TCU didn’t need its A-game to beat Michigan. It will for Georgia.
With the way people were talking about Michigan, you would’ve thought TCU would need to play a perfect game just to hang with the Wolverines in the Fiesta Bowl.
The Horned Frogs were far from perfect in their thrilling 51-45 win in the College Football Playoff semifinal. As TCU prepares for No. 1 Georgia, the Horned Frogs say they’re capable of reaching a higher level than they showed in Arizona.
“Going into the game if you told me we would turn it over three times, I would say we would probably have a difficult time winning,” coach Sonny Dykes said Tuesday.
Despite three turnovers including some unlucky bounces on throws from Max Duggan, the Horned Frogs led the entire game against Michigan after Bud Clark’s interception return for a touchdown in the first quarter.
TCU endured costly miscues and never faltered is an indication of how talented the roster is, though it’s still probably underrated on a national scale. Good teams find a way to win games, great teams find ways to beat other great teams even when they’re not at their best.
“I thought we played okay. We played really hard and physical but made a bunch of mistakes,” Dykes said. “Turned the ball over three times which is uncharacteristic of us. Credit to our players for overcoming those turnovers, those mistakes. I didn’t think it was anything stellar, our performance.”
One player certainly hoping to bounce back, at least by his standards, is Duggan. While the quarterback accounted for four total touchdowns against the Fiesta Bowl, it was the first time this season he hasn’t completed at least 50% of his passes and his first game all season with multiple interceptions.
To beat Georgia, Duggan will need to be much better along with the rest of the roster.
“We didn’t play well against Michigan, we made enough plays to win the game,” Duggan said. “It wasn’t like we played spectacular or one of our best games. I think it was just one of those days you didn’t have your best stuff.”
While it may have made things more stressful against the Wolverines, those mistakes give something TCU can point to and grow from as the preparations ramp up for the Bulldogs.
There’s not a sense of satisfaction after quieting all the doubters once again. Simply making the national championship is nice, a grand achievement certainly, but the job isn’t done.
Not when you have the defending national champions waiting for you.
“They have some of the most talented players in the country,” Duggan said. “They’re so well coached and have some of the best coaches in the country and that creates a lot of problems when you have such good players and a good coaching staff.”
TCU will also be able to counter with a roster full of some of the best players in the country including Duggan, Quentin Johnston, Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson and more.
As for the coaching staff, Dykes’ staff is also among the best in the country with Garrett Riley being voted the top assistant coach and Joe Gillespie helping the defense take strides in his first season as defensive coordinator.
Dykes and the rest of the staff will push the roster how they can perform so much better than they did against Michigan, but he also wants them to play with the same energy against a Georgia team that will try to out-physical them like the Wolverines tries.
“We’ll have two really physical practices, that’ll be really important to play with that edge,” Dykes said. “That mentality we played with against Michigan, I thought our players did a tremendous job of answering that challenge that we gave them during the week.
“I said it postgame and believed it, I thought we were the most physical team there. Certainly we’re going to have to be more physical as we prepare for Georgia.”
