Texas Four Step: How the under-appreciated TCU Horned Frogs can hop into national playoffs

Let’s call it the Texas Four Step.

TCU’s invitation to college football’s big dance is just four victories away.

The under-appreciated darlings of college football need four wins in the state of Texas over the next 26 days. If the 9-0 Horned Frogs can extend their unbeaten streak to 13 games, then they’ll certainly earn a berth into national semifinals and a likely meeting with defending champion Georgia in Atlanta on Dec. 31.

The College Football Committee will have no choice but to invite them to the big party. Why? No unbeaten Power 5 conference team has ever been left out of the national semifinals since the playoffs expanded to four teams in 2014.

It’s as simple as 1-2-3-4.

Well, maybe not quite that simple. After all, even the Texas Two Step isn’t so easy for those just learning to dance.

Step One: The 9-0 Horned Frogs need to win at Texas on Saturday, in front of a sellout crowd at Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium. Since joining the Big 12, TCU has won seven of 10 meetings against the Longhorns. The Longhorns (6-3, 4-2) are coming off a 34-27 win at Kansas State.

Step Two: Win at Baylor on Nov. 19. The Bears (6-3, 4-2) have been on a roll lately, winning three straight, including 38-35 at Oklahoma on Saturday. And don’t think for a second that they haven’t forgotten how the Horned Frogs upset them 30-28 a year ago when the Bears had their own aspirations of advancing to the college playoffs.

Step Three: Beat Big 12 bottom feeder Iowa State. The Cyclones (4-5, 1-5) are coming off a win against West Virginia, the same Mountaineers who gave the Horned Frogs trouble two weeks ago. Iowa State has one of the best defenses in the score-happy Big 12. That said, if the Horned Frogs are 11-0 heading into this game at Amon G. Carter Stadium on Nov. 26, there’s likely little the Cyclones will be able to do to stop the perfect regular season.

Step Four: Win the conference championship game. Obviously, this will be the toughest step of them all. The Dec. 3 date at AT&T Stadium will include lots of pressure to win and advance to the college football playoffs. It will be doubly difficult to beat a team that they already beat during the season (the opponent will be either Kansas State, Baylor or Texas).

This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 11:02 AM.