PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — How do you win over the school football-watching country after a loss? TCU quarterback Max Duggan, who was crying and red-faced earlier this month after his team fell agonizingly short within the Big 12 title game against Kansas State for the Horned Frogs’ only lack of the season, can let you know.
An hour before the tears began falling, Duggan had pitched himself into the tip zone for a touchdown then had found Jared Wiley for a two-point conversion to cap a tying drive with lower than two minutes left in regulation. The TV cameras had caught him on the sideline, blood throughout his face and determination in his eyes. The senior from Council Bluffs, Iowa, couldn’t deliver the Horned Frogs the Big 12 title, but he was grit personified, and TCU became the primary program from Texas to make the College Football Playoff despite the 31-28 loss to the Wildcats.
It was redemption for 2014, when TCU was dropped from fourth to sixth in the ultimate rankings since the Big 12 didn’t have a title game for it to win. It was a culmination of sorts for a program that former head coach Gary Patterson built from a WAC no one to a Big 12 powerhouse. It was a redeeming arc after a 3-5 begin to 2021 resulted in Patterson’s firing, Sonny Dykes’ hiring and a subsequent rise through the conference. It got here as the results of five one-score victories that made prognosticators look skeptically on the Horned Frogs’ probabilities. Now, nonetheless, TCU is one win over Michigan away from playing for the primary time within the national championship game, so what does that matter?
“It’s at all times hard to predict what someone’s legacy goes to be, but I feel that you simply do take a look at Max and I feel it’s going to be much like [quarterback] Andy Dalton in plenty of ways,” Dykes said this week. “I feel you take a look at Andy and his time at TCU and he type of put TCU on the map. Took them to a Rose Bowl. Became one among the blokes you consider once you consider TCU football. Max goes to be on that Mount Rushmore of TCU guys. He actually deserves to be.”
Dalton led the Horned Frogs to an undefeated 2010 season that resulted in a Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin, helping hand this system, then within the Mountain West, the legitimacy to get a Big 12 invite. But when Duggan can deliver two more victories, his legend will extend far beyond Fort Price.
Duggan has an enticing story to inform. After COVID-19 screening ahead of the 2020 season revealed Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a condition affecting his heart, he underwent a nine-hour heart surgery. Two days after that, he had emergency surgery to take care of a subsequent blood clot. He still played that season, later saying he “didn’t practice in any respect,” not due to heart condition but because he had a broken bone and torn tendon in his foot that forced him to get shot with painkillers every week.
When Dykes got here in ahead of this season, he named Chandler Morris the starting quarterback over Duggan. On this era by which the transfer portal is king, Duggan still decided to remain. He got one other probability after Morris was injured within the season opener against Colorado, and never let go of the job. And there he was on Thursday, taking a matter comparing himself to TCU football royalty.
“While you come here out of highschool, you ought to be like those guys, Andy [Dalton], [LaDainian Tomlinson], Bob Lilly,” he said. “All of our greats. While you come here, you ought to be like those [guys]. You should leave an impact on this program and this university, similar to those guys.”
Win or lose on Saturday, Duggan has written a legacy to face alongside that group, however the story isn’t over quite yet.
“He makes great reads,” Michigan linebacker Junior Colson said. “He can kill us along with his legs if we let him. … He’s a warrior, he’s a fighter. You’ll be able to tell, each time, especially if things get tough, he’ll put the team on his back and carry them.”
He might just carry them to the national title game.
PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — How do you win over the school football-watching country after a loss? TCU quarterback Max Duggan, who was crying and red-faced earlier this month after his team fell agonizingly short within the Big 12 title game against Kansas State for the Horned Frogs’ only lack of the season, can let you know.
An hour before the tears began falling, Duggan had pitched himself into the tip zone for a touchdown then had found Jared Wiley for a two-point conversion to cap a tying drive with lower than two minutes left in regulation. The TV cameras had caught him on the sideline, blood throughout his face and determination in his eyes. The senior from Council Bluffs, Iowa, couldn’t deliver the Horned Frogs the Big 12 title, but he was grit personified, and TCU became the primary program from Texas to make the College Football Playoff despite the 31-28 loss to the Wildcats.
It was redemption for 2014, when TCU was dropped from fourth to sixth in the ultimate rankings since the Big 12 didn’t have a title game for it to win. It was a culmination of sorts for a program that former head coach Gary Patterson built from a WAC no one to a Big 12 powerhouse. It was a redeeming arc after a 3-5 begin to 2021 resulted in Patterson’s firing, Sonny Dykes’ hiring and a subsequent rise through the conference. It got here as the results of five one-score victories that made prognosticators look skeptically on the Horned Frogs’ probabilities. Now, nonetheless, TCU is one win over Michigan away from playing for the primary time within the national championship game, so what does that matter?
“It’s at all times hard to predict what someone’s legacy goes to be, but I feel that you simply do take a look at Max and I feel it’s going to be much like [quarterback] Andy Dalton in plenty of ways,” Dykes said this week. “I feel you take a look at Andy and his time at TCU and he type of put TCU on the map. Took them to a Rose Bowl. Became one among the blokes you consider once you consider TCU football. Max goes to be on that Mount Rushmore of TCU guys. He actually deserves to be.”
Dalton led the Horned Frogs to an undefeated 2010 season that resulted in a Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin, helping hand this system, then within the Mountain West, the legitimacy to get a Big 12 invite. But when Duggan can deliver two more victories, his legend will extend far beyond Fort Price.
Duggan has an enticing story to inform. After COVID-19 screening ahead of the 2020 season revealed Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a condition affecting his heart, he underwent a nine-hour heart surgery. Two days after that, he had emergency surgery to take care of a subsequent blood clot. He still played that season, later saying he “didn’t practice in any respect,” not due to heart condition but because he had a broken bone and torn tendon in his foot that forced him to get shot with painkillers every week.
When Dykes got here in ahead of this season, he named Chandler Morris the starting quarterback over Duggan. On this era by which the transfer portal is king, Duggan still decided to remain. He got one other probability after Morris was injured within the season opener against Colorado, and never let go of the job. And there he was on Thursday, taking a matter comparing himself to TCU football royalty.
“While you come here out of highschool, you ought to be like those guys, Andy [Dalton], [LaDainian Tomlinson], Bob Lilly,” he said. “All of our greats. While you come here, you ought to be like those [guys]. You should leave an impact on this program and this university, similar to those guys.”
Win or lose on Saturday, Duggan has written a legacy to face alongside that group, however the story isn’t over quite yet.
“He makes great reads,” Michigan linebacker Junior Colson said. “He can kill us along with his legs if we let him. … He’s a warrior, he’s a fighter. You’ll be able to tell, each time, especially if things get tough, he’ll put the team on his back and carry them.”
He might just carry them to the national title game.
