Dear College Football Playoff Committee:
Frog you.
How much plainer could TCU make it?
TCU 42, Ole Miss 3. That’s a really big, really emphatic frog you.
These Horned Frogs could not have made a louder statement to The Establishment (i.e. The Man-Plus-Condi-Rice) than Wednesday’s achingly simple victory over the ninth-ranked team in the country and representative of heaven’s chosen conference.
Unfriended by the new playoff committee at the last minute, disposed of that final week of the regular college football season like plasticware at a wedding reception, TCU had little choice but to come to Atlanta and make a point. Poor Ole Miss just happened to be standing in the way of a crusade.
Its wide receiver threw more touchdown passes (one) than any Mississippi quarterback.
Its defensive end caught more touchdown passes (one) than any Rebel receiver.
And in between, TCU even demonstrated that in the point-a-minute Big 12, they can play a little defense when properly motivated. Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace spent the day more horizontal than any of the viewers at home and sometimes even that didn’t prevent him from throwing an interception. TCU brought the whole package. All in all, a good, old-fashioned frog-licking.
Having so completely undressed the Rebels in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, TCU left the audience with no choice other than to wonder how it might have done a day later against someone more worthy of their abilities. Just the point it wanted to make, even if no one in purple said so in so many words.
“We wanted to be able to make a statement. We wanted to play the way we’re capable of playing,” TCU’s Gary Patterson said.
And what exactly was that statement, coach? Maybe that you belonged among the chosen four?
“No, just that we were a good football team,” he said.
Woe to the playoff committee if Ohio State, the one-loss team it promoted over TCU into the playoffs, gets crushed by Alabama. Then the Fort Worth chapter of Victims of the Selection Process will be in a rock-throwing mood.
The Frogs certainly played like they had heard enough about the genetic superiority of the SEC. Members of a one-loss team were even asked earlier in the week if they were “afraid” of Ole Miss, given the reputation of its conference.
This is the essence of a team utterly unafraid: After opening the game with the first of three interceptions off Wallace, TCU turned around and immediately reached for the razzle-dazzle. Quarterback Trevone Boykin flipped a backward pass to wide out Kolby Listenbee, who then threw deep to Aaron Green for the game’s first touchdown.
Honestly, this game was over as soon as Ole Miss was unable to spike the Horned Frogs’ Gatorade with Ritalin. TCU ran its ADD offense — no huddle, no blink — with such fluid grace that the Rebel’s No. 1 scoring defense was left wheezing.
Even their own turnovers led to Horned Frog glory. So what if Boykin was intercepted at the Mississippi 2-yard line late in the first half? That was but a well disguised opportunity. Harried in the end zone, Wallace tried dumping off a pass as he was being dropped for a potential safety. Right into the mitts of TCU defensive end James McFarland. TD!
The new age purple people eaters ended up sacking Wallace five times.
Listenbee began the first half throwing a 31-yard touchdown pass. He began the second half wresting a 35-yard touchdown reception from the grasp of an Ole Miss defender. A fine day, to be followed by a strange day watching someone else play for a national title.
“I’m sure I’ll be a little bit jealous watching that, knowing we didn’t get to be a part of it,” Listenbee said. “When we watch it, it will only make us hungrier next year.”
The team that just put up the most lopsided bowl result to date loses but a couple starters.
“They would certainly get my consideration if I were on a voting panel for preseason No. 1,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said.
“We’re happy we’re Chick-fil-A Bowl champions and we’re going to live with that for the rest of our lives,” Boykin said. “And hopefully next year we can be one of those top four teams.”
The Frogs had a splendid stay in Atlanta, but they’d just as soon not relive the same scenario next season. Then, stronger words may be in order.
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