‘Tis the season to be jolly.
Especially if you’re the TCU Horned Frogs and you’re winning football games.
This past Saturday, December 12, in a chilly and festive Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas, TCU routed Louisiana Tech, 52-10 (Midnite predicted a 41-20 TCU victory), in the Frogs’ last regular season game of an unprecedented 2020 season.
The win improved the Horned Frogs to 6-4 overall.
The victory also earned TCU a
vote in this week’s Coaches poll, after the team received no votes last week.
Tom C. "Midnite" Burke
The Frogs also received three votes in this week’s Associated Press poll, after receiving one vote last week.
TCU’s 29-22 victory over Oklahoma State the previous Saturday, December 5, in Fort Worth, was TCU’s Big 12 finale.
The Frogs finished their ninth Big 12 season at 5-4, in sixth place. TCU finished behind fifth-place West Virginia, 4-4, because the Mountaineers’ beat them, 24-6.
At 8-1, Iowa State achieved the best conference record.
The Cyclones will play second-place Oklahoma, 6-2, in the Big 12 Conference Championship game. The game is scheduled for Saturday, December 19, at 11 am Central, in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Iowa State last won conference championships in football in 1911 and 1912. The Cyclones tied for Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) titles in those years. The MVIAA later became known as the Big Eight Conference.
Oklahoma is seeking its sixth consecutive Big 12 championship in football.
Texas, at 5-3, finished third in the Big 12, by virtue of its win over Oklahoma State, 6-3, which finished fourth.
After West Virginia and TCU, Kansas State finished seventh, Texas Tech eighth, and Baylor ninth. Kansas, the only team not to win a conference game this season (0-8), was last.
The victory over Louisiana Tech was TCU’s third straight and fifth in the team’s last six games (after their first four games, the Frogs were 1-3).
The Frogs will be playing in a bowl game this season. Most likely, TCU will play in the Liberty Bowl or the Texas Bowl.
The Auto Zone Liberty Bowl is scheduled to be played in the Liberty Bowl, in Memphis, Tennessee, at 3 pm Central, on December 31. The bowl is allowing a limited number of fans to attend.
The Texas Bowl is scheduled to be played in NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, at 7 pm Central, on December 31. The bowl has not announced whether fans will be allowed to attend the game.
TCU head coach Gary Patterson is in a merry mood since the Frogs ended the season with a winning record and will be bowling, especially after the Frogs sat home during the holiday season last year with a losing record of 5-7.
After the victory over Louisiana Tech, a jolly ol’ Coach P let loose with a hearty “Ho-Ho-Ho” and wrote a song. Listen: here
TCU’s second-ever win over LA Tech (the Frogs beat the Bulldogs, 31-24, in the 2011 Poinsettia Bowl) was tempered by a severe injury to Tech quarterback Luke Anthony, who grew up in Dallas, played football at All Saints Episcopal High School in Fort Worth and was a captain on the Abilene Christian football team before transferring as a graduate student to Tech prior to this season.
With less than six minutes remaining in the game, Anthony sustained a compound fracture in his right tibia and fibula, the two bones in the shin. He was taken to a local hospital. On Sunday morning, he underwent surgery to repair his damaged right leg.
“My physicians are optimistic, that with time, I will make a full recovery and will be back playing for the Dogs next season,” said Anthony.
Anthony was injured on a strip-sack play by TCU junior defensive end Dylan Horton. As Anthony fell to the ground, his right leg unfortunately twisted awkwardly underneath him. He immediately was tended to and eventually was carted off the field amid applause and concern from his teammates, the Horned Frogs, and spectators.
For the game, Anthony, who shared quarterbacking duties with Aaron Allen, completed 15 of 25 passes for 161 yards. He threw one touchdown pass.
Because of the injury to Anthony and his team’s lopsided loss, Bulldogs’ head coach Skip Holtz was not in a festive mood when he wrote a song after the game. Listen: here
There is better news, however, for Holtz and the Bulldogs, who finished the regular season with a 5-4 record.
Tech has accepted an invitation to play Georgia Southern in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, which is scheduled to be played on December 23 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, in New Orleans.
Several other college head football coaches are not in the mood for Christmas carols this week.
Lovie Smith is out as Illinois’' head football coach after five seasons.
The Fighting Illini fell 28-10 to then No. 14 Northwestern on December 12 to finish their regular season at 2-5.
Smith went 17-39 (10-33 in the Big Ten) in five seasons at Illinois, his first stop in college football since 1995, when he coached defensive backs at Ohio State.
Auburn fired head football coach Gus Malzahn, after the Tigers finished the 2020 regular season with a 6-4 record.
Malzahn finished with a record of 68-34. He is owed $21.7 million from Auburn.
Former University of Houston and Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin was fired by Arizona after a 70-7 loss to Arizona State on the 12th. It was the 12th consecutive loss by the Wildcats, who have not won since a 35-30 victory at Colorado on October 5, 2019.
Sumlin had been at the University of Arizon since 2018. Previously, he was head coach at Texas A&M from 2012 to 2017, and the University of Houston from 2008 to 2011.
Nebraska head coach Scott Frost and Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh reportedly are not on Santa’s list this holiday season.
The “Children of the Corn” are not happy in Nebraska after their Cornhuskers lost on December 12 to Minnesota, despite the Gophers missing 30 players because of COVID-19 reasons. The Huskers fell to 2-5 on the season. It is Nebraska’s fourth straight losing season.
Football fanatics also are not happy in Michigan.
The Wolverines, under Harbaugh, are in sixth place in the Big 10 with a 2-4 record. Harbaugh went 10–3 in each of his first two years, 2015 and 2016. In 2017, Michigan went 8-5. In 2018, the Wolverines were 10-3, and in 2019, they were 9-4.
Former Baylor head football coach Art Briles, who is not on the Christmas card list of Gary and Kelsey Patterson, also may soon be on the hot seat, again.
More than two years after receiving an NCAA notice of allegations, and more than four years after firing football coach Briles and disciplining other administrators for their roles in a sexual assault scandal, Baylor officials were scheduled to appear before the NCAA Committee on Infractions this past Monday, December 14.
The hearing was scheduled to take place virtually over two days.
Among other allegations, Baylor is charged with lack of institutional control and Briles faces charges of failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance, both Level I violations, the most serious under NCAA rules.
The allegations are mostly tied to NCAA enforcement staff's assertion that Baylor football players received impermissible benefits when coaching staff members and other administrators failed to report allegations of sexual assault made by female students against football players, which is required under Title IX.
Whether coincidental or not, on Monday, December 14, Briles resigned from his position as the head football coach at Mount Vernon High School, after two seasons of leading the Tigers’ program.
Briles led Mount Vernon to a 12-3 record in 2020, after an 8-3 campaign in his first year with the Tigers.
While some coaches are getting coal in their stockings, some instead are singing “Halleluiah.”
Despite a reported flirtation with three-time national championship coach Urban Meyer, who now is a TV college football analyst, University of Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte, who used to hang his hat in the TCU athletic complex, announced that embattled Tom Herm will remain as coach of the Longhorns in 2021.
Texas, which is 6-3 overall, 5-3 Big 12 this year, is 31-18 over Herman’s four years at the school. He has three years remaining on a guaranteed contract that pays him $6 million a year.
One person who will not be returning to the Longhorns’ football program is freshman quarterback Ja’Quinden Jackson, who has entered his name into the transfer portal.
Jackson was the No. 34-ranked recruit overall in the 2020 class and was the No. 2-ranked prospect in the state of Texas in that cycle. He is a 6-foot-2, 220-pound quarterback out of Duncanville, Texas, and was the second-highest-ranked prospect in the Longhorns' 2020 class.
Virginia Tech Athletic Director Whit Babcock announced that Virginia Tech football coach Justin Fuente, who was the offensive coordinator at TCU from 2009 to 2011, will return in 2021 for his sixth season with the Hokies.
The Hokies went 5-6 this season, and there was some question about whether Fuente would be given more time to get the program turned around.
Notre Dame defensive coordinator Clark Lea is becoming Vanderbilt University’s new head coach. Lea will be taking over for Derek Mason, who was fired by the school on November 29.
Last Saturday, Vanderbilt’s Sarah Fuller became the first woman to score in a Power 5 football game. Fuller, a senior, made history when she booted the point-after following Ken Seals' 18-yard touchdown to Cam Johnson with 1:50 left in the opening quarter.
Last month, Fuller became the first woman to play in a Power 5 football game when she delivered the second-half kickoff in a 41-0 loss at Missouri.
The Vanderbilt-Georgia regular-season finale scheduled for this Saturday, the 19th, has been canceled. Due to a combination of opt-outs, COVID-19 and injuries, Georgia could not have a require number of players available.
Then No. 17 North Carolina on Saturday handed then No. 10 Miami (Florida) one of its worst losses in school history, 62-26. The Tar Heels bludgeoned the Hurricanes with 778 total yards (224 passing and 554 rushing) for the most ever by a Miami opponent.
North Carolina running backs Michael Carter (308) and Javante Williams (263) combined for 544 rushing yards, the most ever by a pair of teammates in a single game in FBS history.
Army beat Navy 15-0, in its annual rivalry game on December 12. It was Army’s first shutout of Navy since 1969.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 121st meeting between the service academies (the first game was played in 1890) was played at West Point’s Michie Stadium, for the first time in 77 years. Both schools agreed to move the game from its customary site in Philadelphia after attendance limits were placed on outdoor events in Pennsylvania because of concerns over the novel coronavirus and it was Army’s turn to be the home team.
No fans were allowed at Michie Stadium, but the entire Brigade of Midshipmen and Corps of Cadets (about 9,000 total) was there, as was President Trump, who participated in the pre-game coin toss.
Penn State beat Michigan State, 39-24, in the Nittany Lions’ home Senior Day game on December 12. In achieving its first home win of the season, Penn State avoided going winless at home for the first time since 1918.
In the Big 12, Texas’ game at Kansas, scheduled for December 12, was canceled because of virus cases within the Longhorns’ program.
Oklahoma’s December 12 scheduled game at West Virginia was canceled because the Mountaineers temporarily shut down their program due to virus cases.
The Ohio State-Michigan game scheduled for Saturday, December 12, was canceled because of virus infections within the Michigan program. The Buckeyes and Wolverines had played their rivalry game every year since 1918.
The game was scheduled to be the final regular-season game for both teams. That meant Ohio State ended the regular season 5-0, one game short of the six-game minimum that the Big 10 Conference had set at the beginning of its virus-shortened season to determine participants in its conference championship game.
However, the Big 10 rescued Ohio State, which as the No. 4-ranked team in the country is in the running for inclusion as one of the four College Football Playoff teams. The conference amended its rule to allow Ohio State to play in the Big 10 title game.
So, the lucky Buckeyes will play Northwestern in the Big Ten championship game on December 19. Now, they just have to avoid being upset by the Wildcats.
Indiana and Purdue mutually agreed to cancel their Old Oaken Bucket Big 10 rivalry game this past Saturday in Bloomington because of an increase in COVID-19 cases at the schools.
Indiana and Purdue first met on the gridiron in 1891. The Old Oaken Bucket was first awarded in 1925.
Indiana and Purdue also canceled their rescheduled game on December 19, during the Big 10’s “Champions Weekend.”
A game between Michigan and Iowa on Saturday during the Big 10’s Champions Weekend also has been canceled.
Washington and Oregon canceled their December 12 game because of coronavirus cases within the Huskies' program. Those COVID-19 issues also have forced Washington to pull out of the Pac-12 football championship this Friday, December 18. Instead, Oregon will play USC for the conference title.
Cincinnati and Tulsa did not play their scheduled regular season-ending game this past Saturday, because of COVID-19 issues at Cincinnati.
Both teams are undefeated in American Athletic Conference play and have clinched a matchup on December 19 in the conference title game.
Texas A&M was to celebrate Senior Day on December 12 with a home game in College Station, Texas, against Ole Miss. The Rebels had to cancel the game because of virus infections within their program.
Colorado State's college football season-finale against Utah State that was scheduled for Saturday, December 12, was canceled under unique circumstances.
Utah State canceled the game due to concerns voiced by players. The players, among other concerns, were not happy with comments made by school president Noelle Cockett about interim coach Frank Maile's religious background. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In hindsight, Baylor, which reportedly had closed its football facilities at least for the week of December 7 due to coronavirus issues, probably should have canceled its December 12 game in Waco with Oklahoma State.
The Bears, down a number of players because of COVID-19 procedures, were soundly beaten, 42-3, by the Cowboys.
The day after the game, senior Baylor starting quarterback Charlie Brewer announced that he is entering the transfer portal and will spend his final year of eligibility at a new school.
A couple of days later, senior Baylor running back John Lovett said that he would enter the transfer portal as a graduate transfer.
The Big 12 tried to get in all 45 conference matchups in this pandemic-affected season, and came close.
Forty-three of the 45 scheduled Big 12 games were played, a 95.6% completion rate. Baylor was the only team that was not able to play a non-conference game.
Florida probably wishes its game on December 12 against LSU had been canceled.
The then No. 6 Gators self-destructed at home, losing, 37-34, to an LSU team that had just 54 scholarship players available and started a true freshman at quarterback.
Florida lost because Evan McPherson missed a field goal as time expired and because earlier Florida defender Marco Wilson had extended an LSU drive with a personal-foul penalty for throwing a shoe of LSU running back Kole Taylor after a tackle. The extended drive resulted in LSU kicker Cade York making a 57-yard field goal that proved to provide the winning points for the Tigers.
Alabama football radio play-by-play announcer Eli Gold was not able to extend his streak of 409 consecutive games called this past Saturday. He missed the Alabama-Arkansas game because he was recovering from COVID-19.
The coronavirus pandemic already is affecting the college football bowl season.
Pittsburgh, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Stanford and Virginia have opted out of being invited to a bowl game. Also, LSU will not be going to a bowl game because of a NCAA self-administered penalty.
SMU was invited to a bowl game, but is not going.
The Mustangs had to bow out of this Saturday's Tropical Smoothie Café Frisco Bowl against UTSA because of COVID-19 issues within the SMU program. SMU's last game, on December 5 against Houston, was canceled due to contact tracing within the Mustangs' program. SMU ends the season with a 7-3 record.
The Tropical Smoothie Café Frisco Bowl, which was to be played in Frisco’s Toyota Stadium, has been canceled.
Other bowls that have been canceled include the; Bahamas Bowl; Fenway Bowl (the Montgomery Bowl this year); Hawaii Bowl; LA Bowl; Las Vegas; New Era Pinstripe Bowl; Quick Lane Bowl; Redbox Bowl; San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl; Celebration Bowl; and the Tony the Tiger Bowl in El Paso's Sun Bowl.
North Texas has accepted an invitation to play Appalachian State in the first-year Myrtle Beach Bowl. The bowl is scheduled to be the first one played, on December 21, in Brooks Stadium, in Conway, South Carolina. The stadium is home to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team.
After his Frogs started off the season 1-3, all is now right with Patterson’s world. TCU won five of its last six to avoid its second consecutive losing season and put itself into position for an invitation to a respectable bowl game.
The last time TCU won five of its last six games was in 2014, when the Frogs won their final seven games.
The Frogs have finished with at least five wins in their final six regular season games in 10 of Patterson’s 20 seasons.
Patterson now is 178-74 at TCU, with 17 bowl appearances, and an 18th one to be announced soon.
In the 20 seasons prior to Patterson's leadership, the Frogs won just 95 games and appeared in only four bowl games.
Patterson is the winningest coach in Texas college football history (counting only wins while at Texas schools): Patterson, 178; Darrell Royal, 167, Texas; Bill Yeoman, 160, Houston.
As in previous seasons, TCU’s final regular-season game had a distinct impact on the overall season.
If the Frogs had not beaten Louisiana Tech, they would not have achieved a winning record. They would have been a blah 5-5.
Since joining the Big 12 in 2012, TCU now is 5-4 in regular-season finales, all of which have been played in Fort Worth.
In 2019, the Frogs lost their final regular-season game, at home, 20-17, to West Virginia. TCU finished 5-7 and did not qualify for a bowl game.
In 2018, TCU won its final regular-season game, at home, 31-24, over Oklahoma State, to finish 6-6 and earn a Cheez-It Bowl bid. The Horned Frogs beat Cal, 10-7, to finish the season with a 7-6 record.
In 2017, the Frogs beat Baylor in their final regular-season game, at home, 45-22, to finish 10-2. TCU lost to Oklahoma in its first Big 12 Championship game, 41-17, then beat Stanford, 39-37, in the Alamo Bowl. The Frogs finished the season at 11-3.
In 2016, TCU lost its final regular season game, at home, to Kansas State, 30-6, to finish 6-6. The Frogs still earned a liberty Bowl berth. TCU lost to Georgia, 31-23, to finish 6-7.
In 2015, the Frogs dramatically beat Baylor, at home, 28-21, in two overtimes, to finish the regular season with a 10-2 record. TCU beat Oregon, 47-41 in three overtimes, in the Alamo Bowl, to finish the season 11-2.
In 2014, TCU beat Iowa State, 55-3, at home, to finish the regular season at 11-1. The Frogs improved their record to 12-1 with a 42-3 victory over Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl.
In 2013, the Horned Frogs lost to Baylor, at home, 41-38 in Fort Worth, to finish a dismal 4-8 season.
In 2012, TCU lost to Oklahoma, in Fort Worth, 24-17, to finish 7-5 in its inaugural Big 12 season. The Frogs lost to Michigan State in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, 17-16, to finish 7-6.
Against Louisiana Tech, TCU’s offensive “Young Guns” displayed the talent and explosiveness that TCU fans hope to see well into the future.
True freshman running back Zach Evans, true freshman running back Kendre Miller and true freshman wide receiver Quentin Johnston accounted for 400 of the Frogs’ 494 total yards of offense and six of the Frogs’ seven touchdowns.
Evans, the former five-star recruit from Houston, Texas, had 130 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries.
He had a four-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and a 75-yard touchdown sprint in the third quarter.
This was Evans’ second 100-yard rushing game of the season and his second straight week with a rushing touchdown, giving him four on the season.
Miller, of Mount Enterprise, Texas, rushed for 136 yards and two touchdowns on five carries.
Miller had a 38-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and an 89-yard touchdown run for the Frogs’ final touchdown with less than two minutes remaining in the game.
The 89-yard touchdown run tied for the second-longest run and eighth-longest play in TCU history.
Evans and Miller gave the Horned Frogs their first pair of 100-yard rushers since Darius Anderson (179) and Sewo Olonilua (106) in last year's 34-13 win at Purdue.
TCU rushed for 333 yards, four shy of a season high, and are 6-0 this season and 101-8 under Patterson when totaling at least 200 yards on the ground. TCU has topped 300 yards in rushing in two of its last three games.
Johnston, of Temple, Texas, finished with 133 yards on five catches, including a career-long 76-yarder that went for a touchdown in the second quarter.
Johnston is the first TCU true freshman in the last 25 seasons with back-to-back 100-yard receiving games. The previous game, against Oklahoma State, he had 114 receiving yards on three catches.
Johnston's 133 yards were the most by a Horned Frog since Taye Barber totaled 137 on eight receptions last season at Texas Tech.
Johnston is the first Horned Frog with consecutive 100-yard receiving games since Josh Doctson had a school record six straight in 2015.
Johnston is the first TCU player with a rushing touchdown and receiving score in the same game since Jalen Reagor accomplished the feat against Oklahoma State in 2018.
Johnson's performance earned him an honorable mention for the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Player of the Week award.
“Those guys are good football players,” Patterson said of his Evans, Miller and Johnston.
Sophomore quarterback Max Duggan also shined.
He completed 10-of-13 passes for 161 yards. His 76-yard touchdown toss to Johnston was his career-long reception. It also was TCU’s longest touchdown throw since Kenny Hill connected with Reagor on a 93-yard scoring pass in the 2017 Alamo Bowl.
Duggan connected on a scoring throw of 70-plus yards for the second consecutive game. He had a go-ahead 71-yard scoring toss to wide receiver Derius Davis in last week's 29-22 victory over then-No. 19 Oklahoma State.
Against Louisiana Tech, Duggan also rushed for a touchdown, a five-yarder in the first quarter.
Duggan’s touchdown was TCU’s first of the game, after the Frogs’ first two possessions yielded only a 22-yard field goal by Griffin Kell. The touchdown ignited a string of six straight touchdowns by the Horned Frogs.
Duggan’s touchdown run was his team-best 10th of the season, the most by a TCU quarterback since Kenny Hill had 10 in 2016.
Junior running back Emari Demercado had 54 yards rushing on 13 carries.
Against LA Tech, TCU’s offensive line featured sophomore starters in Steve Avila (right tackle) and John Lanz (left guard). Andrew Coker, who started the first eight games at right tackle before being sidelined the past two weeks, is a redshirt freshman.
The Frogs also dominated the Bulldogs defensively, mixing youth with a splash of experience.
Louisiana Tech gained only 244 yards, 52 on the ground and 192 through the air.
Anthony and Aaron Allen combined to complete 20-of-36 passes. Allen was intercepted twice.
The ‘Dogs didn’t score a touchdown until early in the fourth quarter, when Anthony connected with Griffin Hebert on a 13-yard scoring reception.
TCU’s defense, after not getting any sacks the previous week against Oklahoma State, recorded five against LA Tech, matching five-sack efforts in wins over Baylor, Texas Tech and Kansas.
Sophomore defensive end Ochaun Mathis, of Manor, Texas, recorded two sacks to give him a team-best nine on the season, the most by a Horned Frog since Mat Boesen had 11.5 in 2017.
Mathis also had his first career fumble recovery, off a sack and forced fumble by senior linebacker Garret Wallow.
Wallow, who had a team-best and season-high 13 tackles, has three forced fumbles this season, which leads TCU.
Sophomore cornerback C.J. Ceasar, of Monroe, Louisiana, snared the Frogs’ two interceptions. He now has a team-best three interceptions on the season.
Ceasar is the first Horned Frog with two interceptions in a game since Ar’Darius Washington had two interceptions last season against West Virginia.
Ceasar’s performance earned him Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors.
True freshman defensive end Khari Coleman, of New Orleans, Louisiana, recorded 1.5 tackles for loss (TFL) to give him 15 on the season, the most among freshmen nationally. He has at least one TFL in nine of his 10 games this season.
Sophomore cornerback Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson, who leads the Big 12 in pass breakups, contributed to containing Louisiana Tech’s passing game, as did junior safety Trevon Moehrig and sophomore safety Ar’Darius Washington.
"We made it through the regular season,” said Patterson. “That's the whole goal and to win more than we lose.
"We've gotten better. I think we've had addition by subtraction. As I told them before the game, the younger guys have all grown up. I think they are much stronger and much more mature than they were back in August. I go back to the Chancellor, the Athletic Director, the Board of Trustees and the Big 12 for giving us an opportunity to play, minus the hiccup against SMU, we had an opportunity to play all our games going forward. It's a credit to our kids and the trainers, you name it, there are a lot of people to thank. We did not start with the same team we ended with and that is a credit to this coaching staff.”
Now it appears that the Horned Frogs will have an opportunity to close out the 2020 season with a bowl game.
It wasn’t that long ago that such a feat seemed out of reach.
It wasn’t that long ago that the future of TCU football didn’t seem as bright as it does today.
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