The Georgia Bulldogs and TCU Horned Frogs combined for 22 victories two years ago and for 21 wins last season.
This year, they're a combined 13-11 and headed for a collision in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 30. TCU coach Gary Patterson wants to use the trip to Memphis as good riddance to this season, with this year's 6-6 squad having struggled compared to the 2014 team that finished 12-1 and No. 3 in the country behind Ohio State and Oregon and last year's 11-2 team that wound up No. 7.
"It's really about us growing up as a football team and finding out how we need to play going into next season, because we weren't happy with this one," Patterson said Monday night. "Our standards have been very high at TCU, and for everybody who's worn the purple and black, going 6-6 is not something we're happy about.
"We're glad we got back to a bowl game, and I think it helps playing against a great opponent. It's always easier to help them get ready when you're playing against somebody like the University of Georgia."
Despite plummeting this season from the national elite, TCU is still tied with Oklahoma for the Big 12's best overall record (29-9) the past three seasons.
Georgia, meanwhile, was the only Southeastern Conference school other than Alabama to post double-digit win totals during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, but the Bulldogs followed up a pair of 10-3 records with this year's 7-5 mark in Kirby Smart's debut as head coach.
"Any college coach in the country will tell you that getting ready for a bowl game is an opportunity for everybody on your team to get better, from walk-ons to scholarship guys to the seniors who are going to be leaving for the draft," Smart said. "We're trying to improve our entire team during this time. We've got a lot of areas we can improve on, so we're fired up about the opportunity."
Georgia and TCU have been successful in recent postseason opportunities, with the Bulldogs winning seven of their last 10 bowl games and the Horned Frogs going 8-2. Each team has won bowls after the past two seasons, with TCU routing Ole Miss 42-3 two years ago in the Peach Bowl and roaring back from a 31-0 halftime deficit to stun Oregon 47-41 in triple overtime in last season's Alamo Bowl.
The Bulldogs won the Belk Bowl two years ago over Louisville (37-14) and topped Penn State (24-17) in last season's TaxSlayer Bowl.
"I thought Saturday's practice was probably the best one we've had since two-a-days," Patterson said. "With only seven seniors, we didn't feel like we had the leadership that we needed to show how TCU practices. You learn a lot in these experiences, I think."
Odds and ends
Georgia will wear its red jerseys in the Liberty Bowl, while TCU will be in white.... The Bulldogs picked up a commitment Monday from D'Marcus Hayes, a 6-foot-6, 320-pound offensive tackle from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Hayes is rated by 247Sports.com as the nation's No. 2 junior college tackle and No. 20 overall junior college prospect.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.