FACTS & STATS: Site: Hughes Stadium (34,400) -- Fort Collins, Colorado. Television: CBSCS. Home Record: TCU 3-0, CSU 3-0. Away Record: TCU 2-1, CSU 0-1. Neutral Record: TCU 0-0, CSU 0-1. Conference Record: TCU 2-0, CSU 1-0. Series Record: TCU leads, 4-1.

GAME NOTES: Perfect at home so far this season, the Colorado State Rams get their toughest test yet this weekend as the TCU Horned Frogs arrive for a Mountain West Conference bout at Hughes Stadium. The Rams have wins over Sacramento State, Houston and UNLV at Sonny Lubick Field in Fort Collins so far this season and are back in the building for the fourth time in the last five games. Last weekend, CSU surprised more than a few as it took out the Rebels in the MWC opener, 41-28. Following this contest, the Rams hit the road for two straight against the likes of Utah and San Diego State, a pair of teams at opposite ends of the MWC spectrum these days. As for TCU, a squad that was among the Top-25 not that long ago, it opened the 2008 campaign with four straight victories before being thumped by then second-ranked Oklahoma at the end of September, 35-10. More recently the Horned Frogs took the field at home in Fort Worth versus San Diego State and toppled the Aztecs in a 41-7 final. Off to a 2-0 start in MWC play, TCU is tied with Utah for first place in the conference standings entering this week, but both teams still have to meet the first week of November, while TCU has nationally-ranked BYU on the slate next week at home. TCU has won all but one of the five previous meetings between these two squads, taking a 24-12 decision a year ago.

Marcus Jackson ran for two touchdowns and passed for a third as he led the Horned Frogs to the easy win over San Diego State on Saturday. Jackson, who was filling in for a wounded Andy Dalton at the quarterback position, earned himself a share of the MWC's Offensive Player of the Week honors by posting a career-high 131 yards rushing and passing for another 115 yards in the victory. While Dalton is listed as probable for this week's game with a knee injury, there's no doubt that Jackson has proven he deserves more touches during games in order to give the Frogs the best chance of finishing at the top of the conference standings. Thanks to the efforts of Jackson the Horned Frogs are now second in the conference and ninth in the nation in running the ball with 246.7 ypg. Even with a powerful showing against Stephen F. Austin (67 points) offsetting the weak effort against Oklahoma (10 points) the Horned Frogs are still second in the league and tied for 18th in the nation with a scoring average of 37.2 ppg. In addition to Jackson's exploits coming out of the backfield, Joseph Turner (292 yards) has managed to post eight of the team's 23 rushing scores thus far.

The run defense for the Horned Frogs has been extremely strong so far this season, but against San Diego State the squad stepped it up another notch by limiting the visitors to minus-13 yards on 15 attempts. In addition to knocking out the SDSU starting quarterback, TCU also held visiting passers to a mere 98 yards, which means there was just 85 yards of total offense given up by the Frogs. Making a huge impact with just three tackles, Jerry Hughes recorded a pair of sacks, while both Cody Moore and Matt Panfil each tallied a sack as well. On a national level there's no one better than the Horned Frogs at stopping the run, ranking first overall with a meager 22.3 ypg allowed. To put that in perspective, the second-best team in the country (Texas) has surrendered more than twice that number (50.8 ypg). Opponents are averaging a pitiful .95 yards per carry to this point in the season. Put that together with the fourth-ranked pass defense in the MWC (186.5 ypg) and it is easy to see how head coach Gary Patterson has crafted the most aggressive defense in all the land, allowing just 208.8 ypg thus far. Hughes has been a one-man wrecking crew for the Frogs with eight tackles for loss, five sacks, two INTs, three fumble recoveries and a pair of forced fumbles through six games.

Trailing 14-3 at the end of one period of play on Saturday, the Rams dialed up the offense and consequently put the Rebels in their rearview mirror in Fort Collins. The hero of the day for Colorado State was running back Gartrell Johnson who matched a career-high with three scores and generated 191 yards on the ground alone. Add to that another 21 yards on four receptions for a career-high 212 yards of total offense and it was easy to see how Johnson earned a share of MWC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Not to be overlooked was Billy Farris who converted 15-of-21 passes for 294 yards and a score as well. Receiver Rashaun Greer collected eight of those passes for an incredible 211 yards. Greer has twice as many receptions (33) and almost twice as many receiving yards (570) as anyone else on the unit, but with just a single touchdown to his credit he doesn't seem capable of making the big play on a regular basis. As for Johnson, he's averaging five yards per carry and has already taken the ball into the end zone five times as a running back, with the rest of the team responsible for only two TDs.

After allowing UNLV to handle the ball for more than 10 minutes in the first quarter alone on Saturday, the CSU defense went to work and proceeded to keep the Rebels in check the rest of the way. Mychal Sisson led the way for the Rams with his team-high nine tackles, posting 1.5 TFLs in the process and combined with Jeff Horinek for the lone sack of the game for the home team. Sacks continue to be a rare commodity for the Rams this season, the team having recorded just five in as many games thus far. Tommie Hill has three of those sacks and also leads the group with his four TFLs, but still the team is tied for 107th in the nation with just one sack per outing and is second-to- last on a national scale when it comes to TFLs with a mere 3.2 per game. The pass defense has been somewhat suspect through the first half of the campaign, allowing 227.2 ypg to rank eighth in the nine-team conference and 83rd nationally heading into this week.

The clash between Johnson and the nation's best run defense should be exciting, but more than just stopping the run the Horned Frogs know how to keep a team down in all aspects of the game so expect CSU to lose for the first time at home this season.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: TCU 34, Colorado State 10

Saturday, October 11th, 3:30 p.m. (et).