GLENDALE – As the media waited for the Sonny Dykes and a select number of TCU players to arrive at the post-game press conference after the Horned Frogs knocked off Michigan, safeties coach Paul Gonzales popped his head into the room and yelled multiple times, ‘when you write, make sure they know which conference we are in!’”

The Big 12 felt on life support when news trickled out before the start of the 2022 season that the Longhorns and Sooners were moving to the greener pastures of the SEC. Oklahoma was the only Big 12 program to reach a College Football Playoff, flaming out each time because of a lack of toughness and defensive prowess. Most expected the same fate to fall upon TCU in the Fiesta Bowl against Michigan. 

Michigan players dismissed TCU and its schedule. National pundits, even former Big 12 players from Texas and Oklahoma, commented on the softness of the schedule and of the defensive reputation. But this isn’t your uncle’s Big 12. Gone are the days of high-powered offenses abusing hapless defenses. Baylor won the conference last year thanks to a powerful run game and a terrorizing defense. Go ask Ole Miss, which lost to the Bears in the Sugar Bowl. The team they beat in the title game, Oklahoma State, also posted one of the nation's top defenses. 

“We feel like the Big 12 is a very physical conference,” TCU linebacker Dee Winters, who returned one of the Horned Frogs’ two interceptions for touchdowns, said after the win over Michigan. “We just wanted to come out and showcase what the Big 12 is all about.” 

That’s exactly what the gritty Frogs did in the 51-45 victory that propelled to become the first Big 12 program to reach the final of the College Football Playoff. The 51 points scored on Michigan was 24 more than the Wolverines had allowed to a single opponent all season. They only allowed 44 total points through the first four games. 

Ohio State, which pushed Georgia to the brink in the other national semifinal, only managed 23 points at home to the defense that TCU backup running back Emari Demercado ran for 150 yards against. As a team, TCU averaged 6.4 yards a carry on 41 attempts against the big, bad Michigan front seven. 

Maybe the defense in the Big 10 isn’t all that different than the rest of the country? Maybe, just maybe, like we found out when Johnny Manziel entered the SEC, that the Big 10 defenses are propped up by poor offenses. Stopping Iowa isn’t the same as defending Quentin Johnston. The whole college football world saw that. 

The reason none of the Big 12 defensive units rank highly in scoring defense is because they face modern offenses with competent offensive coordinators and above-average quarterback play. Michigan only sees that once or twice a season. TCU saw it in nearly every game. 

The way TCU beat up the Wolverines should provide comfort to the new-look Big 12. The conference doesn’t need Texas or Oklahoma to be relevant. The Horned Frogs scored two defensive touchdowns and came up with a pair of red zone stops in the first half that turned the game. Max Duggan didn’t even complete 50 percent of his passes, and it didn’t matter because the running game was so effective. This wasn’t a fluke. TCU beat Michigan the way Michigan beats other teams. All while the Longhorns and the Sooners watched from home. 

“We heard all week that they were going to out-physical us,” Winters said. “I think it gave us a little bit of motivation.” 

The Big 12 is fine. Cincinnati made the CFP last season. Kansas State won the Big 12 this year. Texas Tech beat Oklahoma and Texas at home for the first time in school history, while finishing with a .500 or better record in Big 12 play for the first time since Mike Leach departed. Baylor won 12 games a year ago. Houston, UCF, and BYU are arriving with talented rosters capable of knocking off Power Five squads. And then there are teams such as Oklahoma State that feel poised to become a power broker in the new landscape that is the Big 12. 

The conference is off life support, and most of the credit should go to TCU. The expanded playoff and leadership of new commissioner Brett Yormark also injects new hope into the conference. Win and you’re in. That should provide solace to the Power Five teams left out of the conference realignment shuffle that took place last offseason. 

But the doubters won’t stop, especially with TCU set to play Georgia for the national title on Jan. 9 in Los Angeles in a true David vs. Goliath battle. The Bulldogs are the reigning national championships. They entered the year ranked third in the AP Poll and boast a roster that ranks second in the 2022 College Football Team Talent Composite put together by 247Sports. That roster includes 15 former five-star and 53 former four-star recruits. TCU was picked seventh in the BIg 12. The Horned Frogs possess the 32nd-most talented roster with one former five-star and 16 former four-star recruits. 

“We’re going to play again in 10 days, and we’re going to hear the same crap,” Dykes said about the distrust in TCU’s ability to hang with the usual powers of college football. “We have to do what we did this week. We’ll need to show up and answer those questions.” 

One of the questions that needs to disappear is if the Big 12 belongs. It does. TCU proved that, as did Cincinnati and Baylor a year ago. Helmets don’t win football games. Neither do gambling lines or star rankings. Teams do, and the Big 12 has enough quality to give the blue bloods of college football a run for their money, even as Texas and Oklahoma ride off into the sunset of search of even more.