TCU's Bowl Projection Shifts Following Win Over Cincinnati

Last week, TCU Horned Frogs On SI projected that TCU would stay home and play in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl against Army on Jan. 2. Following this past weekend’s results, the forecast has shifted slightly. The Horned Frogs will still be playing postseason football on Jan. 2, but this time it’ll be in Memphis in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl versus an SEC squad such as LSU. There’s also a chance that a Group of 5 school like Tulane – should it lose the American Conference Championship Game against North Texas – could enter the mix as TCU’s opponent.

TCU last participated in the Liberty Bowl in 2016, where it lost 31-23 to Georgia in what was Kirby Smart’s first season in Athens. The only other Liberty Bowl appearance for the Frogs came in 2002, when the team beat No. 23 Colorado State 17-3 in front of a crowd of over 55,000 people.

Should the Frogs make the trip to Tennessee, it’ll be a nice reprieve from what was a disappointing draw last season in the New Mexico Bowl. The Liberty Bowl has an illustrious history that spans back to 1959, when it was played in Philadelphia. The game was moved to Memphis in 1965, where it has been ever since.

Where Else Could the Frogs Go Bowling?

Bowl projections are about as fickle as weather forecasts, so TCU’s postseason destination is still very much up in the air – even though the Frogs don’t play another snap. The Big 12’s bowl outlook hinges entirely on the conference title game between BYU and Texas Tech. If the Cougars pull an upset, it opens the door for other Big 12 teams to move up the ladder and snag a better bowl slot. But if BYU falls, everyone else gets pushed down a rung. It’s a little more complicated than that, but the layman’s version gets the point across.

Other bowls that TCU could realistically play in include the First Responder Bowl in Dallas on Dec. 26 and the Texas Bowl in Houston on Dec. 27. Both would be good options for Frog fans who wish to make it out to TCU’s final game of the season.

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