Texas Christian University was bequeathed by legendary coach Leo Robert “Dutch” Meyer a quote that forever echoes around their campus.
“Fight em until hell freezes over. Then fight em on the ice”.
If there is ever a quote that embodies a team, a program, a school, and a fan base it is Coach Meyer’s peppery eloquence. For it is from that where this current Horned Frogs team draws its inspiration to stand one win away from perhaps the most improbable championship in college football history.
Years and years of being overlooked by pollsters, avoided by major programs for non-conference scheduling, and openly mocked and disrespected by fans and media have finally come to a head. On New Year’s Eve 2022 hell froze over.
Still, the Frogs kept fighting to the tune of a 51-45 victory over college football blue-blood Michigan.
Not that they needed more bulletin board material, the Frogs were particularly annoyed with their opponents’ outward hubris. One Michigan player jokingly acted as if he wasn’t sure about the conference from which TCU hailed (it’s safe to say he knows now). Others spoke of playing either Georgia or a rematch with rival Ohio State in Los Angeles. They were overlooking the fight that was on their hands. TCU swung first, hard, and didn’t stop until they sent the Wolverines back to Ann Arbor with their collective tails between their legs.
That wasn’t the only chip on their shoulder. It was one of many. Flashback to the first week of September.
Around the country, to those that actually acknowledged knowing anything about TCU, they were perceived as a rag-tag bunch of big school rejects. The best-case scenario was landing in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl and getting unceremoniously trucked by a Mid-Level B1G team.
With a senior quarterback named Max Duggan who had lost his starting job and a new coach named Sonny Dykes trying to replace a legend, cautious optimism bordered on Pollyannaism. There were road games against the defending conference champion Baylor Bears and the perennially “BACK” Texas Longhorns. Those games wouldn’t matter because by the time they were played “Mighty” Oklahoma and “Less Mighty But Still Mightier than TCU” Oklahoma State will have come into Fort Worth and cleaned their clocks.
8-4 would be a dream season. Dykes would be lauded for guiding his team to the brink of the Alamo Bowl, and the eventual conference champ would be overlooked by the CFP committee (unless of course it’s Texas or Oklahoma).
It didn’t start there, either.
For a quarter of a century, the TCU football program has been among the best in the nation. The Frogs have complied a 13-6 bowl record, 13 ten win seasons, at least a share of eight conference titles, and wins in both a BCS and a New Years Six bowl game. They have more 10 win seasons in the 21st century than big, respected programs such as Texas, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Tennessee, USC, and Michigan.
Despite this, they’ve always been seen as teenagers trying to snag a vacant seat at the grownup table on Thanksgiving day. This was best personified in 2010 by former Ohio State President Gordon Gee. Speaking of TCU’s undefeated team, Gee referred to their Mountain West competition as the “Little Sisters of the Poor”. Ohio State’s conference rival Wisconsin would come to regret that remark, as they fell victim to TCU in that year’s Rose Bowl. Another fight until and after hell had frozen over.
These is just a few examples. We could go on for hours with examples of subtle and blatant disrespect this program and their fans have had to endure for their love and loyalty to the Disciples of Christ school on 272 beautiful tree-lined acres in Southwest Fort Worth. But one more game will be played this season against the 14-0 Georgia Bulldogs.
The defending national champions are installed as heavy favorites and deservingly so. They are the most formidable opponent Texas Christian University has ever faced on a football field. They have the talent and size advantage. They can seemingly play any style of game. They have superior depth at every position. They have a mountain of considerable game experience.
Yada Yada Yada…
This is the scenario that the Frogs have lived for the last 25 years. To them, their predecessors, their students, their fans, and their city, it’s not just another football game. This is a fight. A fight for respect. A fight for recognition. A fight to forever shut down the preconceived notions of “small school” and “Little Sisters of the Poor.” A battle to incinerate the brand bias that has dogged them for more than a generation.
This is for all of us. This is for LaDainian Tomlinson, Bob Lilly, and Andy Dalton. This is for Tank Carder, Basil Mitchell, and Jeff Ballard. This is for Jim Wacker, Jim Pittman and Gary Patterson. This is for all of us that sat in The Carter and watched the Southwest Conference powerhouses take turns abusing us. This is for all of us.
They may not win. The odds are stacked against them. But make no mistake. TCU will fight Georgia until hell freezes over and then they’ll fight em on the ice.