By Jeff Wilson
Frogs Today senior writer
Not much more needs to be said about the College Football Playoff.
TCU is in as the No. 3 seed, rightfully so, and will face No. 2 Michigan at 3 p.m. Dec. 31 in the Fiesta Bowl.
Tell all your Alabama-loving friends.
More, though, needs to be said about what Max Duggan did Saturday in the 31-28 overtime loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 championship game.
Hopefully the Heisman voters said it beyond what they’ve already done in selecting him as a finalist.
The worry is that most had submitted their ballots before the championship games. USC quarterback Caleb Williams wasn’t great, injured or not, and Duggan was terrific when it mattered most. The game-tying drive is his Heisman moment.
And the postgame press conference embodied the spirit of the Heisman winner. Voters (I’m not one) are told the winner should exemplify what college football is supposed to be about. I am a voter for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and the character clause has been the crutch for voters who refuse to budge on the suspected or guilty steroid users (there is a distinction in my book. Subscribe to Rangers Today to discover what I think that is).
Williams has painted his nails with non-family-friendly messages. He is a transfer who followed the NIL money to Los Angeles. He also tweeted “LOL” at a tweet showing video of a teary Duggan after this team’s first loss.
That’s not very Heisman-like.
A win Saturday would have really buoyed Duggan’s case. The public sentiment surrounding him since that tying drive, in which he rushed for 95 yards and a touchdown and threw the 2-point pass, has helped him, too.
Or it’s helped him on the ballots that hadn’t already been submitted, that is.
Williams has had a phenomenal season against everyone except Utah. His numbers are flashier than Duggan’s.
Duggan, though, is Heisman personified.
Rest ahead
One thing the national pundits seem to be overlooking in the Fiesta Bowl matchup is how badly in need of a break TCU is.
The Frogs had their bye week Sept. 17 and played the next 11 Saturdays. Despite the liberal substituting the coaches employ, TCU didn’t have a blowout until the regular-season finale against Iowa State. Players who needed rest, like the receiver trio of Quentin Johnston, Derius Davis and Taye Barber, got it.
Now everyone gets it. Coach Sonny Dykes made it sound as if Duggan has been gutting through injuries all season. An offensive line that has been intact all season needs rest, and the linebacker group needs to get healthy. Davis is needed on punt returns again.
TCU has still looked fast, but the defense has been knocked around some on the ground. Rest can help fix that.
Rest plus adrenaline plus feeling overlooked could really serve the Frogs well.
ICYMI …
Lots of good stuff from the weekend and last week at Frogs Today, and so much more is coming. It’s time to subscribe to Frogs Today. We’re not going anywhere, except the Fiesta Bowl and the Heisman ceremony and the NCAA Tournament and wherever important TCU stuff is happening. We went to the NCAA soccer and volleyball tournaments, for crying out loud. It’s unprecedented coverage of TCU sports, and it’s cheaper than the competition. Take a look below at what a subscription will get you, in case you missed it.
Monday Morning Quarterback: From on high
What to watch this week
For the first time since September, the football team doesn’t appear on this weekly newsletter feature but will be back in a few weeks. The sports schedule is getting a lot lighter with the semester about to end and finals ahead. The crickets come next week, but there’s still stuff to see this week in addition to the Frogs Today TV lineup.
Men’s basketball: vs. Jackson State, 7 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN+); vs. SMU, 9 p.m. Saturday, Dickies Arena (ESPN)
Women’s basketball: vs. George Washington, 6:30 p.m. Monday (ESPN+); vs. Missouri State, 6 p.m. Friday (ESPN+)
The lighter side
Coach Prime pushes portal: Deion Sanders is the new coach at Colorado, and the Buffaloes’ first game of the Coach Prime era will be Sept. 2 at TCU.
Prime Time in prime time, I would guess.
Coach Prime loves him some Coach Prime, which everyone already knew. As a coach, he has taken the unprecedented steps of airing video of his goodbye team meeting at Jackson State and his initial meeting with Buffs players.
He told told them change is coming and they might want to just go ahead and enter the transfer portal.
Doing that in private is fine. Doing that for public consumption is not.
Now, any player who leaves Colorado might be deemed not good enough by other schools. The Buffs’ 1-11 record might do that, too, but a rebuke by Sanders might not help.
As a Colorado native and the son of Colorado grads, I’ve been asked my thoughts on the hire. It’s good for the Buffs, who are badly in need of a reset. But how long is Sanders going to last? Probably until the next big thing comes along, like Florida State. He went there. It’s the next natural step.
For now, though, Coach Prime is headed to Fort Worth unless he enters the transfer portal himself.
Deion Sanders telling the CU Buffs football team that he’s bringing his own luggage, and that they better hit the portal. This is crazy 🤯 pic.twitter.com/004LUKiTr2
— College Football Transfer Portal (@CollegeFBPortal) December 4, 2022
Real life Tom & Jerry: My favorite cartoon growing up was Tom & Jerry. That dumb cat.
If this future Tom is looking for tips, he might want to find another example.
https://twitter.com/Yoda4ever/status/1599382259009822720
Bad golf shots: I fear that some day this will happen to me. Enjoy.
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Jeff Wilson, jeff@frogstoday.com
