FORT WORTH, Texas — From the highest mountain, they made their case Thursday night.

If that was an introduction that TCU gave ninth-ranked BYU and a national television audience Thursday, well, America, what do you think?

BYU came into Amon G. Carter Stadium undefeated, nurturing BCS bowl expectations and with the longest active winning streak in the land — 16 games.

TCU, to be frank, came into the game feeling like the Mountain West Conference's forgotten sheep.

The Cougars can put away those BCS travel brochures now. Would-be BCS crashers that get their pants taken down 32-7 on national TV don't usually climb back into the big-bowl picture.

From their first drive of the game to their final red-zone stand, the Horned Frogs showed themselves Thursday to be faster, hungrier and better than BYU in almost every way.

The 25-point rout marked the first time that TCU has beaten a Top 10 team at home in 43 years. On this same date in 1965, the Frogs upset then-No. 9 Texas A&M 17-9.

History-making nights call for trumpet-worthy performances, and the Frogs' night echoed with them.

First and foremost, there was the TCU defense. Facing the nation's eighth-ranked passing game and a quarterback that was rated 10th in total offense, the Frogs kept BYU off the scoreboard for the game's first 40 minutes.

By halftime, TCU was ahead 23-0 and had sacked BYU quarterback Max Hall four times.

The Cougars were never able to muster a running game, finishing with a net of only 23 yards. Hall, billed as a possible Heisman Trophy candidate, failed to throw a touchdown pass and was intercepted twice.

The TCU offense, meanwhile, has seldom hummed so efficiently against a ranked foe. The Frogs ran for 240 yards and piled up 29 first downs. They converted 11 of 16 third-down chances, whether the quarterback was Andy Dalton or — in a twist that seemed to start BYU's unraveling — receiver Jeremy Kerley.

All season long, as it turns out, the Frogs have been preparing Kerley, a one-time high school quarterback at Hutto, for taking snaps in the shotgun formation. From there, Kerley's quickness and swerving hips left the Cougars' defense lunging to catch him. Kerley's first three runs gained 60 yards, one of the keepers scoring the second touchdown of the game.

Dalton, meanwhile, returned from two weeks of mending an injured knee to throw for 170 yards and two touchdowns.

The Frogs averaged 4.7 yards a carry Thursday. The Cougars' running game ended up averaging less than 2 ›feet.

If any two things epitomized the night's mismatch, they were Kerley's ability to weave his way through the BYU defense and the backpedaling cushion that the Cougars' secondary kept allowing the speedier TCU receivers.

The rest was the handiwork of the Jerry Hughes-led defense. Hall, the MWC's No. 1-rated quarterback, seldom was able to throw without Hughes or another TCU lineman breathing down his neck.

"They were fast and they got to me," Hall said. "The bottom line is they were strong, and they forced me into some bad decisions.

"I thought I had been fairly good at handling the pressure, but tonight it just got to me."

This, though, is the TCU defense that we've seen all season. All, maybe, except for the intermittent shower of big plays that victimized them at Oklahoma.

For TCU coach Gary Patterson and his staff, it was a night to bottle and savor. True, the Frogs under Patterson went to Norman three years ago and upset Oklahoma. But things like that can happen to favored teams in season openers with a new quarterback.

This one, however, needed no footnotes. The Cougars had to know who the 6-1 Horned Frogs were.

Or did they even bother?

All season long the Frogs have had to watch the poll voters favor the two Utah schools. They've read about what BYU had to do to run the conference table and crack the BCS bloc. They've had to watch the conference's TV network, The Mtn, gush weekly over the conference's perennial show pony, mighty BYU.

Viva Las Vegas Bowl and all that. Right, Cougars?

"We really wanted to come out and be the best TCU football team that we could be, and I think we did that," said Patterson.

"We knew it would be a big stage. We got some breaks and turnovers, and it worked out well for us."

Patterson, however, was sounding far too humble for such a meaningful night.

TCU made its case Thursday night. It's time that somebody, the conference included, listened.