FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) _ Tulsa defenders have tried mightily to corral Texas Christian tailback LaDainian Tomlinson for the past three years.

They have yet to succeed.

Tomlinson, the nation's leading rusher with 1,060 yards in six games, added to his list of sterling performances against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane with 178 yards and four touchdowns in the Horned Frog's 56-17 rout of Tulsa Saturday night.

Before this season, Tomlinson's two best performances came at the expense of the Golden Hurricane run defense. In three games against Tulsa, Tomlinson has 523 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. Including current Green Bay Packer Basil Mitchell's 215-yard performance against Tulsa in 1996, the Horned Frogs' top rusher has averaged 185 yards in the last four contests against the Golden Hurricane.

"(Tomlinson's) just a really, really fine back and an outstanding talent," said Tulsa head coach Dave Rader. "Right now he's the top running back in our conference."

Tomlinson scored on an 80-yard touchdown run with the Horned Frogs trailing 10-7 late in the second quarter. That score was a precursor to 49 unanswered TCU points, who have now scored a total of 98 points in the last two games.

"I certainly didn't expect 56 to 17," TCU head coach Dennis Franchione said. "I really thought tonight would be another close game. We did a great job executing tonight and we had some good blocks on the perimeter."

With just under two minutes left in the first half and Tulsa deep in their own territory, Golden Hurricane quarterback Josh Blankenship was intercepted by TCU linebacker Shannon Brazzell.

Brazzell returned the ball eight yards to the Tulsa 7, and two plays later, TCU quarterback Patrick Batteaux scampered into the end zone on a 5-yard run to give the Horned Frogs a 21-10 halftime lead.

TCU scored 35 points in the pivotal third quarter, including two more touchdown runs by Tomlinson. During that stretch, no TCU scoring drive took longer than three minutes.

"At the time, I thought Shannon Brazzell's interception was really going to be a big play," Franchione said. "We only ran 21 plays in the first half, so it was nice to be able to score 21 points. But, in the third quarter, we were able to put the game away."

Tulsa put the clamps on Tomlinson early, limiting him to 19 yards on seven carries before his long touchdown run, but the Golden Hurricane's fortunes began to change for the worse when starting quarterback Michael Wall left the game in the first quarter.

Wall completed all five of his pass attempts on Tulsa's opening drive, which ended with John Mosley's five-yard touchdown run, giving Tulsa an early 7-0 advantage.

But before Mosley's score, Wall was injured on a vicious hit by TCU safety Reggie Hunt after an eight-yard scramble to the TCU 6. Blankenship, a true freshman, took over for Wall.

TCU's pass rush flustered Blankenship all evening. He completed 10 of 23 passes for 83 yards and two interceptions and suffered five sacks.

Tulsa's running game, which entered the evening as the WAC's worst, provided no relief for Blankenship. The Golden Hurricane was limited to 103 rushing yards on 44 carries by the Horned Frogs' run defense.

"I really thought we would rebound and respond to the negative situation at the end of the first half," Rader said. "We're just not making big plays."

TCU had a second half full of big plays, including quarterback Casey Printer's 50-yard touchdown strike to Mike Scarborough on the Horned Frogs' opening possession. Five plays later, TCU linebacker Chad Bayer blocked a Tulsa punt which was recovered in the end zone by Horned Frog's receiver LaTarence Dunbar, giving TCU a 25-point advantage.

"You have to go back a long time when I've had a team score this many points," Franchione said. "This offense is getting to where teams have to worry about both the run and the pass."