No heartache here

For many schools and fans, the college football season is over…at least for their team. Before you get too worked up over the Frogs not reaching a BCS Bowl, consider these nuggets:

• You can’t get there by losing to SMU.
• I remember (and so can many) when TCU’s bowl appearances post-1960 could be counted on three fingers – 1965 Sun, 1984 Bluebonnet and 1994 Independence. Count ‘em! Three in 30 seasons. All losses by the way.
• TCU is one of just 12 programs nationally to play in a bowl game in 13 of the last 14 seasons.
• TCU (10-2) has reached the 10-win mark for the fourth straight year and eighth time in the last 10 seasons under Patterson. Prior to his arrival on campus in 1998, the Horned Frogs had just four 10-win seasons in their history.

While the Sugar Bowl was tantalizingly close, and Frog fans have become accustomed to their bowl flight “upgrades” to Tempe and Pasadena the last two seasons, one must remember that this 2011 TCU team overcame and over-delivered. The Frogs had lost 27 seniors off a Rose Bowl championship team, the secondary was untested and Andy Dalton was living in Cincinnati. This team sat at 3-2 on October 1st. “Dead-in-the-water” was the description many uttered.

Meanwhile, Coach P and staff kept pushing and probably did their best job of coaching in the Patterson era.

My advice to all: Don’t take any bowl for granted. As my dad says, “It’s a short trip from the penthouse to the outhouse.”

And if you haven’t lifted a glass to the 2011 Horned Frogs, today would be a good day.

Kick ‘Em High!