TCU came into the 2022 season with a list of questions. A new coach, an unproven quarterback and a roster riddled by the transfer portal. These questions were answered by TCU after having their best season in school history. 

One of the answers was the emergence of former starter turned backup quarterback Max Duggan. Duggan, who was benched before the season started for second year transfer from Oklahoma, Chandler Morris, has had the best year of his college career so far. Duggan has thrown for 3,546 yards with 32 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions. All of these successes have culminated into a College Football National Championship Game appearance and being a Heisman Trophy Finalist, the school’s first finalist since 2009.

The Horned Frogs are coached by Sonny Dykes. Dykes, a long time college coach, is in his first year with the Horned Frogs and is bringing success along with him. Dykes started his coaching career being an assistant under the late Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach at Texas Tech. Under Leach, Dykes became a disciple of the “Air Raid” offense. After numerous coaching jobs, Dykes became the coach of the Frogs long time rival SMU. Four years later, he made the switch across town. What makes Dykes’ rise to the top even more unprecedented is that Dykes has only coached one ten win team in his career, and out of the 11 seasons he’s coached before this year, 5 of them have been losing seasons. With a win on Monday night, Dykes can erase those 5 seasons from memory and become just the fourth coach in history to win the National Championship in their first year with a new team.

This is TCU’s first college football playoff appearance in school history, and after knocking off a heavily favored Michigan team 51 to 45, they will get to play for the school’s first outright title. Now only one question remains: Will TCU win it all?