#3 TCU 51, #2 Michigan 45
Vrbo Fiest Bowl
December 31, 2022
State Farm Insurance Stadium
Glendale, Arizona
Attendance: 71,723
- Final stats: here
- Box Score: here
- Game highlights: here
- Riff-Ram Video at the Fiesta Bowl: here
- Fiesta Bowl Trophy Presentation and Ceremony: here
- TCU head coach Sonny Dykes' post-game locker-room comments: here
- TCU head coach Sonny Dykes, quarterback Max Duggan, linebacker Dee Winters and wide receiver Quentin Johnston discuss TCU's win: here
- TCU safety Bud Clark discusses TCU's win: here
- TCU offensive lineman Wes Harris discusses TCU's win: here
- TCU defensive lineman Dyan Horton discusses TCU's win: here
- Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh discusses Michigan's loss: here
- Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, running back Donovan Edwards and defensive back/wide receiver Mike Sainristil discuss Michigan's loss: here
Horned Frogs, Bulldogs To Play for National Championship
Hollywood, here come the TCU Horned Frogs.
Well actually, Inglewood, California.
Anyway, Californiacs, have you missed us?
After all, it’s been 12 years since the Horned Frogs won the Rose Bowl in Pasadena by defeating the Big 10’s Wisconsin Badgers, 21-19, on January 1, 2011.
Now TCU is making a return trip to the Golden State, for an even bigger football game.
The Frogs will play for the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship against the University of Georgia (UGA), on Monday, January 9, at SoFi Stadium, in Inglewood, California, which is a city in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 pm (Central).
Fittingly, SoFi Stadium is home of the National Football League’s (NFL) Los Angeles Rams and San Diego Chargers. TCU football legend, NFL Hall of Famer and Trustee LaDainian Tomlinson was a star running back for the Chargers, 2001-2009.
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| Tom C. "Midnite" Burke |
After the hard-fought game, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who is a candidate for the head coaching position of the NFL's Carolina Panthers, said, “The winner was football.”
No, Jim, the winner was TCU, and the Horned Frogs, of the Big 12 Conference, and not the Wolverines, of the Big 10 Conference, will be playing for a national championship.
With the Fiesta Bowl win, TCU improved to 3-0 against Jim Harbaugh. Previously, the Frogs had defeated his Stanford teams in the 2007 and 2008 seasons.
Michigan, with 989 wins, may be the winningest program in college football, but it now has lost its last five bowl games, including two straight College Football Playoff games.
On ESPN, 21.4 million viewers watched TCU take down Michigan. Viewership peaked at 26.4 million viewers. The game was the third most-watched afternoon semifinal game of the College Football Playoff era.
The Horned Frogs, who will be seeking their third national championship (1935 and 1938), were a 200-1 long shot to reach the Playoff before the 2022 college football season began.
TCU was a 7.5-point underdog against undefeated Michigan, which is the 2022 champion of the Big 10 Conference and was looking to become just the second Big 10 team in history to win 14 games in a season.
TCU nearly is a two-touchdown underdog against the Georgia Bulldogs.
An underdog is mightier than a bulldog, isn’t it?
Georgia, 14-0, champions of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the reigning national champions, earned its right to play for a second consecutive national title by virtue of coming back from a 14-point deficit to shock Ohio State 42-41 in the second College Football Playoff semifinal game on New Year’s Eve, in the Peach Bowl, in Atlanta, Georgia (as the clock struck midnight and with three seconds remaining in the game, Ohio State kicker Noah Ruggles missed a potential game-winning 50-yard field goal).
Georgia, which has been ranked No. 1 for most of the 2022 season, is seeking its third national championship and to become the first back-to-back national champion since Alabama in the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
This season’s two College Football Playoff semifinal games are being regarded as the most exciting games in the nine-year history of the four-team field. The outcomes of both games came down to the final seconds. The four teams combined for 179 points.
The Fiesta Bowl was the second-highest scoring game in College Football Playoff history, behind Georgia’s 54-48 Rose Bowl victory over Oklahoma on January 1, 2018.
Four touchdowns were scored in four minutes in the third quarter of the Fiesta Bowl. That's the most points scored in a quarter in College Football Playoff history, breaking the mark of 40 set by Clemson and Alabama in the fourth quarter of the 2016 national championship game.
The Frogs’ 51 points set a TCU football program record for a bowl game.
Before these two semifinal games, only three of 16 playoff semifinal games had been decided by single digits.
The national championship game between TCU and Georgia will be touted as a battle between a Blueblood and a little, upstart, private school football program.
Is that because Horned Frogs have purple blood, rather than blue blood?
TCU certainly has accumulated enough gridiron successes over the years to qualify as much more than an upstart, if not a Blueblood, especially if you disregard several decades of frustrating futility in the late 20th Century:
- TCU began playing football in 1896. The Frogs have won 668 games, tied for 55th place among all college football teams (more information: here
- TCU has appeared in 35 bowl games (record of 18-16-1).
- In 2014, TCU became just the fourth program in history to have competed in all six of the modern-day College Football Playoff bowls (Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Cotton, Peach and Orange). TCU joined Florida State, Miami (Florida) and Tennessee as the only schools to have earned this distinction. TCU has a combined 6–5–1 record in those bowls, notching wins in all but the Orange Bowl.
- The Frogs’ Rose Bowl win in 2011 capped a 13-0 season and a No. 2 final ranking for the 2010 season (the 2010 TCU team topped the Congrove Computer Rankings, though TCU does not claim this national title).
- TCU has won 19 conference championships, across six different conferences.
- TCU ranks fourth all-time in final AP poll points among private schools, behind Notre Dame, USC and Miami (Florida).
- TCU has six Heisman Trophy finalists, including quarterback Max Duggan in 2022, and one Heisman Trophy winner, Davey O’Brien (1938).
- Eight former Horned Frogs players have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: Ki Aldrich, Sammy Baugh, Darrell Lester, Bob Lily, LaDainian Tomlinson, Rags Matthews, Davey O’Brien and Jim Swink.
- Three former TCU football coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: Madison A. “Matty” Bell, Dutch Meyer and Francis Schmidt.
- Three former Horned Frogs have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Sammy Baugh, Bob Lilly and Tomlinson.
- In Tomlinson, TCU has a National Football League Most Valuable Player award-winner.
- TCU’s Larry Brown, as a Dallas Cowboy, was named a Super Bowl Most Valuable Player in 1966.
- TCU is the first team from Texas to make it into the College Football Playoff.
- The Horned Frogs are the first Big 12 team to win a College Football Playoff game.
- TCU is the first Big 12 team to make it to the College Football Playoff national title game.
- The Frogs are the first team from Texas to make it to the College Football Playoff national title game.
- TCU is the first private school to make it to the College Football Playoff national title game.
TCU added to its long history of football success with its shootout Fiesta Bowl victory over Michigan in the Arizona desert.
It was the first time the Frogs and Wolverines had met on the gridiron, and the game marked just the fourth time this season that TCU had played outside of Texas, and the first time since October 29, when the Frogs played the University of West Virginia, in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Michigan previously had lost one game in the last two years -- its 2021 College Football Playoff game against Georgia.
TCU bested Michigan by producing highlights offensively and defensively, and despite Duggan not having one of his best games, statistically.
TCU never trailed the Wolverines.
TCU led 14-0, 21-3, and 21-6 at the half.
In the second half, TCU led 21-16, 41-22, 41-38 and, finally, 51-45.
Prior to this game, Michigan had not given up 21 points in a half this season. They did it twice against TCU. The Frogs scored 21 points in the first half, and 30 points in the second half.
Duggan, who made his 42nd career start and his first since finishing as the runner-up for the 2022 Heisman Trophy, totaled 282 yards of offense and four touchdowns. He completed 14-of-29 passes for 225 yards. He threw two touchdown passes, on outstanding scrambling plays, and two interceptions. He rushed 15 times for 57 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked once.
Duggan’s two touchdown passes pushed him ahead of Trevone Boykin (31, 2015) into second-most in a season at TCU with 32. Boykin is No. 1, with 33 in 2014.
Duggan has 73 career touchdown passes. He has moved past the legendary Andy Dalton (71, 2007-10) into sole possession of second place on TCU’s career list. Boykin leads with 86.
Duggan’s two touchdown runs were of one-yard each. His first touchdown run gave TCU a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. His second touchdown run, late in the third quarter, gave TCU a 41-22 lead.
Duggan has 27 career touchdown runs, moving him past teammate Kendre Miller (26) and into a tie with Boykin (2012-15) for seventh in TCU history.
Wide receiver Quentin Johnston had six receptions for 163 yards, his second straight 100-yard game, fourth of the season and ninth of his career. He scored one touchdown, on a 76-yard catch-and-run play in the fourth quarter that was TCU’s final touchdown of the game.
Johnston, who is projected to be a first-round selection in the 2023 National Football League Draft, was named the game’s Most Valuable Offensive Player.
Wide receiver Taye Barber had two catches, giving his 158 in his career, the most among current Horned Frogs. He had a six-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter that increased TCU’s early lead to 21-3. The touchdown was his fifth of the season and 11th of his career.
Miller, who had 1,342 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns coming into the Fiesta Bowl, rushed eight times for 57 yards before an apparent knee injury forced him out of the game in the first half.
After the game, Miller insisted he will play in the national championship game.
Emari Demercado replaced Miller and rushed for a career-high 150 yards on 17 carries, including a career long 69-yard run and a one-yard touchdown run. It was the second 100-yard game of his career and his sixth rushing touchdown of the season.
Demerado became just the second running back to rush for 100 yards against the Wolverines’ defense this season. Illinois running back Chase Brown had 140 rushing yards in Michigan’s 19-17 victory over the Fighting Illini on November 19.
Against the Big 10’s number one rushing defense, the Horned Frogs rushed 41 times for 263 yards.
Michigan’s defense hadn’t allowed more than 148 rushing yards to any team this year, or more than 196 to any team last year.
Defensively, TCU allowed Michigan to amass 527 total yards and 25 first downs and possess the football for 32:25 of the game.
Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who was a 2022 Heisman Trophy finalist, completed 20 of 34 passes for 343 yards. He threw two touchdown passes and rushed 10 times for 52 yards and a touchdown.
Wide receiver Ronnie Bell had six catches for 135 yards and a touchdown.
Wide receiver Roman Wilson had five receptions for 104 yards and a touchdown.
Running back Donovan Edwards rushed 23 times for 119 yards to lead Michigan’s ground game.
Although the Horned Frogs gave up a lot of yards and 45 points to the Wolverines, the defense came through with several big plays.
On Michigan’s first offensive play of the game, Edwards took off through the middle of TCU’s defense and appeared headed for a touchdown. However, sophomore TCU safety Bud Clark chased him down at the TCU 21-yard line.
Michigan ultimately got down to the TCU two-yard line on the drive, but failed to score as the Frogs’ defense held the Wolverines on a fourth-and-goal play.
Clark had one of two TCU interception returns for touchdowns. Linebacker Dee Winters also had an interception return for a touchdown.
The Horned Frogs had two interception returns for touchdowns for the second time in their last three games. Before this season, TCU’s last game with two interception returns for touchdowns was in 2009.
Clark returned his interception 41 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, as TCU took a 7-0 lead. Clark’s interception was his team-best fifth of the season, which is the most by a Horned Frog since Ar’Darius Washington had five in 2019.
Clark also recovered a fumble by Michigan running back Kalel Mullings in the TCU end zone that resulted in a touchback for the Frogs and stopped the Wolverines for a second time from scoring from within the five-yard line. The fumble was forced by TCU defensive end Dylan Horton.
On the play prior to Clark’s fumble recovery, Michigan’s Wilson had caught a pass from McCarthy that originally was ruled a 51-yard touchdown. Replay, however, determined that Wilson was knocked down by Clark a half yard short of the end zone.
Winters’ interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter went for 29 yards and enabled the Frogs to increase their lead to 34-16. The interception was Winters’ first of the season and third of his career.
The Wolverines had never been in a position where they were down 18 points. In fact, a Jim Harbaugh-coached team has never overcome such a deficit in the NFL or NCAA.
The Frogs had four sacks and 13 tackles for loss against a Michigan offensive line that has won back-to-back Joe Moore Awards, honoring the top offensive line in college football.
Horton had the Frogs’ four sacks. His first sack came on a Michigan 4th-and-goal play from the two-yard line on the game’s opening series.
Horton’s four sacks are the most by a Horned Frog since Mat Boesen had a TCU and Big 12 record 5.5 sacks in a 2017 win over Baylor. Horton has a team-best 10.5 sacks for the season.
Winters had three tackles for loss among his seven tackles. He has a team-best 14.5 tackles for loss on the season.
Winters was named the
game’s Most Valuable Defensive Player.
TCU safety Millard Bradford had a team-best and season-high eight tackles,
including two tackles for loss.
On Michigan’s last possession of the game, with 52 seconds remaining in the contest and the Wolverines trailing by only six points, Bradford made the Horned Frogs’ last two defensive plays of the game.
On third down, Bradford broke up a pass intended for Edwards.
On fourth down, tight end Colston Loveland caught a pass on a botched, desperation play. He was tackled by Bradford for a one-yard loss.
A few second later, Duggan took a snap in the victory formation and the Frogs had punched their ticket to Hollywood, er, Inglewood, California.
In Inglewood and the College Football National Playoff Championship Game, TCU and Georgia will be meeting on the gridiron for the fifth time. Georgia has won the previous four match-ups.
Most recently, on December 30, 2016, Georgia defeated TCU, 31-23, in the Liberty Bowl, in Memphis, Tennessee. TCU led 16-7 and 23-21 before losing.
Georgia defeated TCU 38-10 on September 10, 1988, in Athens, Georgia (the home of the University of Georgia). TCU was in the middle of a stretch of six straight losing season. The Dawgs that season were ranked as high as sixth.
TCU lost to Georgia, 34-3, on September 27, 1980, in Athens. TCU won one game that season (24-17 over Texas Tech). Georgia went undefeated and won the national championship.
The Frogs and Georgia played each other for the first time in the Orange Bowl, in Miami, Florida, on January 1, 1942. UGA beat TCU, 40-26. Georgia, at 9-1-1, was playing in its first-ever bowl game. TCU went 7-3 during the regular season. The Bulldogs went into the fourth quarter with a 40-14 lead.
This is the first time a Big 12 team has appeared in a College Football Playoff National Championship game.
The University of Texas won a BCS national championship in January 2006, with a 41-38 victory over USC in the Rose Bowl. Texas lost to Alabama, 37-21, in the 2010 BCS National Championship game, which was played in the Rose Bowl.
This is the eighth straight College Football Playoff National Championship game with at least one team from the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The SEC has won 15 games in the College Football Playoff’s history. Every other conference has combined for 11 wins.
Georgia is making its third College Football Playoff Championship game appearance in the last six years. The Dawgs won the national championship last year, the program’s third claimed championship, with 1942 and 1980 being the other two.
Georgia has 866 all-time football wins, tied for 12th-most among all college football teams (more information: here
This 2023 national championship game will feature two of this season’s Heisman Trophy finalists in Duggan and Georgia senior quarterback Stetson Bennett (#13).
Bennett was the Peach Bowl’s Most Valuable Offensive Player. In the best game of his career, Bennett threw for 398 yards and three touchdowns in the Bulldogs’ win over Ohio State, including directing a game-winning drive that resulted in a 10-yard touchdown completion to Adonai Mitchell with 54 seconds remaining in the game.
With Bennett leading Georgia’s offense this season, the Bulldogs ranked fifth in the nation in yards per play (6.97) coming into the playoff.
Georgia averages 39.6 points per game and 494.9 yards of total offense per game (293 passing yards per game and 201.9 rushing yards per game).
The Bulldogs have scored 39 rushing touchdowns and 27 passing touchdowns.
Georgia’s offensive line has allowed only nine sacks.
Bennett, a former walk-on who this season led Georgia to its first SEC championship since 2017, has thrown for 3,823 yards through 14 games. He has completed 292-of-429 passes (68.07 percent). He has thrown 23 touchdown passes and seven interceptions. He has run for 166 yards and eight touchdowns.
Georgia’s receiving corps is led by sophomore tight end Brock Browers (#19), who is 6-foot-4, 230 pounds. Browers has caught 56 passes for 790 yards and six touchdowns. He has a long reception of 78 yards. Browers also has three rushing touchdowns.
Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Ladd McConkey (#84) has caught 53 passes for 674 yards and five touchdowns. He has a long catch of 37yards. McConkey has been limited by a knee injury.
Senior running back Kenny McIntosh (#6) has 42 receptions for 505 yards. He has two touchdown receptions and a long catch of 83 yards.
Tight end Darnell Washington (#0), at 6-foot-7, 270 pounds, is another receiving weapon for the Bulldogs. He has caught 27 passes for 426 yards and two touchdowns. He has a long reception of 34 yards. Washington injured an ankle during the Ohio State game and was seen using crutches on the sideline.
McIntosh is Georgia’s leading rusher. He has rushed 142 times for 779 yards and 10 touchdowns. He has a long run of 52 yards.
Junior running back Daijun Edwards (#30) has rushed 135 times for 739 yards seven touchdowns. He has a long run of 52 yards.
Junior running back Kendall Milton also has seven rushing touchdowns. He has rushed 75 times for 559 yards.
Georgia’s defense has been less than stellar in the Dawgs’ last two games. LSU totaled 549 yards against the Bulldogs in the SEC title game and the Buckeyes racked up 467 yards in the Peach Bowl.
Georgia’s defense has limited opponents to 14.79 points and 304.6 yards per game (224.57 passing yards per game and 80 rushing yards per game).
The Bulldogs’ opponents have scored six rushing touchdowns and 15 passing touchdowns.
Georgia’s defense has 87 tackles for loss and 31 sacks.
Georgia junior defensive lineman Jalen Carter, 6-foot-3, 300 pounds, is a potential top-five selection in the 2023 National Football League Draft. Carter, who has been dealing with an ankle injury, had 30 total tackles, including seven tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.
Sophomore inside linebacker Smael Mondon, Jr. (#2), leads Georgia with 71 tackles, including 7.5 tackles for loss and one sack. He also has one interception.
Freshman defensive back Malaki Starks has 67 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss. He also has two interceptions.
Sophomore inside linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson (#10) has 66 tackles. He leads the Dawgs with nine tackles for loss and four sacks.
Senior defensive back Christopher
Smith (#29) leads the Bulldogs with three interceptions. Another exceptional defensive back for Georgia is redshirt sophomore Kelee Ringo (#5), who likes to press receivers he is defending.
In the Ohio State game, Georgia sophomore outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss (#32) left the game late in the first half with an apparent left knee injury.
Georgia’s field goal kicker is senior Jack Podlesny (#96). He has converted 25-of-30 field goal attempts. He has a long field goal of 50 yards. He has not had a field goal attempt blocked.
The Bulldogs’ punter is freshman Brett Thorson (#92). He has averaged 44.91 yards on 35 punts. He has a long punt of 75 yards. He has not had a punt blocked.
So, the stage is set.
It’s the Frogs and the Bulldogs.
Only four quarters of football remain until Horned Frogs fans may be saying, “Hey, we just won the national championship!”
Sounds even sweeter than, “Hey, we just won the Rose Bowl,” doesn’t it?
SoFi Stadium: SoFi Stadium is a 70,240-seat sports and entertainment indoor stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California. SoFi occupies the former site of the Hollywood Park Racetrack, three miles from Los Angeles International Airport and immediately southeast of Kia Forum.
Opened in September 2020, SoFi is a fixed-roof stadium. It is home to the National Football League’s Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Charges, as well as college football’s annual LA Bowl.
SoFi Stadium was designed by HKS and consists of the stadium, a pedestrian plaza and a performance venue. Above the stadium is an independently supported translucent canopy which covers the stadium, the plaza and the performance venue.
The stadium and the California Memorial Stadium are the only major sports facilities in California that have artificial turf. SoFi’s artificial turf field is from Matrix Turf, an Austin, Texas-based company.
On September 15, 2019, it was announced SoFi had acquired the naming rights to the stadium under a 20-year deal valued at over $30 million per-year, a record for any naming rights for a sports venue.
SoFi Technologies, Inc., is an American online personal finance company and online bank. Based in San Francisco, SoFi provides financial products including student and auto loan refinancing, mortgages, personal loans, credit card, investing, and banking through both mobile app and desktop interfaces.
The plaza was named American Airlines Plaza. The airline was named the first founding partner on August 6, 2019.
The performance venue was named YouTube Theater on June 28, 2021.
The TCU-Georgia betting line: Georgia is as much as a 13-point favorite, making TCU the biggest underdog in a national title game since the advent of the BCS in 1998.
The
over/under is 62.5 points.
Midnite’s TCU-Georgia Prediction: TCU wins, 48-45.
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