LOS ANGELES — Johnny Hodges is a fan of his chips.
The TCU linebacker stated, “We’re an entire team of chips.”
This is Hodges’ shorthand meaning of chips on the shoulders. It’s a cliché, yes, but it is a way to get into the No. Three Horned Frogs. They were not meant to be at the College Football Playoff National Championship.
BYU was the previous team to be in this position in 1984. These Cougars were the last national champions to come from outside of the Power Five.
TCU is a Big 12 member, and although it has been a league-hopper for the past quarter century, it is clearly a Power Five club. TCU lost its Southwestern Conference predecessor and was unable to be accepted into the Big 12. The rest of the year was filled with stops at Conference USA, Mountain West and WAC.
This little engine, a purple one in desperate need of power, finally got its conference brass ring from the Big 12 when it opened its doors at TCU.
It’s not hard to see why. No. No.The largest CFP National Championship line ever. TCU has a chance. The Frogs would be the greatest team in sport if they win. Monday night, if the Bulldogs do not already have that title, could be a great way to start building it.
If you trust recruiting rankings, TCU just wants to keep going. Fourteen of the 17 Frogs’ blue-chip recruits are transfer students. Four times the number of Dawgs.
R.C. Slocum, a former Texas A&M coach said that “you can’t overstate their accomplishments.” Slocum is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame at TCU. They just stick with you. They are not an “ebb-and-flow” type of team. No matter how things are going, they just remain the same. A team who isn’t willing to lose it will be difficult for you to defeat.
This explains why the Frogs have come back in late games. This explains why TCU beat Oklahoma 55 to 1. This explains why TCU ran for 263 yards in the face of a stunned Michigan. This explains the TCU’s impact that cannot be overlooked.
Brett Yormark, the Big 12 Commissioner was seen jogging around at Saturday’s CFP National Championship Media Day as if his conference had won. Yormark already indicated his intention to expand the Big 12 into the Pacific Time Zone. TCU and the Big 12 made their way to the L.A. Market this week after UCLA and USC left for the Big Ten.
It’s all good.
Frogtown is located 27 miles north of SoFi Stadium. This was the location of Monday’s match. Frogtown isn’t a place in itself, but rather a “progressive and pocket community” that socially conscious hipsters from all generations cohabit and call home.
Frogtown will also be the location of this weekend’s Big 12 Takeover. It’s called a “takeover” in reality. Frogtown’s Frogtown brewery has purple beer. On Sunday, 200 Frogtown Tacos will be available for free at Santa Monica Pier.
Kickstradomis, a celebrity sneaker designer is creating a pair of Horned Frog-themed kicks.
This has nothing to do with Georgia beating Georgia. This is missing the point. Yormark wants to rule the entire world. The Frogs represent his invasion army.
Yormark said to CBS Sports, “Think back about six months ago. Twelve months ago. 18 months ago.” It’s been an amazing moment. This is an obvious validation.
It validates our conference’s composition. There were many people worried. Is there anything that will happen to Oklahoma and Texas? “No one talks about it anymore.”
No, they’re not. Once the CFP grows in 2024, this game could be the defining moment for similar hopes and dreams.
Slocum was a multiple-time SWC coach against TCU during his entire career. Spike Dykes (ex-Texas Tech coach), Slocum was close to his father, the current TCU coach Sonny Dykes. Sonny recalls coming back from West Texas high school baseball practices to see Slocum and his father.
Slocum watched Sonny’s greatness unfold as Slocum, who came into 2022 having only five wins in his 12 years of coaching. Dykes is leading a team that was assembled under former coach Gary Patterson towards a title.
If TCU wins the championship, what would that mean for college football and Big 12?
Las Vegas was able to answer part of the question when TCU installed at 16-1 odds to win the title when it debuted. Caesars Sportsbook reports that this happened earlier in the month. If TCU wins Monday night, $1600 would be paid to those who were able to place $100 wagers on the Frogs.
Slocum stated, “It proves again that no one can win without a chance.” Slocum said, “Just because your players are good doesn’t necessarily mean that you will win. It is difficult to bring together all those players, and have them all play for one another. This encourages schools that might not be in the top 10. They have hope.
This would result in a large number of chips being cashed. Hodges is just one of the 14 TCU transferees. After last season, Hodges was frustrated with Navy and himself. He began looking for a new place to call home. He assigned his dad the responsibility of sending emails to all 131 FBS programming. No one wanted to take the job.
Hodges stated, “I could not even watch a game of football on weekends without feeling sick because I knew that I was underachieving so much.” I didn’t believe that I could do it. You must believe in yourself to be successful in life. However, my high school coach didn’t believe I was capable of playing college football. I wasn’t sure I could play at the Power Five. [program]. My dad did. “He got me to this place.”
Joe Gillespie, TCU’s defensive coordinator, was interested because he played against Navy at Tulsa before Dykes hired him. The defense became an open-minded unit thanks to Hodges. Michigan outgained TCU last week (528-488), although the game was probably decided by two pick sixes.
Tre’Vious Holges-Tomlinson, cornerback, said, “We have a lot a guys on this team that are three-stars. Two-stars who didn’t get many offers coming out high school. So I feel like everyone already had a chip in their shoulder coming into,”
It’s high time we took ourselves seriously. “We’re not jokes.”
Hodges Tomlinson is the nephew to TCU’s great LaDanian Tomlinson and the current Jim Thorpe Award recipient for the best national defensive back. Max Duggan, the quarterback of Max Duggan’s high school state 200-meter team was a past champion. It was a surprise to everyone, from Oklahoma to Michigan that Duggan was the leader in Big 12 rushing. Hodges rose from being no takers and became the leader at TCU in tackles.
Hodges stated that the media wanted the Michigan bluebloods win after the Michigan match. They want bluebloods playing each other. They have bigger fans and schools. They want it that way. We are happy to help. [it’s] To put yourself on the map and earn money, as well as to respect your family’s name.
This is what motivates Emari Demercado. He is now in his sixth season and has made his return home. His only FBS offers from high school were for the Army and Navy. He decided to enroll at Saddleback College, Mission Viejo in California. He was a junior on TCU’s depth chart during most of his professional career.
Demercado supported workhorse Kendre Mills when Zach Evans, the leading rusher, transferred to Ole Miss. Demercado suddenly finds himself as the central figure of Monday’s national championship game. He can’t get enough tickets for his friends and family to see him compete for the title.
He grew up near Inglewood and has not been to SoFi Stadium since he was five minutes away.
It was not easy, but it wasn’t all bad. Demercado was a high school student who lived with his friend and family. Practice at Downey High School started at 5:15 a.m. It made perfect sense in L.A., where the city of Los Angeles is linked by many tracks of highways and traffic.
“My mom had bought me a little ’97 Lexus,” Demercado said. It was the best thing for me to be with them.”
Michigan’s season had seen only one 100-yard rusher (Chase Brown in Illinois) before the Fiesta Bowl semis. After Miller’s injury, Demercado ran for 150 yards as a backup.
Demercado also received his master’s degree in business analytics in the sixth year.
“I grew up here,” Demercado said. I spent my entire childhood there. “I leave Texas to complete my college education here. It almost seems scripted.
Chips are for everybody