TCU Athletics
The pen being mightier than the sword, it would be easy to make target practice out of all those who had, to be nice, a limited outlook on TCU’s chances of advancing in the College Football Playoff.
The disagreeably pessimistic and their perspective on the Horned Frogs having any chance at defeating Michigan were certainly the loudest, most likely because the chorus came from the loudest mouths of the pundit class.
Paul Finebaum, you were wrong. Chris Simms, you were simply wrong.
Let them eat crow, I say, and move on.
TCU’s triumph was a celebration of the believers. The Frogs and their fandom are the personification of what can happen if you have just a bit of faith in yourself and your ability.
“Yeah, we can,” says TCU linebacker Johnny Hodges when asked if he could believe his team was actually preparing for a 15th game in 2022.
TCU enters the national championship game on Monday in Inglewood, California, two-touchdown underdogs to No. 1 Georgia, the defending champion, considered by many something akin to the seeming invincible one-eyed beasts Odysseus encountered.
However, win or lose, the Frogs have done what no “other” team has been able to do: change the rules of college football, validating the decision to expand the CFP.
That is this team’s lasting legacy.
TCU has shattered the glass ceiling of the game, whose greatest fortunes were thought reserved only for a select few, those blue-blood elites so adored by corporate media types. Their names in lights are tantamount to the biggest stars adorning movie-house facades.
Since the first CFP in 2014, seven schools have made more than one CFP appearance, including Alabama (7), Clemson (6), Ohio State (5), Oklahoma (4), Georgia (3), Notre Dame (2), and Michigan (2).
Before this year, the others all came from what would be considered dignified college football corners, except Cincinnati, which was permitted entry to the exclusive ball from the American Athletic Conference, a non-Power 5 division.
The Bearcats, of course, were treated as I would be trying to enter Buckingham Palace: You don’t belong here and the moment you enter, we’ll show you the door. That’s what Alabama did, rolling over Cincinnati 27-6.
In 2022, enter the Horned Frogs, who heard the choristers repeat that same charge.
Except, little TCU did belong, proving so by beating Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl. In defeating the Wolverines, who appeared to think as much of themselves as they did certain victory, TCU became the ultimate disruptor in college football.
And the Horned Frogs did it by being faster and more physical than the “bigger guy.” It was also clear that the Frogs were better prepared for a game like that by having played in a more competitive conference, the Big 12. The perception is that the Big Ten is a better league. All you need to do is watch the games to know that's nonsense.
“It was up to us to do something with the opportunity,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes says. “That helps the committee do what they did. Hopefully the next team [like TCU] will get a bid by the success we had.”
That’s not at all to say TCU believes its season has been completed as a success.
There is one more game to play, and while the pundits and oddsmakers remain nonbelievers, the Horned Frogs believe, make no mistake about it.
So, too, does all of Fort Worth.
They intend to do it like all the rest by just being themselves and doing what they've been doing. That's a good game plan.
“We want to win that game, don’t get me wrong,” quarterback Max Duggan says. “You have had a great season, but I think the biggest thing is you want to win that last game. That’s our goal right now. I think we’d be pretty disappointed if we weren’t able to.”