Tom "Midnite" Burke's latest article (December 9, 2025) on Sports Illustrated's OnSi platform:
Access the article: here
Effective Monday, December 8, 2025, you can access Midnite Madness articles by Tom Burke in the Texas Christian sports section of Sports Illustrated's On Si website: here
The first published Midnite Madness article(December 8, 2025) by Tom Burke can be accessed directly: here
Here is the final USA TODAY Sports ranking of all 136 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams of the 2025 college football season:
Starting on Monday, December 8, 2025, you can access Midnite Madness articles by Tom Burke in the Texas Christian sports section of Sports Illustrated's On Si website: https://www.si.com/fannation/college
The first published Midnite Madness article(December 8, 2025) by Tom Burke can be accessed directly here: https://www.si.com/college/tcu/football/midnite-madness-with-tom-burke-tcu-finally-finds-calm-while-college-football-burns-01kbzvx1rq0v
By Tom C. "Midnite" Burke
No drama.
No portal fires.
No coaching rumors.
No existential dread.
It’s an excellent time to be a Horned Frogs football fan.
In fact, this may be one of the best times ever to be a Horned Frogs football fan.
That’s because
while the college football world has gone wacko, Funkytown is mellow. 
Tom C. "Midnite" Burke
Not mellow as in Austin-weird mellow, mind you. Just mellow.
And these days, there’s nothing wrong with being mellow, even before mellow becomes cool.
After all, it was cool to be purple, before purple became cool.
Except for a few lightening delays, TCU football fans experienced a mellow 8-4 overall 2025 regular season by the Frogs, who finished barely above average at 5-4 in the Big 12.
Good enough for ninth place in a 16-team league.
And good enough for a non-controversial spot in the Alamo Bowl, in the second-best city in Texas.
Mellow, baby!
This was the Horned Frogs’ second consecutive 8-4 regular season.
In other words, mellowness is growing on the Frogs.
The kind of mellowness that harkens back to the days of yore, when a single win in a season by the Frogs was reason for a parade.
When literally there was no stress involved with being a TCU football fan.
Since the Sun Bowl of 1998, life as a Horned Frogs fan hasn’t always been quite as mellow.
The years 2014, 2010 and 2022 were particularly stressful for a Frog.
You may recall that going into the last game of the 2014 season, TCU was 10-1 and third in the next-to-last national playoff ranking.
A 55-3 victory over Iowa in TCU’s final regular season game calmed some Froggy nerves, but then in the final playoff ranking the Frogs dropped to No. 6 and out of the playoff picture, igniting a purple firestorm.
Oh, what we would have given for some mellowness in Funkytown back then.
And, oh, what the Fightin’ Irish would give for some mellowness in South Bend today.
In 2010, a 12-0 regular season for TCU hinged on every game.
Every play.
Every score.
There was no relief until TCU closed out the regular season with a 66-17 victory over New Mexio
Then came the Rose Bowl, on January 1, 2011, and the prospect of TCU losing its perfect season on a national stage, where there were more than a few non-Frog believers.
It was more than enough to make you sick to your stomach.
Thankfully, Tank Carder’s “Immaculate Deflection” denied Wisconsin a two-point conversion and paved the way for a 21-19 TCU victory.
TCU fans were so stressed out by the end of the game that they could hardly believe the Frogs had beaten the Badgers.
Dazed TCU football fans wandered around the Rose Bowl and muttered in disbelief, “We just won the Rose Bowl. We just won the Rose Bowl.”
Not a mellow Horned Frog could be found from Pasadena to Plainview to Pascagoula.
As TCU’s 2022 football season progressed, perfection and an unprecedented preseason berth became the goals.
Every game was a cardiac event waiting to happen.
No game was more stressful than the Baylor game in Waco on November 19.
The Frogs got an improbable come-from-behind win over their arch-rivals. They scored nine points in the final 2:07 and stunned the Bears, 29-28, on a Griffin Kell 40-yard “bazooka” field goal as time expired.
There were not enough purple defibrillators to go around.
Women and children were given priority.
Then came that season’s emotional roller-coaster period: the disgusting overtime loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship Game; the delirious 51-45 win over Michigan in the College Football Playoff Semifinal Game in the Fiesta Bowl; and the embarrassing 65-7 loss to Georgia in the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Mellow was nowhere to be found back then.
However, today, TCU football fans can sit back, kick up their feet and watch other college football fans fret and sweat, and endure migraines and chest pains, as college football chaos and ridiculousness reigns in their front yards.
In addition to how Notre Dame fans are feeling, think of how stressful life is for Ole Miss football fans.
With the Rebels in contention for a berth in the College Football Playoff, their bitter rival, LSU, stole their head coach, Lane Kiffin, for a promise of $91 million, 100 pounds of crawfish and an endless supply of Abita root beer over a seven-year period.
Kiffin replaced Brian Kelly, whom LSU fired during the season, despite owing him a $53-million buyout.
Between firing Kelly and hiring Kiffin, that’s at least $144 million Louisiana dollars.
A lot of mellowness, and boudin, can be bought for $144 million.
And that’s just the tip of a huge iceberg.
Many other collegiate head football coaches have been fired in recent weeks, despite multi-million-dollar contract buyouts.
Many other head football coaches have been poached from college football teams in recent weeks.
Of course, there’s nothing more invigorating within academia than increasing the cost of tuition, while the university is paying tens of millions of dollars to lure football coaches or to legally pacify coaches whom they have fired.
No wonder life on many college campuses is not as mellow as it is at TCU.
The Big 12 Conference is not immune to the lunacy that’s destroying college football, and collegiate athletics, in general.
Three games into his 21st season, Mike Gundy was fired as Oklahoma State’s head football coach.
Gundy had spent 35 years at OSU. Four as a quarterback. Ten as an assistant. Twenty as head coach, during which he delivered 18 consecutive winning seasons.
Gundy had an overall record of 170-90 and a conference record of 102-72. He had a reported contract buyout of about $15 million.
Oklahoma State hired North Texas head football coach Eric Morris as its new head football coach.
There is no mellowness in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Kansas State head football coach Chris Klieman retired at the end of the regular season after seven seasons with the Wildcats.
Klieman, 58, was 54-34 at Kansas State, with six bowl appearances and that Big 12 championship in 2022.
After a 51-47 loss to Utah in K-State’s 11th game of this season, Klieman said, “I’ve heard that I’ve cashed it in, I’ve heard the players have cashed it in, we need to get new leadership here, we need to get new players, new coaches,” Klieman said. “I’m tired of it. I gotta be honest with you, I’m tired of it.
“I’ve given my friggin’ ass life to this place for seven years. I’ve given everything for seven years, and I think I deserve a little bit of respect.”
Collin Klein, offensive coordinator for Texas A&M and a former Kansas State quarterback, will be K-State’s new head coach.
Neither Klieman nor the Little Apple is dripping with mellowness.
Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell is Penn State’s new head football coach.
Campbell replaces James Franklin, who was fired in mid-October, with a potential $49 million buyout. The buyout reportedly was reduced to $9 million as part of a negotiated settlement when Franklin was hired as the head coach of Virginia Tech, who had earlier fired Brent Pry after four seasons.
Campbell is the all-time winningest coach in Iowa State history, with a 72-55 record after a decade with the Cyclones.
Will Happy Valley be more mellow than Ames, Iowa?
There is yet another mess at Baylor University. The University and athletic director Mack Rhoades recently agreed to end his time there. Rhoades resigned from a position he held for the past nine years.
In the midst of heavy fallout from a 5-7 football season, Baylor President Dr. Linda Livingston announced that head football coach Dave Aranda will be retained for the 2026 season.
“After careful consideration, we have decided to retain coach Dave Aranda as the leader of our football program,” said Dr. Livingstone. “We recognize this decision will generate strong opinions. Let me be clear: Baylor expects excellence, accountability and competitiveness at the highest level. We are not complacent, and we are not settling for mediocrity.”
Rhoades has been replaced by Doug McNamee.
Many Baylor fans are hopeful McNamee will replace Aranda, sooner rather than later.
The Baylor campus has not been mellow for quite some time.
Elsewhere in the Big 12, because of other schools’ interest in their highly successful head football coaches, Texas Tech and BYU recently had to sign Joey McGuire and Kalani Sitake, respectfully, to lengthy contract extensions that will cost the schools millions of dollars for wishful continued gridiron success.
Meanwhile, Funkytown remains mellow.
Nobody is romancing TCU’s head football coach, Sonny Dykes.
Evidently, consecutive 8-4 football seasons are a bit too mellow for some other teams and their fans.
By Tom C. "Midnite" Burke
TCU (8-4, 5-4 Big 12) and No. 16 USC (9-3, 7-2 Big 10) will face each other in the 2025 Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas.
Kickoff is scheduled for 8 pm (Central) on Tuesday, December 30, in the Alamodome.
ESPN will broadcast the game nationally.
Remember the Alamo, and remember the Sun Bowl!
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| Tom C. "Midnite" Burke |
It was TCU's first bowl win since 1957. The victory ignited the Frogs' resurgence in the late 1990's. TCU went on to win four conference championships in the next seven seasons and record double-digit win totals under Franchione and Gary Patterson in nine of the next 13 seasons.
Patterson had been TCU's defensive coordinator when Franchione was head coach, 1998-2000. When Franchione left the Frogs prior to the 2001 season, Patterson was elevated to head coach.
The Frogs' success as a Group of Five team, including an appearance in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl and a 21-19 victory over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2011, led to TCU being invited to join the Big 12 in 2012.
This will be TCU's third appearance in the Alamo Bowl, in which the Horned Frogs have a 2-0 record.
In the Alamo Bowl that was played on January 2, 2016, No. 11 TCU defeated No. 15 Oregon 47-41.
Oregon led 31-0 at halftime, causing many TCU fans to leave the Alamodome to drink away their sorrows in the bars and restaurants along the San Antonio Riverwalk.
In the final two quarters of the game, TCU quarterback Bram Kohlhausen led an improbable comeback by the Horned Frogs, accounting for four second-half touchdowns, including the deciding touchdown in triple overtime. His legendary performance earned him the game's Offensive Most Valuable Player award.
In the Alamo Bowl that was played on December 28, 2017, No. 13 TCU defeated No. 15 Stanford 39-37.
A 33-yard field goal by TCU's Cole Bunce, with 3:07 remaining in the game, proved to be the game-winner. An interception by TCU's Innis Gaines thwarted a final drive by the Cardinal with 2:01 to go in the game.
TCU last appeared in a bowl game after last season. The Horned Frogs defeated Louisiana 34-3 in the New Mexico Bowl, which was played on December 28, 2024, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
This will be USC's first appearance in the Sun Bowl, which has been played since 1993.
The Trojans finished 16th in the final College Football Playoff rankings.
USC last appeared in a bowl game after last season. The Trojans defeated Texas A&M 35-31 in the Las Vegas Bowl, which was played on December 27, 2024, in Paradise, Nevada.
The Frogs are 3-2 all-time against USC. The two teams have not met since the 1998 Sun Bowl game.
USC's head coach is Lincoln Riley, who took over the Trojans' program in 2022. He is 35-17 overall over his four years at USC.
Prior to joining USC, Riley was head coach of Oklahoma in the Big 12, from 2017 to 2021.
TCU was winless in five games against Riley-led Oklahoma teams:
During the 2022 season, Lincoln Riley's brother, Garrett Riley, was TCU's offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.
After the Frogs' lost to Georgia in the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship Game, Garrett Riley joined Clemson as its offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.
USC has former TCU running backs coach Anthony Jones, Jr., on staff. He was at TCU in 2022 and 2023. He is the Trojans' running backs coach/run game coordinator.
USC opened as an early 6.5-point favorite over TCU.
TCU, of the Big 12, played two ranked teams during the regular season. The Frogs lost to No. 12 BYU, 44-13, and defeated No. 24 Houston, 17-14.
USC, of the Big 10, played four games against ranked opponents during the regular season. The Trojans won one (Michigan) and lost three (Illinois, Notre Dame, Oregon).
Here is a list of USC's wins and loses this season:
By Tom C. "Midnite" Burke
Ten of the Big 12's 16 teams qualified for 2025 post-season play.
Fourth-ranked and Big 12 champion Texas Tech is in the College Football Playoff. As one of the top four seeds, the Red Raiders have a first-round bye. Tech will play a quarterfinal game in the Orange Bowl, on January 1, 2026, against the winner of the Oregon-James Madison playoff game.
TCU, Houston, Utah, Cincinnati, BYU, Arizona, Arizona State, Iowa State and Kansas State qualified for bowl games.
Iowa State (8-4 overall) and Kansas State (6-6 overall) opted out of the post-season because of recent coaching changes.
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| Tom C. "Midnite" Burke |
Iowa State had appeared in bowl games in seven of the past eight seasons under Campbell.
Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman retired. Collin Klein, offensive coordinator for Texas A&M and a former Kansas State quarterback, is K-State’s new head coach.
Kansas State will not participate in the postseason for the first time since 2020.
The
Big 12 Conference issued $500,000 institutional fines to both Iowa
State and Kansas State for opting out of their participation in the
Conference’s bowl pool.
"While
the Conference acknowledges the difficult timing around coaching
changes, the Big 12 is responsible for fulfilling its contractual
obligations to its bowl partners," said the Big 12 in a statement. "The Big 12 considers the matter resolved and will have no further comment."
Big 12 bowl replacements for Iowa State and Kansas State were determined according to the 5-7 teams with the highest Academic Progress Rates. That included UCF, Baylor and Kansas, all of which declined.
The Big 12 did not fine UCF, Baylor and Kansas for declining, since they were substitute bowl teams who were not technically eligible, because they did not have the requisite six wins.
"We have declined the opportunity to play in a bowl," Baylor's athletic department said in a statement, "as we've already progressed deeply into the off-season timeline of preparation for the 2026 season."
Here is the bowl schedule for the seven other Big 12 teams participating in bowls:
Complete playoff and bowl game schedule: here
