Gary Patterson, Horned Frogs aren’t ever leaving national spotlight
The odd years are always the toughest for TCU. Now that the Big 12 plays a round robin schedule, teams flip their schedule every other year. For TCU, that means in odd years they play five road games versus four home games, and the ones away from Fort Worth are against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, along with Iowa State, Kansas State and Texas Tech. Tough slate. Despite returning a plethora of seniors this fall, Gary Patterson knew his schedule was not going to be an easy one.
But one of the defining games in the Big 12 conference came in late September in Stillwater when TCU went on the road and stunned the Cowboys 44-31. Behind that momentum, TCU eventually vaulted in the Top 5 in the country before slipping up at Iowa State and losing a couple of weeks later in Norman to the Sooners.
Despite their Big 12 championship loss on Saturday, this team accomplished more than many predicted and bounced back from a disappointing 6-7 season to reach the Big 12 championship game and win ten games for the third time in past four years.
When reflecting on the loss to OU and whether it was “enough to play for a Big 12 championship”, quarterback Kenny Hill said, “Obviously we wanted to win the game and it just didn’t turn out that way this year. I mean, like — yeah, you want to win this game, you want to have your name up there to go into the playoff, but we just — on offense we didn’t come out and execute like we needed to second half. That’s just …”
And just like that, the senior quarterback was cut off by his head coach, as Patterson jumped in, adding, “I can answer that for you. Yes, it is. Anytime you can win a championship, there is only going to be until we go to eight [college football playoff teams], it’s only going to be four teams. Get to this point to play for a championship, to get to this point, I mean — like I told them, our kids didn’t have any reason to be down. We’re disappointed that we didn’t win. As a program, that’s what we built and we’re not going to take a backseat to anybody.”
Since the Southwest Conference blew up in the mid 90s, TCU has been waiting for its opportunity to get back to playing the big boys, bouncing around from the WAC to Conference USA and then the Mountain West. They received that invite a few years ago from the Big 12 and it’s become obvious why so many were dead set on making sure TCU never reached a power conference ever again. Some of the blue bloods did not want to have to further compete for the best recruits across Texas.
Well, this TCU program is here to stay and there’s no questioning that. Patterson recently announced his contract extension with no plans on leaving, while TCU will continue to recruit at a very high level. In fact, TCU’s recruiting trajectory will only increase as Patterson’s stability in Fort Worth makes him a safe bet for any 18-year-old who looks around the country and sees a coaching carousel that gets more bizarre each and every offseason.
Remember, this senior class is one of the first classes where TCU could go out and recruit Big 12 athletes, and just look at the results: three ten-win seasons, two runner-ups for Big 12 titles and one tie for first.
There was no shame in losing this game on Saturday. Baker Mayfield finishes his incredible career at OU with three Big 12 conference titles and just two Big 12 losses. Think about that.
But Baker is gone. No Big 12 team will have to face him ever again.
While OU will hand the reins off to Kyler Murray and will still be one of the best programs in the country, the Sooners will have to find a new heart and soul of their team. Meantime in Fort Worth, the Shawn Robinson era at quarterback is rapidly approaching. The highly-touted recruit out of DeSoto, Texas could become one of, if not the best, quarterback in the Big 12.
