Frogs

Wayne Daniels spent much of his youth in Oakland playing basketball and dreaming of a career in the sport. It wasn't until he moved to Kilgore, Texas, that he began playing football. Now, nine years after playing for the first time as a high school freshman, Daniels is an All-American defensive end for Texas Christian, preparing for the biggest game of his career ? against an unusually large opponent. On Saturday in the 97th Rose Bowl game, the 6-foot-2, 250-pound Daniels will go up against Wisconsin tackle Gabe Carimi , the 6-7, 327-pound Outland Trophy winner.

This didn't happen overnight. The rise of the Texas Christian defense to college football preeminence in the last few years was more than two decades in the making. Horned Frogs Coach Gary Patterson is the master of a 4-2-5 scheme that has Texas Christian on the brink of leading the nation in defense for the third consecutive season. "We just kind of kept changing and improving it to where it's kind of survived the times," Patterson said. The third-ranked Horned Frogs (12-0)

Gary Patterson began scheming football plays when he was about 5 years old. His playbook was a piece of paper. His players were made of metal and vibrated all over a metal field when it was electrified. "He'd write out those plays on that piece of paper, then he'd arrange both sides and he'd turn on the football game," said his mother, Gail, 72. Gary's brother, Greg, usually was his opponent. They played so often that the game wore out, more than once. "When the electricity finally quit on the board, we'd just tap it to get the players to move," Greg, 48, said.

USC next at Texas Christian , Monday at the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum , 5 p.m. PST, No TV ? In their inaugural meeting, the Trojans (4-3) aim to bounce back from a crushing loss and gain their first true road win of the season against the Horned Frogs (4-2), who are led by junior guard Ronnie Moss (15.7 points per game).

Texas Christian is the first team in the Bowl Championship Series clubhouse, at 12-and-O under, closing out a perfect season Saturday with a 66-17 victory over New Mexico's Lost Lobos. Now let's see, Horned Frogs, if the system croaks. TCU was up only 31-17 at the half when cable channel Versus invited America to listen in on Coach Gary Patterson's sideline address to his players. With no viewer discretion warning, the cameras caught Patterson using words that would make a librarian blush.

The top four teams in Sunday's release of the Bowl Championship Series standings did not change, but that didn't mean things stayed the same. Oregon is No. 1 for a second consecutive week with an average of .9638, followed by Auburn at .9611, Texas Christian at .9259 and Boise State at .8662. These are the last four unbeaten teams left in major college football. If Oregon and Auburn win out, they will play Jan. 10 for the BCS title in Glendale, Ariz. What changed was TCU expanding its points lead over Boise State for third place, which is important in the national title race if Oregon or Auburn lose a game.

at No. 4 Texas Christian 38, Air Force 7: Ed Wesley had a career-high 209 yards and two touchdowns, and the TCU defense stiffened after giving up its first October touchdown. Wesley had more yards by himself than the nation's No. 1 rushing offense as the Horned Frogs (8-0, 4-0 Mountain West) piled up 377 yards on the ground, 30 more than the Falcons averaged coming in. at No. 9 Utah 59, Colorado State 6: Jordan Wynn threw for 321 yards and three touchdowns in drizzly weather and the Utes ran their record to 7-0 for the third time in seven years.

Doctors and infectious bacteria are locked in an arms race. In this ever-escalating battle, the bacteria evolve ways to avoid every drug humans throw at them. The conflict has intensified lately as more and more bacteria — particularly those lurking in hospitals — become able to resist nearly every antibiotic in our arsenal. "We throw thousands and thousands of antibiotics on bacteria," says Marcin Filutowicz, a microbiologist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

The Times' Chris Dufresne unveils his preseason college football top 25, one day (and team) at a time. No. 5 Texas Christian Gary Patterson says he's not worried about his tiny private-school team competing with in-state giants Texas and Texas A&M. Patterson compares his program's rise to the cola wars. "Only older people would understand," he told The Times before last season's Fiesta Bowl. "It's the old thing about 7-Up. They tried to climb the cola ladder, but they were always going to be third.

UCLA made a point to say this was more than just a matchup against Matt Purke, Texas Christian's standout pitcher. Turns out, the Bruins were right. The Horned Frogs received a strong effort from Purke, but three home runs and solid relief from Tyler Lockwood were equally important in their 6-2 victory Friday at the College World Series. The teams play Saturday at 11 a.m. PDT at Rosenblatt Stadium to determine which advances to the best-of-three championship series. The Bruins (50-15)