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Football:
Ugghhhhhhhhhhh.
The Frogs entered Saturday able to say two things about themselves:
They were demonstrably inferior to Oklahoma, having lost by 18 points earlier in the year.
They were ranked No. 11, putting them in line for one of the New Year’s Six bowls, the series of committee-arranged, extra-lucrative, non-Playoff games.
After losing the Big 12 title rematch, the Frogs left Sunday able to say two things about themselves:
They were still demonstrably inferior to Oklahoma.
They were no longer ranked in the top 12 and had fallen into the Big 12’s normal bowl rotation, kicking everybody else in the conference down a peg (more or less) as well.
The Big 12 title game might’ve helped Oklahoma rank No. 2 instead of No. 3, but that didn’t matter, since they’d be playing Georgia in the Rose either way.
TCU, Stanford to compete in 2017 Valero Alamo Bowl | KSAT
But hey, this is a heck of a consolation prize.
The Cardinal lost to USC in the Pac-12 title game 31-28, missing out on a New Year's Six bowl invite.
But Stanford won its previous three games, including a 38-20 thrashing of Notre Dame. The Horned Frogs went 3-3 after starting 7-0.
The two teams last faced each other on Sept. 8, 2008, with TCU winning 31-14.
The game will be played at the Alamodome on Dec. 28.
This will be the first time Stanford competes in Alamo Bowl. TCU last made the trip to San Antonio in 2016, when the came back to beat the Oregon Ducks in triple overtime.
Five things every TCU fan should know about Stanford | The Star-Telegram
We will have plenty on Stanford in the coming weeks, but this is a good starting point.
2. Running with Love — Running back Bryce Love is second in the nation with 1,973 yards and 17 touchdowns. The blazing fast junior is third nationally with 8.32 yards per carry... and he is a pre-med student on top of that.
3. Pick 16 — The Cardinal defense has 16 interceptions spread out between 10 players. Only 10 schools have more interceptions than Stanford. Safety Justin Reid leads the team with five picks.
Basketball:
Why the SMU-TCU basketball rivalry is taking on new meaning this season | Sports Day
This game, tonight, is HUGE.
SMU comes into the game with an understandable amount of confidence. It's coming off its second top-25 win of the season and won last year's meeting with the Frogs 74-59.
But this is a different Mustang team, featuring just three scholarship players from last year's NCAA tournament appearance. Gone is Semi Ojeleye and the 23 points he put up against TCU a year ago.
On the other hand, TCU is more experienced and more developed in its second year under Dixon. The Frogs are seventh in the country in field-goal percentage, making 52.5 percent of its shots. It sets up an interesting dynamic against SMU's defense, ranked third in points allowed per game (56.3).
TCU puts perfect mark on line vs. nemesis SMU | Fox Sports
This was close to being a ranked matchup, as the Ponies pummeled USC over the weekend, but couldn’t quite crack the top 25.
The Horned Frogs, up three spots to No. 20 in the latest Associated Press poll, will try to break a five-game losing streak to SMU, their longtime rivals some 30 miles to the east.
Also on the line will be the TCU’s nation-leading winning streak, which they extended to 13 games with a 92-66 win over Yale on Saturday night in Fort Worth. That victory, paired with its win over Belmont earlier last week, marked the first time the Horned Frogs had won consecutive games as a ranked team since January 1999.