In the end, there was chaos. The play calling was iffy, the pace was stressful and the execution was … brilliant?
Yes, brilliant.
TCU delivered yet another thrilling come-from-behind win over Baylor, keeping its perfect season intact with a walk-off field goal as time expired. It wasn’t easy or pretty, which was a theme that hit just about every College Football Playoff contender this weekend. In the end, however, TCU won.
It was weird and confusing, but the outcome was familiar.
For only the second time this year, TCU failed to cover a spread. When you consider where we are in the calendar, that's pretty remarkable. The Horned Frogs aren’t just a great story; they are one of the surest things in college football right now.
They are also a complicated evaluation. The style of play (and wins) certainly gives off the impression that TCU is vulnerable. And while the strength of schedule has been so much better than many give this team credit for, it’s also a matter of interpretation.
The Horned Frogs beat four consecutive ranked teams earlier this year: Oklahoma, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Kansas State. It goes without saying that most of these teams, except for Kansas State, have struggled since.
Should these wins be evaluated for what they were back then or what they are now? The answer, for many, is likely somewhere in between.
No matter where you stand on the discussion, one thing isn’t up for debate: TCU is two wins away from reaching the College Football Playoff, and there are no more road games to be played.
And if we're going to knock TCU weekly, let's at least spread it around. Every playoff contender looked certifiably “meh” in Week 12. Heck, Tennessee allowed a football team to post a basketball score on them.
So, why not TCU?
The Horned Frogs are now 18-1 to win the national championship. Earlier this year, you could have bet them at 150-1 or higher. Early on Saturday, you could have had the Horned Frogs at 30-1. Tennessee’s loss jostled those odds (and others) a great deal.
Still, it feels like TCU is going to need two more wins to get into the playoff. One could make an argument that the Horned Frogs have played well enough to lose a game. But without a conference championship, TCU’s chaotic year might not propel them forward.
We shall see, although one reality remains: no team has been more fun to watch each and every week than this one.