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By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Sports Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- Jeff Ballard and TCU couldn't pull off another comeback against BYU. John Beck made sure of it with another impressive game against the Horned Frogs.
Beck threw for 321 yards and three second-half touchdowns and this time the Cougars held on for a big victory, 31-17 on Thursday night to end No. 17 TCU's winning streak at 13 games. The streak was the longest in NCAA Division I-A.
"There wasn't much that didn't go right," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "This is a big-time win. It was on the road against a ranked team in a short week."
BYU (3-2, 1-0 Mountain West) beat a Top 25 team for the first time since 1999, a stretch of 12 games since a victory over Colorado State. The Cougars went to double overtime at then-No. 23 Boston College earlier this month before losing 23-20.
Beck completed 23 of 37 passes just five days after sitting out a 38-0 victory over Utah State to rest both of his sore ankles. He threw a 40-yard TD strike to Michael Reed to start the second half, added a 26-yarder to Matt Allen, and got the third score on Jonny Harline's one-handed, 4-yard grab with a defender on his back.
There was no repeat of last September, when BYU blew a 16-point lead late in the third quarter at home against the Frogs and lost 51-50 in overtime.
"That was in the back of our minds," Harline said. "We just got up and said, we're not letting this one get away."
TCU (3-1, 0-1) hadn't lost since a 21-10 defeat at SMU in the second game last season, a week after the Horned Frogs opened the 2005 season with an upset victory at Oklahoma.
Ballard, who was 26-of-49 for 296 yards with a touchdown and an interception, lost for the first time in 12 starts as TCU's quarterback. He has started every game since coming off the bench and leading the comeback against BYU last season.
"We've just got to take it as one game and not let this ruin our season," Ballard said.
"For some reason in this program, we don't seem to be able to handle success," coach Gary Patterson said. "This was the most important game on our schedule to this point. ... They were more physical than us and that's doesn't happen very many times."
The Cougars went ahead 10-0 in the first half on consecutive long scoring drives, with a fumble by Ballard in between, and never trailed in the rematch.
It was the first Mountain West loss for the Frogs, who made their debut in the conference by sweeping through eight league games last season. They play again next Thursday against Utah, another team they beat in overtime last season.
TCU came one game short of tying the school record of 14 consecutive wins that included its undefeated national championship team in 1938, when Davey O'Brien won the school's only Heisman Trophy. O'Brien started all of those games, the longest winning streak by a quarterback.
No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 West Virginia both have won 11 games in a row, now the best in I-A. The NCAA's longest streak is 17 by Division II Grand Valley State.
Beck threw for a MWC-record 517 yards and five touchdowns last season against TCU, which allowed only nine TDs passes in its other 11 games. The Frogs had allowed only one passing TD in its first three games this season, and held pass-happy Texas Tech to only a field goal in its last game Sept. 16.
"Our guys weren't wide open. They had coverage on them, but they just made plays and went and got the ball," Beck said.
On BYU's first possession after halftime, Beck converted two third downs before the 40-yarder to Reed, hitting the receiver in stride inside the 5 on a third-and-10 play for a 17-3 lead.
Ballard threw a 2-yard TD pass to Brent Hecht, but TCU didn't get any closer. Beck responded with consecutive scoring passes in the fourth quarter.
"John was awesome," Harline said. "He made every pass right on target."
After Jared McLaughlin's 21-yard field goal ended a 15-play, 75-yard drive to put BYU up 3-0, TCU got to the 10 before David Nixon's blind-side sack that led to a fumble by Ballard. The Cougars then went 82 yards, Beck converting fourth-and-1 from the TCU 33 with a 16-yard pass to Allen just two plays before Manase Tonga's 8-yard TD run.
Chris Manfredini kicked a 36-yard field goal just before halftime to make it 10-3. He missed for the first time in 20 career attempts for TCU when he was well short on a 39-yarder earlier in the second quarter.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-09-28-06 2055MDT
FIRST DRIVE SUCCESS BYU's string of three consecutive games of scoring a touchdown on its opening drive came to an end against TCU. The Horned Frogs held the Cougars to a three-and-out on their first possession. A field goal on BYU's second possession put the Cougars ahead 3-0 and marked the fourth consecutive game the Cougars scored first.
QUARTER-BY-QUARTER BYU outscored TCU in three of four quarters on Thursday. (The two teams each scored seven points in the third quarter.) On the season, BYU has outscored its opponents (during regulation) in 15 of 20 quarters.
SCORELESS STREAK ENDS Coming off a 38-0 shutout victory over Utah State, BYU's defense held its opponent scoreless for nearly six consecutive quarters. TCU's Chris Manfredini hit a 36-yard field goal with four seconds remaining in the second quarter to cut BYU's lead to 10-3.
HALFTIME LEAD BYU took a lead to half time for its fifth consecutive game this season. The Cougars' 10-3 halftime lead over TCU marks the largest margin they have taken to the halftime break on the road.
ANOTHER NATIONAL TV FIRST BYU's game against TCU was broadcast to a national audience on VERSUS. It was the first college football broadcast by the network. The game marked the third time BYU has been in a game for a network's first live broadcast. Other broadcast first include the Cougars' games at Pittsburgh on ESPN (1984) and against UNLV on TBS (1982).
QUARTER "BECK" UPDATE BYU quarterback John Beck completed 23-of-37 attempts for a game-high 321 yards and three touchdowns in the Cougars' 31-24 victory over No. 15 TCU. With his performance, Beck passed John Walsh (8,390) and Robbie Bosco (8,400) to move into third place on BYU's all-time career passing list. The senior quarterback has 8,422 career passing yards. In addition, with three touchdown completions on the night, Beck moved into a tie with Gifford Nielsen for seventh place on BYU's all-time touchdown completion list. Beck has 55 career touchdown passes.
GOOD GRIEF, CURTIS BROWN Senior running back Curtis Brown carried the ball 16 times for 56 yards, moving into fourth place on BYU's all-time rushing list. Brown, who has 2,523 career rushing yards passed Pete Van Valkenburg (2,492) and Luke Staley (2,493) with his performance on Thursday.
"BLUE" ZONE STATS BYU was three-for-three from inside the "Blue Zone." Two of the Cougars' four touchdowns were passes that came from outside the 20-yard line, including a 40-yard touchdown grab by Texas native Michael Reed and a 26-yard touchdown reception from Matt Allen.
RANKED OPPONENTS When BYU beat No. 15/17 TCU it marked the first time the Cougars defeated a ranked opponent since Sept. 16, 1999, when the Cougars beat No. Colorado State 34-13. The Cougars entered the game having lost 13-consecutive games against ranked opponents. The game also marked the first road victory over a ranked opponent since Sept. 20, 1997 (at Arizona State).
BYU 3 7 7 14 --31 TCU 0 3 7 7 --17 First Quarter BYU--FG J.McLaughlin 21, 3:40. Second Quarter BYU--Man.Tonga 8 run (J.McLaughlin kick), 10:03. TCU--FG Manfredini 36, :04. Third Quarter BYU--Reed 40 pass from Jo.Beck (J.McLaughlin kick), 10:26. TCU--Hecht 2 pass from Ballard (Manfredini kick), 6:04. Fourth Quarter BYU--Allen 26 pass from Jo.Beck (J.McLaughlin kick), 12:33. BYU--Harline 4 pass from Jo.Beck (J.McLaughlin kick), 7:27. TCU--A.Brown 7 run (Manfredini kick), 1:55. A--32,190.
BYU TCUFirst downs 20 29 Rushes-yards 34-72 32-141 Passing 321 296 Comp-Att-Int 23-37-0 26-50-1 Return Yards 34 21 Punts-Avg. 6-42.5 5-37.6 Fumbles-Lost 3-0 2-1 Penalties-Yards 6-57 8-43 Time of Possession 31:36 28:24
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING--BYU, C.Brown 16-56, Vakapuna 11-24, Man.Tonga 4-6, Jo.Beck 3-(minus 14). TCU, Ballard 12-63, A.Brown 10-49, Hobbs 5-21, James 4-20, Schlueter 1-(minus 12). PASSING--BYU, Jo.Beck 23-37-0-321. TCU, Ballard 26-49-1-296, Team 0-1-0-0. RECEIVING--BYU, C.Brown 5-58, Reed 4-69, Coats 3-39, Jacobson 3-37, Harline 3-34, Collie 2-44, Allen 2-42, Vakapuna 1-(minus 2). TCU, Massey 8-85, Harmon 5-62, A.Brown 4-38, Dickerson 3-23, Bryant 2-37, D.Moore 1-22, DePriest 1-16, Hobbs 1-11, Hecht 1-2.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-09-28-06 1931MDT
