GAME NOTES
https://gofrogs.com/documents/2022/12/19/TCU_Football_Notes_-_Michigan_Game.pdf
FORT WORTH — No. 3 TCU will make its first College Football Playoff appearance when it faces No. 2 Michigan in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
ABOUT THE GAME
•The Horned Frogs and Wolverines will be meeting for the first time on the gridiron. TCU’s last game against a Big Ten opponent was a 34-13 win at Purdue in 2019.
•TCU is the first school from the state of Texas to make the College Football Playoff and just the second team (Michigan, 2021) to be in the CFP after starting the season unranked.
•TCU has won 12 games for the fifth time in its history and first since 2014. This season, like 2014, saw the Horned Frogs picked to finish seventh in the Big 12.
•TCU’s five wins over ranked opponents is tied with Tennessee for the national lead.
•TCU is 2-0 against Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. The Horned Frogs won 38-36 and 31-14 against Stanford in the 2007 and 2008 seasons, respectively, when Harbaugh was head coach of the Cardinal.
•The Horned Frogs will play in their first bowl game since the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl, a 10-7 overtime win against Cal at Chase Field in Phoenix. TCU was selected to the 2020 Texas Bowl versus Arkansas, but the game was canceled.
•TCU will be playing in its second Fiesta Bowl and game at State Farm Stadium, having dropped a 17-10 decision to Boise State in 2010.
•TCU will play outside the state of Texas for just the fourth time this season and first since Oct. 29 at West Virginia. The Horned Frogs’ last five games, covering all four contests in November and the Dec. 3 Big 12 Championship, were in Texas.
•TCU will be playing in its 35th bowl game and has a record of 17-16-1.
TALKING HORNED FROGS
•TCU was the first Big 12 team to be 12-0 since Texas in 2009. The Horned Frogs were also the first Big 12 member to go 9-0 in conference play since Oklahoma in 2016.
•Five of TCU’s wins were against teams it lost to by at least two scores last season, including four by at least three scores.
•TCU is the first team since 1975 to win seven straight games by 10 points or less.
•Sonny Dykes became the first head football coach in TCU and Big 12 history to start 12-0 in his first season. He’s just the fourth head coach nationally since 1996 to accomplish the feat.
•The Horned Frogs are just the third team since 1960 (Stanford, 2012; Iowa, 1960) to win four consecutive games over ranked opponents in a calendar month.
•TCU’s four consecutive games with a win over a ranked opponent ties for first nationally since 1996.
•TCU already has seven more wins than it had all of last season. Only Tulane (+9) has a bigger improvement.
MEET THE NEW BOSS
•Sonny Dykes is in his first season as head coach of the Horned Frogs and second overall at TCU.
•Dykes has won six National Coach of the Year awards this season in addition to being the unanimous Big 12 Coach of the Year.
•Dykes was an offensive analyst on the 2017 TCU team that posted an 11-3 record, played in the Big 12 Championship Game and finished the season with a No. 9 national ranking, its last top-10 appearance.
•Dykes was head coach at SMU the previous four seasons (2018-21). He led the Mustangs to three consecutive winning records for the first time since the mid-80s and their first back-to-back victories over TCU since 1992-93.
•Dykes also served as head football coach at Cal (2013-16) and Louisiana Tech (2010-12).
•He is the son of legendary Texas Tech Head Football Coach Spike Dykes (1986-99).
•Sonny Dykes lettered two seasons in baseball at Texas Tech.
GIVING BACK
•Jordy Sandy is donating $20 to Fort Worth’s Hope Center for Autism for every punt inside the 20-yard line. Sandy has a 9-year-old cousin with autism back home in Australia. He has totaled $300 with 15 punts inside the 20 this season.
TCU SUPPORT
•Since it began Big 12 play in 2012, TCU has had over $400 million in donor-funded athletics facilities upgrades. The most recent project was the $113 million Legends Club & Suites which opened in Fall 2020 on the east side of Amon G. Carter Stadium.
COURTESY TCU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
