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It was Jan. 2, 1939, and the Texas Christian University football team was behind at halftime, trailing Carnegie Tech 7-6 in the Sugar Bowl. The Horned Frogs were unbeaten that season, but now they needed some magic. And when they came back on the field, they got it from their leader. Davey O'Brien, a 5'7" quarterback and winner of that season's Heisman, Maxwell, and Walter Camp awards, lit up the New Orleans sky with a touchdown pass and a field goal. TCU won the game 15-7 and wrapped up its second national championship.

O'Brien and his predecessor, "Slingin' Sammy" Baugh, led TCU to gridiron brilliance in those years. Between 1925 and 1939, the teams from Fort Worth won more games than any other college football squad. TCU won national championships in 1935 and 1938 and was the first Southwest Conference school to play in the Sugar Bowl - and in the Cotton Bowl, the Orange Bowl, and Bluebonnet Bowl.

O'Brien went on to play with the Philadelphia Eagles and, after football, joined the FBI, worked in the oil business, and eventually led the Tarrant County Democratic Party. In 1977, shortly before O'Brien's death, members of the Fort Worth Club honored his prowess on the field and integrity in life by establishing the Davey O'Brien Award, honoring the nation's top college quarterback. Since then, the prestigious award has gone to a roster of future pro stars that includes names like Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Ty Detmer, and Vince Young. It recognizes a quarterback who exhibits "teamwork and camaraderie."

Andy Dalton, a junior from Katy, has been the Horned Frogs' starting quarterback for the last three years. The team has the third-longest current win streak in the country, and Dalton personally has broken or is pressing hard on almost all of O'Brien and Baugh's school records. With two more victories, he will surpass Baugh as TCU's all-time winningest quarterback. He's rated as one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the country, eighth in passing efficiency, and he leads the nation's fifth-best total offense. Dalton, who executes like a diamond under pressure, is the epitome of a team player.

But he's not on the list of finalists for the O'Brien Award this year. There's a strong field - from Texas' Colt McCoy, to Florida's Tim Tebow, and Boise State's Kellen Moore - and Dalton outranks most of them in performance statistics and ratings.

Dalton's omission from the list illustrates how hard TCU has had to fight to earn back the kind of respect it commanded back when Baugh and O'Brien were wearing purple. After the '50s, the team went into a several-decades-long slump, and sports fans mostly stopped thinking about TCU.

This year, although current coach Gary Patterson, in his ninth year, is commanding one of the best teams of the decade, TCU football isn't quite a household word yet. Nothing illustrates this better than the O'Brien situation.

The O'Brien foundation puts together a committee of national news media members to create a "watch list" of nominees for the award. Personalities ranging from ESPN's Erin Andrews to Maxim's Jordan Burchette to former Heisman winner Desmond Howard voted this year and managed to overlook Dalton.

"I would like to throw a bomb at the fools who vote on the Davey O'Brien Award. I resigned as a voter this year when Andy Dalton didn't make the semi-final list," Dan Jenkins, Fort Worth's most famous sportswriter, wrote in an e-mail. "Those people are supposed to follow national college football. Obviously, many of them don't. I am particularly sad about the situation because I am one of the last people on the planet who saw Davey play and was a friend of his later in life."

Still, Dalton shouldn't be too worried. He and his teammate, defensive end Jerry Hughes, are both being talked about for this year's Heisman trophy, and Dalton is likely to be on the O'Brien award short list next year - especially if the Frogs keep winning. And that last part seems like something that Frog fans can bet on. By all indications, what Patterson is building is a program, not a fluke.

"This is not a one-time thing," Patterson told a group of supporters a couple of weeks ago. They believe he's right. With 16 to 18 regular starters expected to return for the 2010 campaign, TCU is aiming at the top college rankings again next year and maybe bettering the  school's current fourth-place standing in the polls and Bowl Championship Series rankings.

With the Frogs at 11-0 right now and already owners of at least a share of the Mountain West conference title, the national media are finally paying attention. Before the Nov. 14 Utah game, ESPN's College GameDay set up its national broadcast headquarters on the TCU campus, and for one day Fort Worth was once again the center of the sports universe.

"We want to win a national championship at TCU, and I firmly believe we can," Patterson wrote on his web site (www.coachpatterson.com). "This is why I signed a contract extension through 2014. I want to prove to the rest of the country that it can be done at TCU."

When Jerry Hughes makes a big play, Amon G. Carter Stadium shakes with what sounds like thousands of boos. The crowd is actually screaming "Huuuuughes," in appreciation of the man who is currently second in the NCAA in number of sacks. Patterson is famous for taking speedy high school athletes, mostly from Texas, and utilizing them in whatever position he feels would best suit the team. Hughes was a prized running back in high school, but he will enter the NFL next year as a top defensive end.

On the field, Patterson's team plays with focused intensity, leaving few opportunities untaken. Off the field, the players' stories and backgrounds make equally compelling reading: Hughes volunteers with children's literacy programs. Linebacker Ricky "Tank" Carder is a former international BMX bike champion. Receiver Ryan Christian is a laid-back skateboarder. Dalton even saved the life of a local woman's dehydrated and convulsing dog last summer.

Patterson likes to say his defense "hunts together." TCU is currently fourth in the nation in total defense, and his teams have led the nation in total defense three times in the last decade. When Hughes or another lineman doesn't come up with the big play, someone like Carder or his fellow linebacker Daryl Washington usually makes the stop - and maybe more. Carder returned an interception for a touchdown in TCU's 55-29 drubbing of then-17th place Utah.

On offense, Dalton has many options when he needs a playmaker. Joseph Turner, Ed Wesley, Matthew Tucker, and Skye Dawson all shine from the running back position, enabled by a dominating group of mostly Texas-bred offensive linemen.