Thursday, March 28, 2024

TCU takes its CFP hopes into Big 12 title game vs K-State

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — It has been fairly a comeback for third-ranked TCU, one a lot larger than that 18-point deficit the Horned Frogs erased to beat Kansas State six weeks in the past.

A yr after Sonny Dykes turned their coach, the Frogs (12-0, 9-0 Big 12, No. 3 CFP) nonetheless haven’t misplaced a game. They have already made a robust case to be within the four-team College Football Playoff, even earlier than their rematch towards No. 13 Kansas State (9-3, 7-2, No. 10 CFP) within the Big 12 championship game on Saturday.

(*12*) working again Kendre Miller mentioned. “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.”

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Dykes took over just a few days earlier than final yr’s Big 12 championship game, with the Frogs already completed enjoying after going 23-24 in a four-year span since being within the 2017 title game. Their final 4 video games had been after coach Gary Patterson’s sudden departure throughout his twenty first season.

Now after loads of shut video games – seven wins in a row by 10 factors or much less – TCU is enjoying for a Big 12 title that might make it the primary league workforce aside from Oklahoma to make the four-team playoff. The Frogs’ undefeated common season is the primary by a Big 12 workforce since Texas in 2009.

“A chance to win that is obviously a big deal, and obviously our players know the implications of all that on the bigger picture as well,” mentioned Dykes, an off-field analyst for Patterson in 2017 earlier than a profitable stint as SMU’s coach. “I don’t get a sense that the guys are tight or any of that. … They’re just excited about the opportunity.”

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Still, they know the problem of making an attempt to beat a workforce twice in the identical season. Ok-State jumped forward 28-10 on Oct. 22 earlier than the Frogs scored the game’s final 28 factors.

“I was sick after that game,” Kansas State heart Hayden Gillum mentioned. “It was probably one of the harder losses in the year. … We know we owe these guys one.”

The Wildcats received their final three video games, two on the street — and needed to win all of these to make their first Big 12 title game since 2003, once they beat then-No. 1 and undefeated Oklahoma 35-7. They are 4-1 because the TCU loss, averaging 40 factors a game and giving up a complete of solely 15 after halftime throughout that span.

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“We have an opportunity to play one of the best teams in the country. We earned the opportunity to get to this point,” fourth-year Wildcats coach Chris Klieman mentioned. “Never looked ahead and never looked behind.”

THE FIRST GAME

After Ok-State dual-threat QB Adrian Martinez acquired harm on the opening collection at TCU, Will Howard took his first snaps of the season after 10 begins the earlier two years. He ran for 14 yards on his first play, then accomplished his first seven passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns because the Wildcats went up 28-10 halfway by the second quarter. Their third quarterback threw an interception on his solely play when Howard left the game briefly after banging his shoulder.

“You forget we played three quarterbacks that game. I’d forgotten,” Klieman mentioned. “It was a physical game. We lost some bodies.”

TOP RUNNERS

Deuce Vaughn, Ok-State’s 5-foot-6 dynamo, has rushed for 1,295 yards general, and has 25 catches for 274 yards with all three of his receiving TDs the previous 5 video games.

At 6 ft and 220 kilos, Miller has 1,260 yards and 16 touchdowns dashing for TCU. His 13 video games in a row working for a TD mark the longest energetic FBS streak, and is 2 in need of LaDainian Tomlinson’s college document. Miller had 153 yards with two second-half TDs within the comeback towards the Wildcats.

NON-STARTERS TO TITLE GAME

Neither Howard or TCU quarterback Max Duggan started the season as starters.

Duggan misplaced his beginning job going into the season, however took over within the second half of the opener after Chandler Morris sprained his knee. Duggan, set for his forty first profession begin, leads the Big 12 with 3,070 yards and 29 TDs passing, and solely three interceptions.

Martinez missed the final two video games after getting harm once more. Klieman mentioned there was an opportunity he may return Saturday and be concerned in some packages, however that Howard, with 13 passing TDs in his 5 video games, “is going to be the guy.”

Q FACTOR

TCU receiver Quentin Johnston, an NFL prospect, has 49 catches for 764 yards and 5 TDs, even because the 6-foot-4 junior has handled an ankle problem for greater than a month.

He was held out of final week’s 62-14 win over Iowa State in hopes of getting him as wholesome as potential for the Big 12 title game. Dykes mentioned Johnston appeared higher in apply this week than he had for a while, “Just like his old self.”

NO SOONERS, NO HORNS

This is the second Big 12 title game since 11-time winner Oklahoma and Texas, the one league groups to win nationwide titles, introduced they’d be transferring to the SEC no later than 2025. The Sooners and/or Longhorns have been a part of 17 of the primary 18 Big 12 title video games earlier than lacking the final two — with 4 totally different groups making it as an alternative. They can be a part of a 14-team Big 12 subsequent season after 4 new groups be part of.

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AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta contributed to this report.

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