AUSTIN — Everyone loves an underdog, and TCU is here to play the role. It goes back to Gary Patterson, the longtime former Horned Frogs coach whose statue stands on campus in Fort Worth. If teams take on the persona of their head coach, then the guy who said things like “I didn’t build this program backing down to anybody” gave them an undeniable edge for the length of his tenure.
But on Saturday night as TCU beat the Longhorns 17–10, Patterson (now a special assistant to Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian) was standing on the opposite sideline from the purple program he raised for 21 years and shepherded into the Big 12. Now his successor, Sonny Dykes, gets a chance to do what he wasn’t able to: win an outright Big 12 championship, as the Frogs punched their ticket to Jerry World with Saturday’s victory.
So where is the chip on the shoulder from now? Well it’s certainly from public perception. It is no secret that the Frogs do not enjoy the same benefit of the doubt as Big Ten and SEC Playoff hopefuls. The first Playoff rankings featured them ranked seventh behind Alabama, among others. They entered the Texas game as seven-point underdogs. They leave as seven-point victors. But to portray this TCU squad as a monolith comes at the expense of missing the real humanity behind what is so often glossed over as “adversity.” Take Navy transfer linebacker Johnny Hodges, for example.
“My personal chip? Just my previous school didn’t really like how things went down there so I have to prove them wrong every day,” Hodges said. “TCU was my only offer in the portal. Probably reached out to 60 college coaches, every Power 5 and not a single one responded except for Northwestern and then they said I wasn’t good enough. That’s one. I guess the list goes on. I didn’t get recruited out of high school for football. Every single time after a game I go to my DMs and people say I’m not good enough to play. It doesn’t stop.”
Hodges helped rally and gang tackle Texas running back Bijan Robinson on an early fourth-down stop that set the tone for what this game was going to be. It was an intensely physical game that few would have predicted would become a defensive struggle.
In a game that was largely a stalemate due to the defensive game plan even quarterback Max Duggan said was “good,” TCU got their two biggest plays on busts by the Horns. A 75-yard touchdown run by Kendre Miller and a 31-yard touchdown catch by Quentin Johnston were difference-making plays. The only reason the final scoreline was close was because of a late fumble returned for a touchdown by Texas. TCU got the ball back and after a gutsy catch by Johnston on a third down iced the victory.
“You go into this game thinking it’s gonna be a high-scoring shootout and then your mindset changes,” Dykes said. “We went from playing very aggressive to having to play more of a defensive mentality game. We punted on fourth down in some situations where if the game was a little different we probably woulda gone for it. Kicked some field goals when we probably typically would have tried to score a touchdown. Felt like the way the flow of the game was, points were gonna be at a premium in this game.”
Dykes has now added to the list of TCU triumphs over the more recognizable logo in burnt orange. TCU is 8–3 against Texas since joining the Big 12 in 2012 and 5–1 against Austin. The only way to stack these programs over the last decade in a way that puts the Horns above the Frogs is their recruiting rankings—TCU has more conference title berths (three) and double-digit win regular seasons (four). Darrel K. Royal stadium is a monument to Texas excess from the giant jumbotron to the not-so-subtle sign behind which opposing teams run out that reads “This is Texas.” But Texas is only Texas because it says it is. Its reputation precedes it, but its results do not. This matchup is yet another in a big spot that they have fallen short.
I think there’s always a little bit of extra excitement when you’re playing a big brand,” Dykes said. “I got that sense when we played Oklahoma, our guys just had a little bit of extra somethin’ I felt like they had a little bit of extra something in practice this week. But I think it was more just about going on the road and playing against a good team and understanding that they’re gonna have to play well.”
Yes, they played a string of backup quarterbacks, and yes they’ve been down huge in a couple first halves before roaring back. Yes, they entered this week with a 17% chance to make the Playoff according to ESPN’s Playoff predictor but yes, the Frogs are still undefeated. Expect that number to tick up after this week as TCU marches on.
It has Baylor next, and a demon to exorcize given the last time it were in this spot with legitimate Playoff hopes. The infamous decision by the committee to take conference champion Ohio State over either co-champions Baylor and TCU (the Bears won head-to-head) will be a subplot next week like Patterson was this week. If TCU can win out there will almost certainly be no such snubbing of an undefeated Big 12 champion this go-around.
They’ll keep the chips on their shoulders and they’ll stay typecast as the underdog, but so far these Frogs continue to overwrite the scripts in front of them.
