Frogs & AP Voters: Edition No. 8

For a fourth consecutive week, TCU is unranked in the latest AP Top 25 poll, this time fresh off a wild and just as equally ugly 17-14 loss to Texas Tech on Thursday night.

Needless to say, we knew the time would arrive if the Horned Frogs kept playing the way they have ever since falling to Texas on Sept. 22. With the latest stumble, TCU has now scored 17 points or less in three straight games for the first time since 1996 — two years before Gary Patterson joined the team’s coaching staff.

Well, it’s here. Not only are the Frogs absent from the poll, but for the first time this season, TCU did not earn a single vote — and rightfully so — when the latest batch of rankings was released on Sunday afternoon.

Zip. Zilch. Zero.

Now before you slap that red plastic panic button, remember that not all hope is lost. But a 3-3, it may take a 5 or 6 game winning streak for the Frogs to get back in the top 25 discussion — far easier said than done with both the upcoming competition and the way that TCU’s offense has struggled to put up points.

An upset over Oklahoma this upcoming Saturday? That will likely be enough to at least get the Frogs a vote or two, but far from enough to get TCU back in the top 25. And with only three teams now in the rankings, the Big 12 can use all the help that it can get as far as improving its perception goes.

Here’s a glance at how the league’s three teams who did make the latest cut — Texas, Oklahoma and West Virginia — fared among the voters.

No. 7 Texas

• Highest: 5 (9 voters)
• Lowest: 13 (Jason Galloway — Wisconsin State Journal)

No. 9 Oklahloma

• Highest: 6 (2 voters)
• Lowest: 14 (2 voters)

No. 13 West Virginia

• Highest: 11 (3 voters)
• Lowest: 22 (Keith Sargeant — NJ Advanced Media)

Check back next week, friends. Maybe it will be a happier tune for TCU.