Small but unbeaten...

What's not to like? The NY Times gives us a neutral view of yesterday's game, for those interested enough, like me, but not devoting time yesterday to watching:

With Texas Christian facing Wisconsin in this year’s game, college football’s most historic backdrop also proved a fitting one. The Horned Frogs of the Mountain West Conference are considered interlopers; the traditionalists, commissioners and bowl executives certainly would have preferred Stanford of the Pacific-10 playing in the Rose Bowl.

But with a 21-19 victory over No. 4 Wisconsin of the Big Ten, No. 3 T.C.U. solidified its standing as one of college football’s elite programs and left observers wondering how it would have stacked up against No. 1 Auburn or No. 2 Oregon in the Bowl Championship Series title game. Saturday’s victory capped a 13-0 season for the Horned Frogs and a train wreck of a day for the Big Ten. The league lost its five bowl games by a combined score of 204-102 and left the Ohio State president, E. Gordon Gee, open for mockery.

In November, Gee had chided T.C.U. and Boise State, who play outside college football’s six power conferences, for padding their records against opponents like the “Little Sisters of the Poor.”

Reached on his cellphone Saturday night, Gee said: “I’m going to New Orleans tomorrow, and Antoine’s is a great restaurant. I think they serve crow, and I’ll be eating my portion of that. T.C.U. played a great game, and they deserved to be recognized for that. Obviously, T.C.U. is a great ball team.”

T.C.U. Coach Gary Patterson resisted the opportunity to criticize Gee, saying: “I don’t have any messages for him. I make mistakes every day.”

His Horned Frogs did not make many, as the team with the country’s top-ranked defense showed it could neutralize Wisconsin’s size with speed and versatility. T.C.U. became the third program from outside the six power conferences to win a B.C.S. game, joining Utah and Boise State. It is also the first team from outside the power leagues to win the Rose Bowl since Columbia beat Stanford, 7-0, in 1934.

“Today we played for us and everyone else out there who wanted a chance,” Patterson said.

The Horned Frogs sealed the victory, fittingly, with one last defensive stand. After Wisconsin pulled to 2 points behind with two minutes remaining on a 4-yard touchdown run by Montee Ball, T.C.U.’s Tank Carder made the game’s defining play.

The Badgers inexplicably went to a shotgun formation for the 2-point conversion, and quarterback Scott Tolzien had tight end Jacob Pedersen open a step over the goal line. But Carder, who was stymied on his blitz attempt, leapt and knocked down the ball to seal the preserve T.C.U.’s lead.

“I just jumped up and swatted it away,” he said. “I can’t even explain it. It feels so good.”