More Than A Bowl Win: TCU's Peach Bowl Victory Is Just The Next Step

Gary Patterson sounded like a broken record from the moment TCU was left out of the first ever College Football Playoff, but it wasn't what you might expect from a coach that watched his team get snubbed. Instead of complaining, instead of lobbying, instead of calling people out, Patterson realized that when you point a finger at someone else you've got a few pointing back at you.

So instead of getting in front of a microphone and beating his chest and screaming about "Murica, he took the blame. He took the blame for nine minutes in Waco on October 11th, and said if you want to get into the playoffs, you can't leave any doubt.

TCU left little doubt that they were the better team on Wednesday afternoon, as they thoroughly dismantled what was (not what was thought to be, what actually was) a very good Ole Miss football team. It was the exclamation point on a 12-1 season that even the biggest TCU homers couldn't have seen coming, and it capped off an incredible 2014 TCU Athletics campaign in brilliant fashion.

They also sent a message to the rest of the country, one that Baylor can also send today when they square off against Michigan State: The Big 12 isn't down just because Texas and Oklahoma are. Not even close.

Trevone Boykin should enter 2015 as one of two Heisman favorites, and with him TCU will enter the 2015 season with yet another chip on their shoulder, and probably ranked in the top 5 in the country. Do you have any idea how terrifying that will be? A top 5 team that's pissed at the world? Get ready.

And while Texas and Oklahoma are starting to reload, but probably aren't quite there yet, while Baylor breaks in a new quarterback, while Bill Snyder keeps building his family, and while the rest of the Big 12 looks around and stares at each other, TCU will bring back ten starters on offense, six on defense, and the memory of rejection, once again.

I know that Friday, November 27th is a date that looms large on the minds of TCU fans everywhere, and for good reason, but I want to point to Thursday, September 3rd. That's TCU first game of the season, when they head up north to face off against Minnesota. That's the first game of TCU's 2015 playoff campaign. It's the first of 12, possibly 13 or 14, final games Trevone Boykin and a slew of other Horned Frogs will play clad in the purple and white. So, like we did with Dalton, and Kerley, and Hughes, and Tank, let's enjoy Boykin, and Doctson, and Hackett, and Kindred, and all the others for just a little longer.

And maybe, just maybe, 2015 could be even better.

Go Frogs.