got to go play, have fun and quit worrying about making a mistake."

Given that TCU's opponent Saturday is winless UNLV, it might seem like good times are just days away. Not from Sullivan's perspective.

"They're a dangerous football team," he said of the 0-9 Rebels. "They need to have something good happen to them, like us. They're hungry to get things turned around.

"But I'm concerned about our football team. We can look for all kinds of excuses. But the bottom line is we have to carry what we do on the practice field into the game."

So what happened? How did TCU go from possible contender to probable also-ran in a few scant weeks?

The win against Oklahoma may have been more of a curse than anything. The week after beating the Sooners, TCU got its comeuppance as Kansas drilled the Horned Frogs 52-17 at Amon Carter Stadium. It began a downward spiral that was momentarily halted when TCU beat winless Texas-El Paso, 18-0.

Now, coming off back-to-back losses to Mountain Division leaders Utah and Brigham Young, Sullivan finds himself with a beat-up, vulnerable team.

"Confidence comes with success and we haven't had a lot of success lately," he said. "If we can make a couple of plays, that might get some enthusiasm going."

There had been success and enthusiasm in Fort Worth. TCU was coming off back-to-back winning campaigns, going 7-5 in 1994 and 6-5 last year. Sullivan, the 1971 Heisman Trophy winner who was starting his fifth season with the Horned Frogs, believed his team could compete in the WAC right away.

"Our goal is to win now," he said back in July at the WAC's Media Day at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.

And when they beat Oklahoma, it appeared Sullivan's players had backed up his words. Of course, nobody knew the Sooners would struggle the way they have. And then Kansas brought TCU back to earth.

"We turned it over against Kansas and we lost some people to injuries," Sullivan said. "It went downhill from there."

Extra points

* DENTON SITS OUT: The weekly pounding QB Jon Denton has been taking finally caught up with him. The redshirt freshman from Green Valley did not practice Tuesday as he tries to rest his badly bruised left calf. However, Denton said he expects to work out today and play Saturday. "My leg would have to be broken for me not to play," he said. "It's bad right now, the worst it's been all year, but I'll be ready on Saturday." Denton initially hurt himself against Wyoming Sept. 28.

* RODELL RUN OFF: Freshman WR Jasiri Rodell has been kicked off the squad for failing to adhere to team policy. "He wasn't doing the things he was supposed to," said coach Jeff Horton. Rodell, a teammate of Rebel WR Damon Williams at Culver City High School, appeared in two games and had four receptions for 46 yards. He was battling ankle and leg injuries after arriving late to fall camp and never managed to catch up.

* BAILEY VISITS: Former UNLV star WR Henry Bailey stopped by practice Tuesday to visit with Horton and some of his old teammates. Bailey, who is playing in the NFL with the New York Jets, will be in town for a couple of days as the Jets have the week off following their first win of the year last Sunday, a 31-21 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.