Higher profile: TCU’s 11-1 season raises national standing

It took a few days after the season, when he got to Orlando, Fla., where he learned he was the ESPN/Home Depot College Coach of the Year, for the impact of TCU’s season to fully sink in for Gary Patterson.

“Standing on the stage the other night, with Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, all the different coaches — you’ve got to believe in the respect that was paid to us,” Patterson said. “Everybody knows what TCU’s about.”

It is thanks to a 2014 season that saw the Horned Frogs crash the conversation in college football’s first year with a playoff.

Little ol’ TCU, in the picture for the College Football Playoff until the last minute with the likes of Alabama, Florida State, Oregon and Ohio State, reinserted itself into the sport’s national consciousness with an 11-1 season that put the school on the brink of the national semifinals.

“It’s nice just to be in the mix, just to hear TCU, to look on ESPN and see that,” cornerback Kevin White said in the days before the regular-season finale against Iowa State. “We’re in the mix.”

Ultimately, the Horned Frogs got left out of the playoffs. They leave Thursday for Atlanta to meet Ole Miss in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. But they raised their profile and made a point — they can be part of “the mix,” and plan to be. Every year.

“I think we made a good start this year,” Patterson said. “We went from, ‘They can’t win in the Big 12,’ to co-champs. So now what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to add on to it.”

The Frogs get to make the first impression on the New Year’s weekend. Their bowl game is the opening kickoff on Dec. 31. The game is on ESPN, and it is the only action from 11:30 a.m. until 3. If the Horned Frogs win and look good doing it against an SEC opponent that had national title hopes of its own, they will almost certainly finish with a top-5 ranking and, with nine returning starters on offense — including Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Trevone Boykin — likely earn themselves a top-10 starting spot next year.

“We had a year that was spectacular,” athletic director Chris Del Conte said. “People have been talking about TCU since Oct. 28. They talked about us every single week.”

It might be more accurate to say Oct. 11 is when people started talking about TCU. That was the day the Horned Frogs lost 61-58 at Baylor, an offensive football carnival that actually introduced both teams to the country again.

TCU was a national player from then on.

“We felt our overall body of work and résumé resonated well from the time the first poll came out,” Del Conte said. “TCU was in the national limelight. It was great food for thought for writers and sportscasters and radio personalities.”

The Horned Frogs won’t play for the national title, but they will be aiming to keep their name top of mind. Patterson has talked about how TCU needs to become part of college football “royalty” to gain the benefit of the doubt of a “name brand” like Ohio State and Oregon.

“I don’t think it’s a long time,” Patterson said, asked how far away TCU is from that stature. “Oregon hasn’t been on the stage that long. They’re new. They’re new royalty. They’ve gained the respect of national media, and I think that’s what TCU has to do. For us, that could be as early as next year. It almost was this year.”

Almost. But the job of getting TCU’s name at the top of the charts got done.

“We’re just blessed to be in this position because we weren’t in this position at the beginning of the season,” safety Derrick Kindred said after the Iowa State win. “Everything happens for a reason. I don’t feel like anything is a letdown. We played great ball all year.”

To running back Aaron Green, that should have become clear after 12 games.

“I think the nation knows that,” he said. “We’re not a big glamour school. But when we put the pads on, we get on the field, it’s a whole different story.”

In 2014, the story got told.

This story was originally published December 21, 2014 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Higher profile: TCU’s 11-1 season raises national standing."