By Melissa Triebwasser
Frogs Today staff writer
LOS ANGELES — Many of the talking points surrounding TCUs appearance in the College Football Playoff have centered around whether the Horned Frogs belong.
The “non-traditional powers” that have come before them have not performed particularly well. Washington was pummeled by Alabama in 2016. Cincinnati was beaten by three touchdowns by the Crimson Tide just last year.
TCU was arguably even more unlikely than the two other programs. The Huskies have some history, and the Bearcats lost just three games in the four seasons leading up to their inaugural berth. The Frogs, meanwhile, were coming off of a 5-7 campaign, brought in a new coach for the first time in two decades, did not receive a single vote in any preseason poll, and were picked to finish seventh in the Big 12.