LOS ANGELES — Johnny Hodges loves his chips.
“We’re a team full of chips,” the TCU linebacker said.
In Hodges shorthand, that translates into chips on the shoulders. Cliché, sure, but an entry into the heart of the Horned Frogs No. 3. They weren’t meant to be here in the College Football Playoff National Championship.
In fact, the last team in a similar position was BYU in 1984. Those Cougars are the most recent national champions to come from outside the current Power Five.
TCU as a member of the Big 12 is clearly a Power Five team these days, but it has been a league-hopper over the past quarter century. When the Southwest Conference of its ancestors broke up, TCU moved to Big 12 membership. From there followed a purgatory of stops in the WAC, Conference USA and the Mountain West.
The desperate little purple engine that may have finally gotten its power conference brass ring when the Big 12 opened its doors to TCU in 2012.
There’s a reason No. 1 Georgia is favored by nearly two touchdowns, the largest streak in CFP National Championship history. TCU is a long shot. If the Frogs were to win, they would beat perhaps the best program in the sport. If the Bulldogs don’t already hold that mantle, Monday night could go a long way to building that narrative.
TCU is trying to hang on, if you believe recruiting rankings. The Frogs have 17 blue-chip recruits on their roster, four of which are transfers. The Dawgs have four times as many.
“You can’t top what they did,” said former Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum, a member of TCU’s College Football Hall of Fame. “They just stay behind you. They’re not an ebb and flow kind of team. They just stay the same all the time whether you’re doing well or not. It’s hard to beat a team that’s not going to be beat.”
This explains the late game comebacks of the Frogs. That explains TCU hanging 55 on Oklahoma. That explains 263 yards rushing against a shocked Michigan. This explains why the impact of the TCU cannot be ignored.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark was jumping around Saturday at CFP National Championship media day like his conference had already won. Yormark has already stated his intention to expand the Big 12 to the Pacific Time Zone. With USC and UCLA leaving for the Big Ten, TCU and the Big 12 entered the LA market this week.
There is a niche community about 27 miles north of SoFi Stadium, the site of Monday’s game, called Frogtown. It’s not a city per se but — as its website proclaims — “a progressive, pocket community… where socially conscious hipsters and multigenerational families cohabit and call home.”
Frogtown is also the site of a Big 12 acquisition this weekend. Really, that’s what they’re calling it: “takeover”. There is purple beer at the Frogtown brewery. There will be 200 free Frogtown tacos available at the Santa Monica Pier on Sunday.
Celebrity sneaker artist Kickstradomis is designing a pair of Horned Frog themed kicks.
What does this have to do with beating Georgia? You are missing the point. Yormark is trying to take over the world, and the Frogs are his invading army.
“Think about where this conference was six months ago, 12 months ago, 18 months ago,” Yormark told CBS Sports. “It was a transformative moment. Obviously, this is a great validation.
“It also validates the composition and makeup of our conference. I’m sure there are people who were worried. What’s going to happen with Texas and Oklahoma out? Nobody’s talking about that anymore.”
No, they are not. This game can define the hopes and dreams of a similar hope once the PKS expands in 2024.
Slocum has coached against TCU in the SWC several times during his career. He was also close friends with former Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes, father of current TCU coach Sonny Dykes. They were so close Sonny recalled coming home from high school baseball practice in West Texas when they saw his father and Slocum enjoying an adult afternoon drink.
Slocum saw Sonny, who entered 2022 with just five winning seasons in 12 as a head coach, unlock greatness. Dykes took a roster assembled by former coach Gary Patterson on the brink of a championship.
What does it mean for TCU, the Big 12 and college football if TCU actually wins it all?
Las Vegas answered part of that question earlier this month when TCU was installed with the longest odds (16-1) to win the championship when the bracket debuted, according to Caesars Sportsbook. Those who had the foresight to bet $100 on the Frogs would have cashed in $1,600 if TCU wins Monday night.
“It reaffirms that no one has a lock on winning,” Slocum said. “Just because you have good players doesn’t mean you’re going to win. The challenge is to get all those people together, all playing for each other. It gives courage to a lot of schools out there that might not be at the top. It gives them hope.”
It would mean that many chips come in cash. Hodges is one of 14 TCU transfers. Frustrated with himself and Navy, he was looking for a new home after last season. His father took on the task of emailing each of the other 131 FBS programs. There was no one to take.
“I couldn’t even watch a football game on the weekend without feeling sick to my stomach knowing she didn’t get that far,” Hodges said. “I didn’t believe in myself. In life, you have to believe in yourself more than anyone else. … But when I got out of high school, I didn’t think I was good enough to play college football. I was good enough to play in a Power Five [program]. The father did. He brought me here.”
TCU defensive coordinator Joe Gillespie took notice because he had played against Navy while in Tulsa before being hired by Dykes. The addition of Hodges turned the defense into an opportunistic unit. TCU was outrebounded by Michigan last week (528-488), but the difference in the game could have been two pick sixes.
“We have a lot of guys on this team that are three stars, two stars that didn’t have a lot of offers coming out of high school, so I feel like everyone already had a chip on their shoulder coming in,” the cornerback said. Tre’Vious Hodges-Tomlinson.
“It’s time to start taking us very seriously. We’re not a joke.”
Not when Hodges-Tomlinson, the grandson of TCU great LaDanian Tomlinson, is the reigning winner of the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back. Not when quarterback Max Duggan is a former state high school 200 meter champion. (It surprised everyone from Oklahoma to Michigan when Duggan led all Big 12 quarterbacks in rushing.) Not when Hodges went from no receiver to leading TCU in tackles.
“The media wants the bluebloods to win,” Hodges said after the Michigan game. “They want the bluebloods to play each other. The schools are bigger – bigger fan bases. That’s what they want. For us, [it’s] to put ourselves on the map, make some money and put some respect on a name your family.”
That is what is motivating Emari Demercado. In his sixth season, he wound his way back home. Out of high school, his only FBS offers were from Army and Navy. This led to him starting at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California. Once at TCU, he played down the depth chart for most of his career.
When leading rusher Zach Evans transferred to Ole Miss, Demercado backed up Kendre Miller. Suddenly, as a central figure in Monday’s game, Demercado can’t find enough tickets for his family and friends to see him play for the national title.
Despite growing up in nearby Inglewood, 5 minutes from SoFi Stadium, he never really got into the venue.
Life was scarce, not glorious. In high school, Demercado lived with a friend’s family because practice at Downey High School started at 5 a.m. In L.A. where a huge city is connected by vast tracks of highways – and traffic – it made sense.
“My mom had bought me a little ’97 Lexus,” Demercado said. “It was just best for me to stay with them.”
Prior to the Fiesta Bowl semifinals, Michigan had given up one 100-yard rushing performance all season (Chase Brown, Illinois). Demercado rushed for a career-high 150 yards in a backup role after Miller was injured.
Oh, and in that sixth year, Demercado was able to get his master’s in business analysis.
“I grew up here,” Demercado said. “I had my whole childhood here. I leave and go to Texas and I can finish my college career here. It’s almost like a script.”
Wrong. The CFP Board publishes the national pass rate for each exam, which is usually 55% or so. For a CFP review provider to advertise or say they have 90%+ pass rates, this means that other CFP review providers must have a pass rate of 5-10%.
What is the most important college bowl game?
The Rose Bowl: This, âThe Granddaddy of Them Allâ, is the oldest bowl game, which has been played every year since 1916. On the same subject : MLB Commercial Rumors: Shohei Ohtani Will Stay With The Angels Upon Expiration, But Yankees And Padres Made “Serious” Offers. Since 1945, the Rose Bowl game, traditionally played on January 1 or January 2, has been the highest attended college football game.
Which college bowl game determines the national championship? The College Football Playoff National Championship is a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) national champion, which began play in the 2014 college football season.
What bowl game is most important?
The Rose Bowl Game has been the most attended bowl game since 1945, and the Rose Bowl itself is still the largest stadium of any currently hosting a postseason game.
What are the 4 main college bowl games?
The New Year’s Six, sometimes abbreviated as NY6, is an unofficial but commonly used term used to describe the bowl games of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS): the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. See the article : Saturday sports: Massena football crushes Potsdam.
What are the Tier 1 bowl games?
Tier #1: Conference, in consultation with bowls and schools, assigns teams to the following six bowls: The ReliaQuest Bowl versus Big Ten. On the same subject : Big Ten expansion: Desired points of current league members. The Las Vegas Bowl versus Pac-12 (even years) OR the Duke’s Mayo Bowl versus ACC (odd years) The Gator Bowl versus ACC.
What NFL team never won a game in a season?
Since 1944, only five teams have had winless seasons in the NFL: the 1960 Dallas Cowboys (0–11–1), the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0–14), the 1976 Baltimore Colts 1982 (0–8–1) the 2008. Detroit Lions (0–16), and the 2017 Cleveland Browns (0–16).
Has any NFL team never won a game all season? Since 1944, only five teams have had undefeated seasons in the NFL: the 1960 Dallas Cowboys (0-11-1), the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-14), the 1976 Baltimore Colts 1982 (0â8â). 1) the 2008 Detroit Lions (0â16), and the 2017 Cleveland Browns (0â16).
What NFL team did not win a game?
Detroit was the first non-expansion team to lose every game in an entire season since World War II. Strike shortened season.
Which NFL team has the fewest winning seasons?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hold the lowest regular season winning percentage (.402), and have a record of 291â433â1, through 2021.
What is the oldest college football game?
The first college football game was played in 1869 between Rutgers University and the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University). The first college football rules were written on November 23, 1876, in Springfield, Mass., by representatives from Columbia, Harvard, Princeton and Yale.
Who won more Alabama or Auburn? Game results Since 1893, the Crimson Tide and Tigers have played 87 times. Alabama leads the series 49â37â1. The game was played in four cities: Auburn, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa.
Did Auburn change their name?
In 1892, it became the first four-year coeducational school in Alabama, and in 1899 it was renamed Alabama Polytechnic Institute (API) to reflect its changing mission. In 1960, its name was changed to Auburn University to recognize the varied academic programs and larger curriculum of a major university.
Is Auburn a Division 1?
The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
