LOS ANGELES — Johnny Hodges loves his chips.
“We’re a team full of chips,” the TCU linebacker stated.
In Hodges shorthand, that interprets to chips on shoulders. A cliché, positive, however an entree into the guts of the No. 3 Horned Frogs. They weren’t meant to be right here in the College Football Playoff National Championship.
In truth, the final group in a comparable place was BYU in 1984. Those Cougars are the newest nationwide champions coming from outdoors the present Power Five.
TCU as a member of the Big 12 is clearly a Power Five group today, nevertheless it’s been a league-hopper during the last quarter century. When its ancestral Southwestern Conference broke up, TCU was handed over for Big 12 membership. From there adopted a purgatory of stops in the WAC, Conference USA and Mountain West.
The determined, little purple engine that would lastly achieved its energy convention brass ring when the Big 12 opened its doorways to TCU in 2012.
There’s a purpose why No. 1 Georgia is favored by virtually two touchdowns, the most important line in CFP National Championship historical past. TCU is a lengthy shot. If the Frogs win, they might defeat maybe the perfect program in the sport. If the Bulldogs do not already maintain that mantle, Monday night time might go a good distance to constructing that narrative.
TCU is simply making an attempt to cling on, when you imagine recruiting rankings. The Frogs have 17 blue-chip recruits on their roster, 4 of whom are transfers. The Dawgs have 4 instances as many.
“You can’t overstate what they’ve done,” stated former Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum, a College Football Hall of Fame member, of TCU. “They just stay after you. They’re not an ebb and flow type of team. They just stay the same all the time whether it’s going well or not. It’s hard to beat a team that won’t be beat.”
That explains the Frogs’ late-game comebacks. That explains TCU hanging 55 on Oklahoma. That explains operating for 263 yards in opposition to a shocked Michigan. That explains why the TCU impression cannot be ignored.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark was skipping round Saturday on the CFP National Championship media day like his convention had already received. Yormark has already acknowledged his intent of increasing the Big 12 out to the Pacific Time Zone. With USC and UCLA leaving for the Big Ten, TCU and Big 12 entered the L.A. market this week.
Sort of.
There is a area of interest neighborhood about 27 miles North of SoFi Stadium, the positioning of Monday’s game, referred to as Frogtown. It shouldn’t be a metropolis unto itself however — as its web site proclaims — “a progressive, pocket community … where socially conscious hipsters and multi-generation families cohabitate and call home.”
Frogtown can also be the positioning of a Big 12 takeover this weekend. Really, that is what they’re calling it: a “takeover.” There’s purple beer in the Frogtown brewery. There might be 200 free Frogtown tacos obtainable on the Santa Monica Pier on Sunday.
Celebrity sneaker artist Kickstradomis is designing a Horned Frog-themed pair of kicks.
What’s this obtained to do with beating Georgia? You’re lacking the purpose. Yormark is making an attempt to take over the world, and the Frogs are his invading military.
“Think about where this conference was six months ago, 12 months ago, 18 months ago,” Yormark advised CBS Sports. “It’s been a transformative moment. Obviously, this is a big validation.
“It additionally validates the composition and make-up of our convention. I’m positive there are individuals who have been apprehensive. What’s going to occur with Texas and Oklahoma out? No one is speaking about that anymore.”
No, they don’t seem to be. This game may outline the hopes and goals of comparable hopefuls as soon as the CFP expands in 2024.
Slocum coached in opposition to TCU in the SWC a number of instances throughout his profession. He was additionally shut buddies with former Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes, father of present TCU coach Sonny Dykes. They have been so shut Sonny recalled coming dwelling from highschool baseball apply in West Texas seeing his father and Slocum having fun with an grownup beverage in the afternoon.
Slocum has watched Sonny, who entered 2022 with solely 5 profitable seasons in 12 as a head coach, unlock greatness. Dykes has taken a roster assembled by former coach Gary Patterson to the brink of a championship.
What wouldn’t it imply for TCU, the Big 12 and faculty soccer if TCU really wins all of it?
Las Vegas answered a part of that query earlier this month when TCU was put in with the longest odds (16-1) to win the championship when the bracket debuted, in accordance to Caesars Sportsbook. Those who had the foresight to guess $100 on the Frogs would money $1,600 if TCU wins Monday night time.
“It makes the statement again that no one has a lock on winning,” Slocum stated. “Just because you have good players doesn’t mean you’re going to win. The challenge is to get those guys all together, all playing for each other. That gives encourage to a lot of schools out there that may not be at the top. It gives them hope.”
It would imply a lot of chips can be cashed. Hodges is certainly one of 14 TCU transfers. Frustrated with himself and Navy, he was on the lookout for a new dwelling after final season. His dad took on the duty of emailing every of the opposite 131 FBS applications. There have been no takers.
“I couldn’t even watch a football game on weekends without feeling sick to my stomach knowing I had underachieved so much,” Hodges stated. “I didn’t believe in myself. In life, you have to believe in yourself more than anyone. … But coming out of high school, I didn’t think I was good enough to play college football. I didn’t think I was good enough to play at a Power Five [program]. My dad did. He got me here.”
TCU defensive coordinator Joe Gillespie took discover as a result of he had performed in opposition to Navy whereas at Tulsa prior to being employed by Dykes. Hodges’ addition turned the protection into an opportunistic unit. TCU was outgained by Michigan final week (528-488), however the distinction in the game may have been two choose sixes.
“We have a lot of guys on this team who are three-stars, two-stars that didn’t have many offers coming out of high school, so I feel like everybody already had a chip on their shoulder coming in,” stated cornerback Tre’Vious Hodges-Tomlinson.
“It’s time to start taking us very serious. We’re not a joke.”
Not when Hodges-Tomlinson, the nephew of TCU nice LaDanian Tomlinson, is the reigning Jim Thorpe Award winner because the nation’s greatest defensive again. Not when quarterback Max Duggan is a former state highschool 200-meter champion. (It stunned everybody from Oklahoma to Michigan when Duggan led all Big 12 quarterbacks in speeding.) Not when Hodges went from no takers to main TCU in tackles.
“The media wants the bluebloods to win,” Hodges stated following the Michigan game. “They want the bluebloods to play each other. The schools are bigger — bigger fan bases. That’s what they want. For us, [it’s] to put ourselves on the map, earn some money and put some respect on your family name.”
That’s what’s motivating Emari Demercado. In his sixth season, he has wound his method again dwelling. Out of highschool, his solely FBS presents have been from Army and Navy. That led him to begin at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California. Once at TCU, he performed down on the depth chart for many of his profession.
When main rusher Zach Evans transferred to Ole Miss, Demercado backed up workhorse Kendre Miller. Suddenly, as a central determine in Monday’s game, Demercado cannot discover sufficient tickets for his household and buddies to watch him play for the nationwide title.
Despite rising up in close by Inglewood, 5 minutes from SoFi Stadium, he has by no means stepped foot in the venue.
Life was sparse, not superb. In highschool, Demercado lived with a good friend’s household as a result of apply at Downey High School started at 5 a.m. In L.A. the place a enormous metropolis is related by huge tracks of highways — and visitors — it made sense.
“My mom had bought me a little ’97 Lexus,” Demercado stated. “It was just optimum for me to stay with them.”
Prior to the Fiesta Bowl semifinal, Michigan had given up one 100-yard speeding efficiency all season (Chase Brown, Illinois). Demercado rumbled for a career-high 150 yards in a backup position after Miller was injured.
Oh, and in that sixth yr, Demercado was in a position to get his grasp’s in enterprise analytics.
“I grew up here,” Demercado stated. “I had my whole childhood here. I leave and go to Texas and be able to finish my college career here. It’s almost like it’s scripted.”
Chips for everybody.
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