TCU gets Big 12 title shot with win
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — No. 12 TCU will get another shot against No. 4 Oklahoma. This one will be closer to home with a chance to win a Big 12 trophy — and maybe even make a case for more.
"I relish the chance to win a championship," Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson said.
Kenny Hill threw three touchdowns and ran 3 yards for another score as the Horned Frogs clinched a spot in the Big 12 championship game in nearby Arlington, with a 45-22 win over Baylor on Friday.
The Horned Frogs (102, 7-2 Big 12) will play OU (10-1, 7-1) for the Big 12 title on Dec. 2. That will come three weeks after TCU's 38-20 loss to the Sooners.
"That's really what it is, win a Big 12 championship," linebacker Ty Summers said.
With No. 2 Miami suffering its first loss Friday, and still games Saturday before the conference championship games next weekend, there's even the chance TCU could get back in the conversation for a playoff spot.
"There's a lot of football to be played this next week. There's a lot of good-on-good going on. It'll be interesting to see how that works," Patterson said. "Remember, I went from third to sixth after 55-3. So I can promise you there can be a lot of movement . ... Hint, hint."
Back in 2014, the first year of the four-team College Football Playoff when the Big 12 didn't have a title game, TCU was third before finishing the regular season with a 55-3 win over Iowa State. The Horned Frogs dropped to sixth in the final CFP rankings the next day.
"Maybe we'll go from eight to three if we can win,'" Patterson said.
Baylor (1-11, 1-8) led 9-0 less than 2 minutes into the game, including a safety when Hill was sacked and fumbled in the end zone. But TCU was ahead for good after Hill's 7-yard TD pass to Jarrison Stewart made it 14-9 at the end of the first quarter.
"A disappointing end to a disappointing year," Rhule said. "As it has been in many games, we proved for long stretches of the game that we can hang in there with a team of that caliber. And then, a mistake here, a mistake there, a play here, a play there, and the game gets away from us."