AUSTIN -- It's an insult that has lingered 46 years, uttered after one of TCU's greatest victories.

After the Horned Frogs stunned No. 1 Texas 6-0 in 1961, frustrated Longhorns coach Darrell Royal said: "They are like a cockroach. It isn't what he eats or totes off, but what he falls into and messes up."

No. 19 TCU (1-0) has every intention messing things up for No. 7 Texas (1-0) and the Bowl Championships Series this year. Beat the Longhorns tonight and the Horned Frogs are the front-runners to be this season's BCS busters.

"It's a measuring stick game," TCU coach Gary Patterson said.

The Horned Frogs play in the Mountain West Conference but have measured up quite well against the Big 12 recently. A 5-0 run includes victories over Oklahoma (2005) and Texas Tech (2006).

Beating the Longhorns, old rivals from the old Southwest Conference, would be even more special for a school left on the sideline when Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor and Texas A&M joined with the old Big Eight to form the Big 12 in 1996.

That snub cast TCU as a college football vagabond. The Horned Frogs wandered through two other conferences looking for the best place to play. With a one-game crack at the Longhorns this year, they have a shot to show everyone there's nothing mid-major about their program.

Lose and the Horned Frogs get stuck playing little brother to the big boys at Texas. The time is right to find out where they stand, Patterson said.

"If you don't do that in life, someday you wake up and you just wonder what you did do," Patterson said. "I think that's what we're trying to get accomplished here, we're trying to find out."

Unlike 1961, a Horned Frogs win today wouldn't carry nearly the same shock value.

TCU has won 11 games three of past four seasons. They have a nine-game winning streak and four conference titles (in three leagues) the past eight years. The Horned Frogs sport one of the nation's best defenses, and were able shutout Baylor last week without star defensive end Tommy Blake.

Blake missed most of the preseason for personal reasons and health issues. He has practiced all week and his status is a game-time decision.

Fans are so excited that "Beat Texas" T-shirts were being sold on the schools' Web site before the first game against Baylor.

Texas coach Mack Brown agrees the Horned Frogs should be excited. This is their big chance.

"They're the best-kept secret off all the non-BCS teams," Brown said. "They have earned the right to be considered one of the best teams in the country."

Texas players found themselves in the unusual position this week of being talked about as so-called underdogs even with the higher ranking. The Longhorns looked very vulnerable in an unimpressive season-opening 21-13 win over Arkansas State, raising the prospect they're ripe for a beating.

History wouldn't agree. Although the teams haven't played each other since 1995, Texas is 27-1 in the last 28 meetings.

The first game struggles all are fixable, said Texas quarterback Colt McCoy.

"TCU doesn't scare me," Colt McCoy said, perhaps shocked that he would even be asked. "They shouldn't. They're just another football team. They're going to come in here fired up and we've got to play as good as we can."

Texas defensive tackle Derek Lokey said the game is just as important to Texas as the Horned Frogs. After their stumbles through the season-opener, a Texas loss could kill any chance of playing for the national championship.

"It's a big game for them and a huge game for us," Lokey said. "They're trying to prove they belong on the national stage and we're trying to prove that as well."

For fans in Texas who grew up on the old Southwest Conference, the game conjures memories of bitter in-state rivalries played every year.

Today's players were in grade school when the league broke up, but they've heard the stories.

"We're aware of that. We see all the old Southwest Conference records around here," Colt McCoy said.

Brown compared the atmosphere around the TCU game to

"All we did was add," Brown said, "was add another Oklahoma or Arkansas with all the emotion around this game."

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