TCU out of college football playoff despite defeating Iowa State

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Sunday afternoon was judgement day for all College Football and its fans as we learned the who would be participating in the inaugural College Football Playoffs. Unfortunately for the fans of both Texas schools in contention; the TCU Horned Frogs and the Baylor Bears were not selected to participate and were passed over in favor of Big 10 Champion the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Despite being interviewed numerous times since the final decision was released, the chairman of the college football committee Jeff Long left many fans, not just from these two fan bases, wondering how settled on the fourth team. Speculation over the Big 12 being penalized for not having a conference championship have since been debunked and Long admitted that if things went differently that could have allowed the conference to have two teams in the final four.

Hearing that may not ease the frustration for Horned Frog fans who just last week thought they were a shoe-in to make the playoffs after being ranked third in the nation. But as we learned throughout the entire season, there is no continuity in how the 12-person committee decided the rankings from week to week and the fact that they cleared the rankings each week to vote may have been the Horned Frogs ultimate undoing.

Despite losing in Week 7 in a heart-breaker to Baylor, the team bounced back the rest of the season and played well enough to impress the voters to keep them in consideration — so they thought. With each of the remaining three teams in contention for the fourth and final spot having one game remaining ending the year against a bad Iowa State Cyclones program put TCU in a precarious situation. While Baylor and Ohio State were playing ranked teams in their final games, TCU had no way of impressing the voters  playing against the lowly Cyclones — even though it was speculated that the committee was  thought to be impressed by Horned Frogs total body of work.

Not only did Baylor play well in defeating Kansas State 38-27 but Ohio State totally dominated its opponent, Wisconsin 59-0, leaving the committee no choice but to reconsider their previous weeks ranking decision. In the end they catapulted the  Buckeyes into the fourth slot and left TCU out of college football playoff despite defeating Iowa State 55-3.

Despite the disappointment of not playing in the playoffs, TCU fans have to be proud of the great season that the Horned Frogs had in 2014. Not only did they show that they belonged in the Big 12 by defeating traditional powers Oklahoma and Texas, but they proved to the nation that Gary Patterson still is one of the best coaches in the nation — and schools like Michigan and Wisconsin are starting to take notice as they look for new head coaches

Those looking to see if this was a flash in a pan season only need to know that its not and next season could be just as exciting with the return of quarterback Trevone Boykin under center. Despite not being invited to New York for the Heisman Ceremony this Saturday, Boykin proved on the field that he was a worthy candidate by shattering the TCU passing record book — on the year he threw for 3,714 yards and had 30 touchdown passes.

And while the team will lose key contributors defensively, the core of the offense — receivers Josh Docston Kolby Listenbee and Deante Gray  along with  running backs BJ Cantelon and Aaron Green all are slated to return. So fear not Horned Frog fans 2015 could actually be a better season and the program will have two things going for them next year: their preseason ranking will be probably be in the top 10 and Baylor will have to travel to Amon G. Carter Stadium for the highly anticipated rematch.