In the Big 12, TCU has reached a higher bowl stage, too

In the past 20 years, TCU has played in its share of bowl games.

Small ones, big ones.

New ones, old ones. (Granddaddy old, even).

Close to home, far from home.

But four years into membership in the Big 12, both the quality of bowl and quality of bowl opponent are changing for the Horned Frogs.

Last year, they played in the Peach Bowl for the first time and defeated the SEC’s Ole Miss. Three years ago, they went to Tempe, Ariz., for the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl and a matchup against Michigan State of the Big Ten. This year, the Frogs will go to the Alamo Bowl for the first time, matched against Pac-12 power Oregon.

“For us, for those kids to get an opportunity to play on a national stage with bowl games that are nationally relevant, it does wonders for the TCU brand from coast to coast,” TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte said.

Yes, TCU played in a Rose Bowl and a Fiesta Bowl when it was not a member of the Big 12.

But cases like that are the exception for teams in middle-tier conferences, as TCU once was.

When the Horned Frogs were members of the WAC, Conference USA or the Mountain West, the destination bowls were the likes of the Poinsettia Bowl (three times), the Mobile Alabama Bowl (twice), GalleryFurniture.com Bowl, Texas Bowl and Sun Bowl.

One year, the Frogs went bowling in their own stadium. They lost to Boise State 34-31 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in the PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl on Dec. 22, 2003.

“I always treated them all the same, to be honest with you,” coach Gary Patterson said. “A loss in any one of them is bad.”

But the Big 12 means access to another level of bowl.

TCU’s seven championships or co-championships in the WAC, C-USA and Mountain West from 1999 to 2011 resulted in only two trips to an elite bowl — the Fiesta in January 2010 and the Rose in January 2011.

But in the Big 12, the league champion at a minimum goes to the Sugar Bowl, provided it isn’t hosting a College Football Playoff semifinal.

Some years, like this year, when a Big 12 team makes the playoff, another can go to New Orleans. And nothing precludes another league team from going at-large to another New Year’s Six game.

After that, the Big 12 tie-ins are, in order: the Alamo Bowl, Russell Athletic, Texas, Liberty, Cactus and Heart of Dallas.

The Alamo Bowl matches a Big 12 team against a Pac-12 team, so the potential is always there for a matchup against a name brand like USC, UCLA and Stanford.

“For us, the Alamo Bowl in our state is the marquee bowl for recruiting,” Del Conte said. “The date is absolutely perfect, in terms of a national audience. For us, recruiting in the state of Texas and being relevant in the state of Texas, the Alamo Bowl is a marquee bowl for us.”

This is TCU’s first appearance in the Alamo Bowl, which began in 1993.

“The Alamo Bowl is one of my check-mark bowls,” Patterson said. “I wanted to play in the state, like the Cotton Bowl. You’re from Texas, you love all of them when you get a chance to play in front of your home crowd.”

TCU is 14-15-1 in bowls. Under Patterson, it’s 8-5. The Frogs have defeated mid-majors Louisiana Tech, Boise State, Houston, Northern Illinois and Colorado State in bowls since Patterson became head coach.

But two of the past three bowl wins have come against meatier competition, Wisconsin and Ole Miss. Next weekend brings a chance to beat Oregon, a CFP finalist a year ago.

The Frogs have stepped up in weight class.

“I’m one of those guys, you go to win bowl games,” Patterson said. “That’s how we practice. We practice to win bowl games. Some think if you’re in the playoff or you’re in this bowl game, then you get really ready. We get ready for all of them.”

This story was originally published December 26, 2015 at 12:57 PM with the headline "In the Big 12, TCU has reached a higher bowl stage, too."