GLENDALE, Ariz. — On one of Sonny Dykes’ early days at TCUhe was given a gift by a Horned Frogs fan.
It’s a copy of “Spread Formation Football,” a 1952 book by Dutch Meyer, the legendary coach of Frogs, the spiritual ancestor of Dykes and known for his divine strike and passing abilities. flexible ball, along with his coaching of midfielders like Sammy Baugh and Davey O’Brien.
This copy is not just any copy. It featured a handwritten note by Meyer to Amon G. Carter, Fort Worth’s newspaper publisher and civic supporter, whose name adorns the TCU football stadium. It’s located in Dykes’ office, which is where he first lived just 12 months before the Frogs are coming out for season 5-7. He’ll be back this week to prepare for the College Football Qualifiers National Championship — a title TCU last won in 1938, when Meyer roamed the sidelines.
Dykes, a history buff, could not have known that he would be writing his own chapter so soon.
TCU, the private school that was dropped from the Big 12 when the Southwest Conference disbanded in 1996, had to fight and scrape the ground to get back to relevance, eventually earning a spot in the Big 12 in 2012. Once again overlooked after taking a 1-1 lead in 2014, the Horned Frogs finally made their shot and didn’t cower, delivering the biggest defeat of the CFP era. , beat second place Michigan, 51-45in the highest scoring game in Fiesta Bowl history.
TCU has survived and thrived as they have all season, winning seven straight games by 10 points or less in the 12-0 regular season. The Horned Frogs did it again on Saturday by being the invaders against Michiganthe 13-0 Big Ten champion was about to hit the playoffs last year while TCU sat at home.
“I think we’re definitely the best physically fit team on the pitch tonight,” Dykes said.
They did it behind a freshman coach at Dykes who went 19-30 and was fired at Cal in his only previous Power 5. They did it with a three-man front against Michigan’s vaunted attack, the team that won the Joe Moore Award as the best unit in the country, and by pushing the Werewolves around the offence, including including rushing in 265 yards , nearly 100 yards more than Michigan .
They did it with their tireless quartet, Max Dugan, a pre-season substitute who has never played a bad game in his TCU career, who became the Heisman Trophy runner-up and is now the first player in history to have multiple passes and touches rush ball in a College Football Qualifier match (two passes, two dashes). Dykes estimated this week that 125 players on the team have never been successful.
They did it behind an excellent defensive effort by Dylan Hortona defensive defender who did not receive a rating or star rating upon hiring who began his college career as a safe at New Mexico, then transferred to TCU and gained 75 pounds. Confronted with the Wolverines’ talented blue-chip collection, Horton has had four conspiracies, once forced to fumble and once to break up. The defense of the Horned Frogs, which was questioned by the CFP committee at the start of the season, answered with two penalties
They won even though they lost when they started running backwards Kendre Miller, who has run 1,342 yards and 17 touchdowns this year — he left the game with a knee injury with about five minutes left in the first half. His backup, Emari Demercadoa high school transfer student from Saddleback University who has had a 100-yard run of his career at TCU since 2018, having 17 150-yard runs and one touchdown.
They did it in the first game Dykes played since his mentor, Mike Leach, died — using an attacking version of Leach’s Air Raid to level the playing field between the other players. have and have not.
Dykes said: “He was probably kicked out of there.
The private school with 93,000 living alumni, ranked 38th all-time on the NCAA winning list (tied with Virginia) went head-to-head with Michigan, which has attracted more than 100,000 fans in 309 games consecutive football and is the most winning program in college football history.
Throughout the week, TCU appeared confident while Michigan appeared overconfident at times. Michigan defender Teenager Colson need confirmation on TCU conference affiliation.
Michigan LB Junior Colson talked a little about #TCUoffense on Wednesday.
(He needs some help remembering the convention that Frog plays in.)#FiestaBat | @HigginbothamIns pic.twitter.com/t60FeiIzTI
– Frogs today (@frogstoday) December 28, 2022
“You always have to fight for credibility,” Dykes said after the win. “That’s part of the deal. But part of what makes TCU so great is that they roll up their sleeves, get to work, they figure out how to do it… I think we all have one. chip on my shoulder. It’s part of the Horned Frog style.”
By reaching the knockout stages, TCU was able to banish the demons of 2014, as Horned Frogs lost both 24-point leads in a 61-58 loss to baylor then dropped from three to six in the final CFP standings, falling behind State of Florida and Ohio State despite not playing in the final week of the season. Now, they will be the first Texas team to compete for the national championship since the Longhorns in 2009.
It’s not always pretty and doesn’t always have the same formula. But these Frogs keep finding new ways to win.
“It’s who we are, it’s our team and we look forward to kicking back in 10 days and having a chance to win the national championship,” Dykes said.
Now, he has a chance to make history, after an extensive strike and an award-winning midfielder Davey O’Brien, named after Meyer’s star, the sole Heisman winner. by Frogs.
Eighty-four years after Meyer made Horned Frogs the darling of college football, Dykes can find inspiration on the inside cover of the book on his shelf.
“The sprawling lineup has wowed fans across the country and has produced championship teams for Texas Christian University.”
