A Season to Remember

This season, TCU Football was going to be different. 

That much was obvious from the introduction of its new coach, when Sonny Dykes landed in the middle of Amon G. Carter Stadium in November 2021 via TCU-emblazoned helicopter. 

Different was the reason Dykes was there. 

Change had come to the top of Horned Frog football after nearly a quarter-century of leadership under coach Gary Patterson. The university parted ways with the man who had led the program through the wilderness, into the Big 12 and to 11 seasons with double-digit wins.

But college football had changed. Student-athletes — especially those playing major conference football — have new options to share in the sport’s massive profits or seek greener pastures without the burden of wasted transfer years. The power dynamics had shifted between coaches and the young men they lead, and TCU needed to adapt or risk being left behind in major college football again. 

Frog football needed a new voice, a new direction and a commitment to college football in the 21st century — someone who would embrace developments like name, image and likeness licensing and the transfer portal. 

The search, though national in scope, led TCU 40 miles east to Southern Methodist University, where Dykes was in the middle of rebuilding the Mustangs — and had possession of the Iron Skillet after two straight wins over the Frogs. 

Dykes jumped at the opportunity to head to Fort Worth and into Big 12 football. Having served as an offensive analyst under Patterson in 2017, he saw the potential in TCU Football. “Growing up in Texas,” he said, “I always knew what this place could be.” 

The change was evident immediately. From an aggressive social media strategy to recruiting philosophies that put a heavy emphasis on the transfer portal, to open practices and unprecedented access to players and coaches and a focus on mental health, nutrition and recovery, Dykes was a 180-degree turn from the previous regime. 

The student-athletes were on board for a change, as the program had compiled a disappointing 23-24 record over the past four seasons. Thirty seniors dotted the roster for Dykes; only a handful had been on the team the last time TCU played in a bowl game (the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl). 

Veteran leaders including linebacker Dee Winters, cornerback Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson, running back Emari Demercado ’21 (MS ’22) and wide receiver Taye Barber ’21 ensured that the locker room was on board with the changes of the Dykes era. 

“To our players’ credit, [buy-in] didn’t take as long this time as it usually does,” Dykes said. “Our guys were hungry and they were mature. They had a chip on their shoulder.” 

“They were tired of losing,” said Damonic Williams, a first-year defensive lineman. “I would ask about last season and they would all say, ‘Don’t ask about last season, don’t bring it up.’ ” 

At first the 2022 season didn’t look to be much different; TCU was picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 Conference and did not receive a single vote in preseason Top 25 polls. 

Could a change at the top bring the Frogs out of irrelevance? Could new leadership produce different results? 

A Solid Start

The first big question facing Dykes and offensive coordinator Garrett Riley was who would play quarterback. Max Duggan ’22, a three-year starter, and Chandler Morris, an Oklahoma transfer, were in an intense competition through the spring and into fall camp. 

Duggan had moxie and grit, Morris precision and poise. Duggan had earned the respect of the fan base with two wins over the University of Texas, including an epic performance as a first-year player in 2019. Morris, in his first career start, put up 531 yards of offense in a stunning upset of rival Baylor, forever endearing himself to fans. 

The depth chart didn’t materialize until days before the season opener against Colorado in Boulder. 

Morris was the starter; he took every snap for the first 30 minutes as the Frogs struggled to a 7-6 halftime lead over the Buffaloes. He led back-to-back scoring drives after the break to make it 17-6. But Morris’ night was over after he went down awkwardly on a hit late in the third quarter, and the legend of the House of Duggan was born. 

Duggan started his year with a vintage 33-yard run, ultimately leading TCU into the end zone. A short field led to another quick score. The Frogs ended up winning easily.

The next week, Duggan torched Tarleton State for 390 yards and five touchdowns. Two weeks after that he brought the Iron Skillet back to Fort Worth by righting the ship against SMU. 

Conference play kicked off when No. 18 Oklahoma came to Fort Worth in October. The Sooners had won six of the last seven conference championships and were expected to compete for another this season. TCU hadn’t beaten Oklahoma since 2014 and was a touchdown underdog on its home field. 

A 55-24 shellacking of the Sooners showed how different this TCU team would indeed be. 

“The Oklahoma game, that’s when we started to think we might be pretty good,” said Bud Clark, a sophomore safety.

Momentum built as the Frogs beat four ranked opponents in a row, a first in program history.

The wins didn’t come easily.

TCU trailed by 11 at the half to both Oklahoma State and Kansas State, but furious second-half rallies in each left the Frogs victorious. 

The race toward the playoffs was on. The college football world started paying attention to the happenings in Fort Worth, and staying focused on the field became a top priority for TCU.

“No one talked about us before the season,” Duggan said after the Kansas State win. “We never listened to them. And now when people start talking about you, you do the same thing. You don’t listen to them or the outside noise. We only care about the people that are in this program and inside these walls.”

No matter who was saying what, this season, undefeated halfway through, was definitely different.

Magical Momentum

As TCU ran its record to 7-0, the program’s secret weapon came to the forefront: Hypnotoad.

Appearing at TCU games as early as 2015, the Hypnotoad took on a life of its own in 2022. What started as a scoreboard video intended to distract opposing kickers became a rallying cry for the fan base and the team. Student-athletes started carrying a Hypnotoad flag into the stadium and holding signs bearing the cartoon’s likeness on the sideline during critical moments. 

“There’s some magic in the Hypnotoad,” Dykes said during a November news conference. “There’s definitely no coincidence that it gets louder and strange plays go in our favor after seeing it.”

Whether due to a mesmerizing cartoon or on-field leadership, the resulting magic was undeniable.

By a November meeting with No. 18 Texas in Austin, the undefeated Frogs had risen to No. 4 in the nation. 

The outside opinions were no different, though, as the Longhorns, soon to scuttle to the Southeastern Conference, were favored by 7.5 points. The blatant disrespect did not go unnoticed by those in purple. “That’s motivation for us,” said Alan Ali, a senior center. “We feel like underdogs.”

In a defensive masterpiece, TCU held the explosive Longhorn offense to 199 yards and kept it out of the end zone all night; the only touchdown Texas scored was a fumble return in the fourth quarter. TCU’s offense did just enough. A 75-yard run by Kendre Miller, a junior running back, and a 31-yard touchdown reception by Quentin Johnston, a junior receiver, provided the bulk of the action in a 17-10 TCU win.

With just two regular season games remaining, TCU was in the thick of the playoff conversation.

TCU had been here before. In 2010, the Frogs found themselves ranked third as the calendar turned to November but were never truly in the championship game discussion. That team finished its undefeated season by beating Wisconsin and hoisting the Rose Bowl trophy.

In 2014, the first year of the College Football Playoff, TCU would rise to third in the penultimate ranking, only to finish on the outside looking in when the four-team field was announced. 

TCU players, staff and fans all wondered, would this year really be different?

The dream almost fell apart on a cold and rainy November day in Waco. But the Frogs refused to let the Bears play spoiler. Griffin Kell, a senior kicker, scrambled onto the field and booted a ball through the uprights as time expired in a play that became known as “the bazooka on the Brazos.” TCU was 11-0, on the cusp of something unprecedented. 

Redemption

With the team’s success came a bevy of individual honors. 

Duggan became the first Horned Frog to take home the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award — fitting as it is named for TCU’s Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from the 1930s. Duggan was also selected as the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm winner and was the Heisman runner-up — TCU’s first finalist since LaDainian Tomlinson ’05 more than 20 years prior. 

Dykes earned 10 National Coach of the Year awards, and Hodges-Tomlinson became the second Frog in three seasons to be the Jim Thorpe Award winner. Both Duggan and Hodges-Tomlinson were selected as All-Americans alongside Steve Avila ’22, a senior offensive lineman.

In a season full of memorable moments, none was more poignant than Duggan’s postgame news conference after TCU lost the Big 12 title game in overtime to Kansas State.

“There’s nothing I wanted more than to bring this school a championship,” Duggan said, choking back tears. “Today we fell short.”

The next day, those tears would dry when the Horned Frogs celebrated their first invitation to the College Football Playoff. No. 3 TCU would battle the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines — a venerable college football institution — on New Year’s Eve in Arizona.

After years of striving, this year’s team had a chance to do something different and remarkable: compete on the field for a national championship. TCU was the first team from Texas to qualify for the playoff.

“It feels good,” Dykes said. “The history of college football in the state of Texas means a lot to me. To be the first team from Texas is quite an honor.”

Scores of national media voices mocked TCU’s inclusion in the four-team field. Television host Paul Finebaum claimed, “This is not the old Big 12, this is the TCU Big 12.”

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith threw salt onto familiar wounds by saying, “TCU, you know you ain’t those dudes.”

Even former Texas quarterback Chris Simms tweeted “TCU in the CFP? The Big 12 sucks, and I played in the Big 12.”

Michigan players also got in on the bulletin board material. A Wolverine linebacker forgot what conference TCU played in. Another defender dismissed the speed of the TCU skill players by saying, “We will be able to contain it. They have speed, but we have speed, too.” 

Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy joked about TCU’s adaptable defensive scheme: “Well, if they stay in the 3-3-5, it’s gonna be a lot of smashing because it just opens up a lot of holes.” 

The TCU student-athletes tuned it all out. 

Fans from both sides descended on Glendale, Arizona, for a Fiesta Bowl playoff semifinal matchup during which previous games and salty words would be meaningless. Many people were forced to jump into rental cars and head west after a Southwest Airlines crisis canceled flights across the country. 

Frog faithful weren’t going to miss what ended up being one of the greatest games in TCU Football’s long and storied history. 

To start the afternoon, Michigan ripped off a 54-yard run on its first play from scrimmage. 

The confident tune would change in a hurry because the Frogs came to play. 

By halftime, TCU held a 21-6 lead. 

A chaotic third quarter saw the teams combine for 44 points, 17 first downs and a staggering 420 yards, trading big plays after promising body blows. 

Every time Michigan swung, TCU swung back, just as it had done all season. 

Live on 21 million TV sets, the Frogs stretched the lead to 19, their biggest of the night, capping a 78-yard drive with a one-yard Duggan touchdown dive. 

The Wolverines climbed within three in the fourth quarter, only to fall behind by 10 again when Duggan found Johnston on a shallow crossing route that resulted in a 76-yard touchdown. 

The TCU defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing Michigan drive, and a 31-yard punt return by senior wide receiver Derius Davis ’22 allowed the Frogs to tack on a field goal to make it 51-38 with 10 minutes to play. 

That lead was insurmountable and ended up being a dagger in the heart of college football’s power structure. TCU was going to the national championship game. 

A University Transformed

As purple confetti fell on the field of Glendale’s State Farm Stadium, so did the tears, with players, coaches and fans letting their emotions show. 

Duggan put the win in perspective: “There’s been so many great teams that have come through and built this program up. They did a lot to get this program to where we’re at. And this means a lot to those guys, to our university, our fans that have continued to support us, have continued to have our backs.” 

With a final game against Georgia slated for Jan. 9 in Los Angeles, TCU’s season wasn’t over, but the Horned Frogs had already won. 

Just as in Arizona, the Horned Frog faithful turned out in Southern California, buying up their ticket allotment in minutes and flooding the Santa Monica Pier for a pep rally the day before kickoff.

But the rain falling through the unattached roof of SoFi Stadium throughout the game turned out to be appropriate for the Frogs’ mood. The No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs took an early lead and never looked back on their way to a second consecutive national title. 

“Tonight did not go the way we wanted it to,” Duggan said after the final game of his TCU career. “But tonight isn’t going to take away from this season and what we were able to do as a program.” 

“Our fans answered the call every single time we asked them to do something,” Dykes said after the final news conference. “We’re proud of what we’ve done, proud of them and appreciate their support of us. It’s been a fun year.” 

The national championship appearance was a remarkable way to kick off TCU’s 150th year, as the university conducted a study that calculated that the Frogs’ magical run netted the university at least $2.5 billion in media exposure. 

“The boost that TCU received in national recognition and exposure is basically impossible to realistically calculate, though I know it is monumental,” said Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr. “This season opened the door for many new people to learn a little bit about this wonderful place we call TCU. 

“Hopefully, now it will stimulate them to find out even more in the days and months ahead.” 

Things will be different when Dykes enters Year 2. With an increased profile come increased expectations, and TCU knows the world will be watching. 

But there was no better time for the Frogs to catapult themselves into the college football limelight. The Big 12 welcomes four new teams to the conference as it prepares to say goodbye to Oklahoma and Texas, long the league’s standard-bearers. 

In addition to realignment, the playoffs are expanding — in 2024, a 12-team field will make room for more schools to compete for a national championship. 

No matter the continually shifting circumstances, TCU has proved that different is a winning formula for its team. While the university and its football program have adapted to the changing landscape, the longtime commitment to leadership remains the same.