It’s a shame the College Football Playoff committee doesn’t see the beauty of TCU‘s modus operandi in 2022. The Horned Frogs entered Saturday ranked No. 7 in the committee’s initial top 25, a slap in the face for a team that had yet to lose, that had four wins on the road, that had toppled four straight ranked foes.
The argument, it seemed, was that TCU doesn’t win impressively enough, but “impressive” is a subjective term, and frankly, we can’t imagine why anyone would prefer a blowout to what has become the Horned Frogs’ weekly three-hour drama.
The narrative played out just as it always does on Saturday. TCU jumped out to an early lead over Texas Tech. The Red Raiders charged back and took a 17-14 lead into the fourth quarter. Then TCU pounced. The Horned Frogs are predators, and they enjoy toying with their prey.
Against Texas Tech, TCU scored 21 points in the fourth quarter. Sonny Dykes’ crew has now outscored opponents 55-14 in the final frame of its past four games.
The committee believes these late-game heroics are a sign of weakness. But perhaps TCU is just too cool for the committee. The Horned Frogs are the team that arrives to a party fashionably late, sporting a tuxedo T-shirt, a belt buckle the size of a Ford Focus and carrying a bottle of Hennessy it’s not intending to share.
Who needs blowouts? The college football season gives us far too many of those. TCU gives the people want they want — drama, intrigue, purple. It’s as if Prince were a college football team.
And sure, the dominance of other teams might impress the committee, but dominance is a tricky thing to maintain. Just look at Ohio State‘s Saturday trip to Evanston, Illinois. The usually dominant Buckeyes went to halftime tied at 7 with lowly Northwestern, pulled into the depths of misery by a team that knows that terrain far better. C.J. Stroud‘s Heisman Trophy campaign hit its biggest roadblock of the season against an opponent that surrendered 33 points to Iowa last week. Stroud averaged less than 3 yards per pass in Saturday’s 21-7 win. Now that is a real reason for committee skepticism.
But TCU? Those close games aren’t a reason for doubt. They’re a mark of certainty. TCU is consistent, and there’s genuine value in that. The Horned Frogs are like an episode of “Law and Order: SVU.” The early scenes might be tough to watch, the bad guys will have the upper hand and Ice-T will seem confused about what’s happening — but in the end, the audience knows the good guys always find a way to win.
So, what’s not to like about that? The committee wants blowouts, wants boredom. Well, not everyone gets the luxury of playing in the same division as Rutgers and Indiana.
We’ll take drama every time, and TCU — those guys know how to deliver the goods.
The most college football thing to happen in Week 10
For years, we’d foolishly assumed that the “Tech” in Louisiana Tech insinuated some type of boring technical education, like mechanical engineering or learning how to fix computers by unplugging them and then plugging them back in. But no. All this time, La Tech has been working on a far greater marvel of human achievement.
0:23
Louisiana Tech Bulldog’s mascot Tech XXII drives around the end zone in a remote controlled Bugatti.
Did any of the previous 21 Tech mascots have their own cars? Does it make any sense that the dog is driving a Bugatti rather than, say, a perfect scale model of the General Lee from “Dukes of Hazzard?” And what does Uga think about all of this?
On second thought, don’t bother asking any of those questions. Something this perfect does not need a backstory.
Oh, and Louisiana Tech beat Middle Tennessee, 40-24, so honestly any team that doesn’t have a live mascot in a remote-control car is probably just throwing away wins.
The other most college football thing to happen in Week 10
Hey, kid. Do your impression of what’s happened to Virginia‘s offense this season.
This kid is living his best life at the football game 😅@UVAFootball pic.twitter.com/fXVDKtzxzb
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) November 5, 2022
Under-the-radar play of the week
After back-to-back losses in ACC play, the league’s defending champ finally got back in the win column with a 19-9 victory over Syracuse.
That’s not to say all went well Pitt, however.
Pitt manages a 2 yard punt pic.twitter.com/FvVjQg210m
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) November 5, 2022
See, this is why the analytics said to go for it.
Nothing could be finer …
There haven’t been many easy ones for North Carolina this season, but the Tar Heels escaped Virginia 31-28 on Saturday to give Mack Brown his first win in Charlottesville in his career. Drake Maye threw for 293 yards, ran for 74 more and accounted for three touchdowns to further bolster his Heisman credentials. UNC is now 8-1 and looks all but assured of winning the ACC Coastal.
But the party doesn’t end in Chapel Hill.
On Friday, Duke toppled Boston College 38-31 to move to 6-3, meaning all four of the North Carolina schools in the ACC — including NC State and Wake Forest, too — are bowl eligible for the first time ever.
None of this makes up for the fact that vinegar-based barbecue sauce is like wringing out a gym sock onto your pulled pork, but it’s still deserving of a serious Ric Flair “Woooooooo!” to celebrate.
UConn gets chesty
We don’t want to alarm anyone, but UConn is one win away from bowl eligibility. It’s fine. The odds are still not in its favor, but if you’ve been considering building that bomb shelter in your backyard, now might be a good time to plunk down the deposit.
The Huskies picked up win No. 5 on Friday by beating UMass, which comes just one week after toppling Boston College, and that had UConn’s social media team feeling its oats.
Crown us. 👑
The Kings of New England have arrived and are here to stay#HuskyRevolution pic.twitter.com/xnuIXrIiKl
— UConn Football (@UConnFootball) November 5, 2022
This is new territory for UConn, so we’ll forgive the mashup of John Irving and George R.R. Martin, but what’s utterly unforgivable is this total erasure of Holy Cross. The Crusaders are 9-0, and until UConn beats them, there will be no official title of Kings of the North bestowed upon anyone.
Big bets and bad beats
The safest bet in sports paid out again Saturday. Whenever two service academies get together, it’s limbo time — go low, lower and even lower on the game totals. The total for Saturday’s matchup between Army and Air Force was just 40.5 — a number Army had eclipsed by itself in each of its past two games, and a total Air Force had hit alone four times this season. But we know how this story ends. Army’s offense managed just 145 yards total, and the two teams combined to run the ball — and run out the clock — 85 times. Final: Air Force 13, Army 7. The win ensured the Falcons the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy for the first time since 2016, and since 2005, the under in any game featuring two service academies is 43-9-1, including the past 10 straight (and 15 of the past 16).
Michigan State pulled off the shocker against No. 16 Illinois, despite managing just 294 total yards — 147 fewer than the Illini — and going 3-of-11 on third down. The Spartans were 16-point underdogs in the game and the money line on a Michigan State win paid out at +550. We’re hoping Spartans boosters had plenty of cash on their guys in this one, since a win like this undoubtedly means a hefty extension is coming for Mel Tucker.