TCU takes advantage of upsets, moves up to No. 4 in College Football Playoff rankings
The TCU Horned Frogs moved up to No. 4 in the latest release of the College Football Playoff rankings.
The 13-member committee moved the Horned Frogs up three places on Tuesday after beating Texas Tech 34-24 to move to 9-0. The rankings release will be a weekly occurrence every Tuesday until Dec. 4 when the committee announces the four national semifinalists.
CFP committee chair Boo Corrigan shed light on why the Horned Frogs were able to move up.
“They’ve got six wins over teams that are .500 or better, they’re averaging 43 points per game,” Corrigan said. “We value wins and they continued to find a way to win and not give up those points in the second half and it was really impactful to the committee.”
Head coach Sonny Dykes joined the CFP Top 25 show and was appreciative of the fact that the committee values wins.
“It’s similar to how we felt last week. It’s early in the process,” Dykes said. “We haven’t always won pretty, there’s been some struggles, we’ve had to make some second half comebacks, but at the end of the day we played a good schedule. “
Kirk Herbstreit says the Horned Frogs ability to make those second half comebacks should be considered a positive sign and asked Dykes to reveal the key to TCU’s fortitude in crisis.
“That’s a real tribute to our players. Those guys have been incredible,” Dykes said. “Our guys completely believe in what we’re doing and they really care about each other. It’s a really fun group to coach.”
When asked whether or not the Big 12 champion should have be undefeated to make the playoffs, which is the widely held belief, Dykes says the depth of the conference should play a roll in that decision.
“I think the Big 12 is as good a conference as there is right now top to bottom,” Dykes said. “I think when people sit down and look at our numbers they measure very well to other conferences. The fact we have 10 very, very solid football teams and play a nine-game schedule where we play every single team in our league.
“We’re not going to catch a good schedule one year because you’re going to play everybody and you do get a true conference champion.”
TCU was also ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and the USA Today Sports AFCA coaches poll. The Horned Frogs will face No. 18 Texas on Saturday.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 6:16 PM.
