TCU Lands Premier Big 12 Bowl Berth

TCU’s two lone appearances in the Alamo Bowl have both been successful trips. Following a 10-2 2015 campaign, the No. 11 Horned Frogs were pitted against No. 15 Oregon in what ended up being one of the best bowl games ever played. TCU, without star quarterback Trevone Boykin, went down 31-0 after two quarters but scored 31 unanswered to send the game to overtime. It was in the extra period where backup signal-caller Bram Kohlhausen and the rest of the Horned Frogs pulled off the impossible and came back to win. Head coach Gary Patterson, who changed his shirt at halftime to try to change the team’s fortunes, was doused with Gatorade, and TCU left San Antonio in pure bliss.

The Horned Frogs earned another berth in the Alamo Bowl in 2017, this time against No. 13 Stanford. Yet again, TCU dug itself into a hole — this time by going down 21-3 in the middle of the second quarter. But just as it did against Oregon, TCU — led by Kenny Hill and star receiver Jalen Reagor — ended up coming back and winning 39-37.

If all goes well, the Frogs won’t require such a comeback this time around, though should such a thing happen again, there won’t be any complaining from the TCU faithful.

TCU Meets USC in a Bowl Game - Again

This will be the second bowl game in which TCU has played USC. Many Frog fans will remember the 1998 Sun Bowl. TCU was 8-4 going into that game. It was their first bowl game in four years, but it was also only the third bowl game for TCU since 1965.

USC was 9-3. Carson Palmer was the USC quarterback. Dennis Francionne was TCU's head coach. Gary Patterson was the DC for the Frogs. TCU was not given a chance, but won that game 28-19.

Will TCU See Any Opt-Outs?

Forecasting who will and won’t play in the bowl game is a difficult task. It can be reasonably assumed that players like Eric McAlister, who is slated to be selected in next year’s NFL draft, won’t be participating. His absence would obviously be a blow, but the Frogs were without Savion Williams and Jack Bech in last year’s New Mexico Bowl, and that ended up going just fine.

In the end — no matter who plays and who doesn’t — this matchup against USC presents TCU with a prime opportunity to go toe-to-toe with one of the sport’s premier programs. For the first time since the 2022 season, the Frogs will have a chance to prove to the college football universe that they can play with the big boys.