FORT WORTH, Texas — It’s December, and TCU won the Big 12 regular season conference outright, is 12-0, ranked No. 3 in the nation and will play Kansas State on Saturday at Jerry World in the Big 12 conference championship game.
The success of this current team begs the question if it is indeed the best team in TCU history.
All-white teams that played against all-white teams are automatically disqualified from any discussion as to which is the best team.
As such, TCU’s last national title team that featured quarterback Davey O’Brien is eliminated from this debate. The same for the teams that were quarterbacked by Sam Baugh.
Any good “all-time” sports debate mandates full integration.
Since TCU was so bad for long after integration finally occurred, the best teams in the history of the school are all recent: 2010, 2014 and now 2022.
In July, TCU was picked to finish seventh according to the Big 12 media poll.
(Writer’s Note: I had a vote but forgot to submit it; had I turned in my ballot on time, I would have had TCU first with a 12-0 record).
We need the late Dan Jenkins for this; the award-winning sports writer and proud TCU alum was TCU’s unofficial TCU football historian, but we lost him in March of 2019.
— 2010, 13-0, won Mountain West Conference, Rose Bowl champions, No. 2 in final rankings
This TCU team started the season No. 6 in the preseason poll, and all it did was climb and exist in the then world of the Bowl Championship Series despite being in the Mountain West Conference.
There was a five-game stretch in the middle of the season where TCU won by the combined score of 236-23; included in this were back-to-back shutouts.
On Nov. 6. TCU played its biggest game of the season, at No. 6 Utah, and won, 47-7.
The Horned Frogs caught a few breaks, namely No. 3 Boise State losing at Nevada in the second to last game of the regular season, and scored an invite to the Rose Bowl to play Big 10 champion, No. 4 Wisconsin.
TCU was the first school from a non-automatic qualifying conference to play in the Rose Bowl since the advent of the BCS, in 1998.
TCU won, 21-19.
On that TCU team were future NFL players, quarterback Andy Dalton, receiver Jeremy Kerley, offensive lineman Marcus Cannon, safety Colin Jones, linebacker Tank Carder, and defensive lineman Stansly Maponga; a few others played limited games in the NFL.
The legacy of that TCU team is a group defied all college football convention, and elevated not just a football program but an entire university for the next generation.
— 2014, 12-1, shared Big 12 title, Peach Bowl champions, No. 3 in final rankings
In terms of athletes and talent, this is the best team coach Gary Patterson ever assembled.
In TCU’s third season as a member of the Big 12, and in the first year of the College Football Playoff, the Horned Frogs finished the regular season tied with Baylor to share the conference title.
There was no Big 12 Conference title game between 2011 to 2016.
TCU began the season unranked, but people took notice on Oct. 4 when it upset No. 4 Oklahoma, 37-33, in Fort Worth.
The Horned Frogs lost the following week at No. 5 Baylor, 61-58. TCU led Baylor 58-37 with 11:38 remaining in the game before collapsing.
After that loss, TCU blew out several opponents, including an 82-27 win over Texas Tech in Fort Worth. The Horned Frogs’ closest remaining game was at No. 20 West Virginia, a one-point win on a 37-yard field goal with no time remaining.
TCU entered the last week of the season ranked third in the playoff rankings, but were dropped to sixth when the final rankings were announced despite a blowout home win over Iowa State.
TCU easily defeated No. 9 Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl, 42-3, and finished No. 3 in the final AP Poll.
TCU was not better than eventual national champion Ohio State, or Alabama, that year, but that team could have played with Florida State or Oregon, the other teams included in the playoff.
On that TCU team were future NFL players, quarterback Trevone Boykin, first round pick, receiver Josh Doctson, running back Aaron Green, linebacker Paul Dawson, defensive lineman Josh Carraway, center Joey Hunt, safety Derrick Kindred, and linebacker Jonathan Anderson.
The legacy of that TCU team is that it became the case study of the flaws in the College Football Playoff selection process. It was also the first TCU team to show that it could win a power conference.
— 2022, 12-0, Big 12 regular season title, currently No. 3 in CFP rankings
The finale to this story is unwritten, and at this point first-year coach Sonny Dykes and his entire team are playing with house money.
TCU could potentially lose its next two games, and the season is still a program re-defining success.
Before the season started, both TCU and its fans would have been thrilled with seven or eight-wins, and a bowl invitation for the first time since 2018.
No one saw this present coming.
TCU’s potential Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, Max Duggan, wasn’t even the starter in Week 1.
The Horned Frogs were not ranked until after they destroyed No. 18 Oklahoma, 55-24, on Oct. 1.
TCU either trailed, or was tied, in the second half of five Big 12 games, and won four games by seven points or less. Only two of TCU’s Big 12 games were comfortable, versus Oklahoma and Iowa State.
TCU was the feature game as part of ESPN’s Game Day set up at Kansas, at Texas and will be for the Big 12 title game against Kansas State on Saturday in Arlington.
TCU games were the featured dates for Fox’s Big Noon coverage against Baylor and Iowa State.
Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson is a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back, and Duggan is a finalist for the Davey O’Brien Award.
Quentin Johnston was a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award (top wide receiver); an injury prevented him from making the final three. Kendre Miller was a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award (top running back).
Offensive coordinator Garrett Riley is a finalist for the Broyles Award (nation’s top assistant coach), and it’s hard to envision a scenario where Sonny Dykes is not among the finalists, or wins, awards for head coaching.
As far as potential pros, Johnston is right now a likely first round pick. Hodges-Tomlinson will be a selection, and there will be others.
The legacy of this TCU team is TBD, but they have shown what is possible.
Which is the best TCU team?
Whereas the Rose Bowl-winning team was led by a glorified Boy Scout and featured walk-ons and people you’d want to marry your daughter, the Peach Bowl-winning team had some glass shards.
The 2010 team was loaded with adults, and seniors who “got it.”
That 2014 team had some characters. They were also talented.
Boykin-to-Doctson was unguardable, the offense was tied for fifth in the nation, and second in scoring. They averaged 46 points per game.
On first glance, the winner here would be 2014 because of the quarterback. Either in the pocket, or in space, Boykin was a beast. He had more than 4,600 yards of offense that year.
The 2022 team leans closer to the 2010 team more than 2014.
On second glance, nothing has stopped, or defeated, the 2022 team, and until proven otherwise they’re the best.
