ARLINGTON, Texas — It has been quite a comeback for third-ranked TCU, one much bigger than that 18-point deficit the Horned Frogs erased to beat Kansas State six weeks ago.
A year after Sonny Dykes became their coach, the Frogs (12-0) still haven’t lost a game. At No. 3 in the last College Football Playoff rankings before the field of contenders is revealed Sunday, they have already made a strong case to be one of the four semifinalists — even before their rematch against No. 13 Kansas State (9-3, No. 10 CFP) in the Big 12 title game on Saturday.
“A majority of our team, we took a lot of (losses) last year,” running back Kendre Miller said. “We’re just proving to ourselves really that this is who we could be. … I feel like it shocked lot of people, like even people on our team, that we were going to do this good, me included.”
Dykes took over a few days before last year’s Big 12 championship game, with the Frogs already done playing after going 23-24 in a four-year span since being in the 2017 title game. Their last four games were after coach Gary Patterson’s sudden departure during his 21st season.
Now after plenty of close games — seven wins in a row by 10 points or less — TCU is playing for a league title that would make it the first Big 12 team other than Oklahoma to make the four-team playoff. The Frogs’ undefeated regular season is the first by a Big 12 team since Texas in 2009.