BOWL PREVIEW Fort Worth Bowl

Who: No. 19 TCU (11-1) vs. No. 18 Boise State (12-1).
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
TV: ESPN.
Coaches: Gary Patterson (27-10) and Dan Hawkins (32-6 in third year at Boise State).
Payout: Each school receives $750,000.
Bowl records: TCU is 7-12-1. Boise State is 3-0.
Last bowl appearance: TCU beat Colorado State, 17-3, in last year's Liberty Bowl. Boise State beat Iowa State, 34-16, in last year's Humanitarian Bowl.
Series history: First meeting.
Last game: TCU won at SMU, 20-13, on Nov. 29. Boise State won at Hawaii, 45-28, on Dec. 6.
Stat that matters: Since start of 2000 season, host Horned Frogs are 22-2 at home including 12 straight wins.
Game facts: Inaugural bowl shows off fine matchup of two underrated teams. Playing on home field, Frogs had dreams of BCS bowl squashed by 40-28 loss at Southern Miss Nov. 20. With QB Tye Gunn (groin) still out, Brandon Hassell (2,138 total offense, 9 TD passes, 4 TD runs, 6 ints.) makes his 9th start. RB Lonta Hobbs (ankle) hopes to play. Despite efforts of DE Bo Schobel (14 sacks), NT Chad Pugh, defense has struggled giving up 170 points in last six games. That's bad news vs. high-powered, WAC-champion Broncos (second nation in scoring, 43.6) led by QB Ryan Dinwiddie (4th in nation in QB rating, 4,031 passing, 28 TDs, 5 ints., 12 TD runs), WR Tim Gilligan (66 catches, 8 TDs, 12.4 per punt return), RB David Mikell (1,041 rushing, 13 TDs, 22 catches). Attacking defense (8th in nation in scoring, 16.0, 28 turnovers forced) is no slouch, either.
-- Scripps Howard News Service