The BYU at TCU game on Versus is much more attractive than the Florida State at NC State game on ESPN at the same time.  The problem, of course, is remembering where Versus is.  It’s actually a lot like remembering what conference TCU was in in the decade that saw them wander from the SWC to the MegaWAC to Conference USA to the Mountain West.

This is developing into an excellent annual midseason rivalry, and tonight, BYU’s BCS hopes will be on the line against a very tough opponent.  Both of these teams have played a subpar game, BYU escaped a bad Washington team thanks to a horrible celebration call and a blocked extra point, TCU got beat at Oklahoma due to a 4-0 turnover deficit. Other than that, both teams have waxed a bunch of mediocre competition prior to last week.

They’re both off of Saturday wins that saw them struggle a bit, likely due to the lookahead here. Common opponent New Mexico doesn’t tell us much, BYU beat them by 18 points and 97 yards while TCU beat the Lobos by 23 points and 105 yards.   Those are far from the only similar numbers involving these two clubs.  They appear to be pretty evenly matched statistically.

TCU QB Andy Dalton will be back tonight, playing for the first time since injuring his knee against Oklahoma. BYU workhorse RB Harvey Unga was not with the Cougars on their charter flight to Fort Worth due to some eligibility concerns surrounding his participation in a flag football game.  But that was cleared up and he’ll play tonight after taking a later flight.

Dalton’s availability is likely the reason that BYU, after opening as a 2-point favorite, is now a 1-point dog.  The total has come down a point and a half, to 43.5. Some clouds, little wind, and a temperature in the low 60’s during the game.  Really should be a heck of a game.