LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The clock struck midnight on the TCU football season Monday night when Georgia set offensive records in a 65-7 win in the College Football Playoff championship game. The Bulldogs scored 17 points in the first quarter and 38 in the first half – both records – as they scored on all six possessions. TCU quarterback Max Duggan threw two interceptions, which resulted in 10 points. Georgia didn’t punt until its first possession of the second half. The 65 points was a CFP record. 

The loss ends a fever dream for the Horned Frogs, who were picked seventh in the Big 12 and entered the season unranked in every major poll. Sonny Dykes became the first coach in nearly a decade to lead a team to a national title game in their first year on campus. TCU started the season 12-0 and knocked off Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl. 

Duggan gets outdueled: The story of Max Duggan is one of redemption and determination. His name will echo in the halls of TCU for generations. He was beaten twice by Dykes in games against SMU and then lost his job in the offseason to Chandler Morris. Duggan also underwent heart surgery behind the scenes. But he never wavered and was ready for action when Morris was injured in the season opener against Colorado. 

The senior from Iowa led the Horned Frogs to a 12-0 regular season and was rewarded with a trip to New York City for the Heisman Trophy presentation, where he finished second to USC gunslinger Caleb Williams. Duggan finished the regular season with 3,070 yards passing and 29 touchdowns to three interceptions on 66.5 percent completions. If the 2022 Horned Frogs had a spirit animal, it was their star quarterback. 

But he faltered down the stretch over the team’s last three games. Duggan was 18 of 36 for 251 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in the overtime loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 titl game. He was only 14 of 29 for 225 yards, two touchdowns, and two picks in the win over Michigan. And against Georgia in the biggest game in program history, Duggan was 14 of 22 for 152 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions. He only completed 52.8 percent of his passes over the last three games compared to 66.5 in the first 12. He threw five interceptions over the final three contests after only throwing five in the first 12. Duggan averaged 256 yards passing a game in the first 12 contests, and that's with only attempting three passes in the opener against Colorado. That average dipped to 209 yards as TCU went 1-2 down the stretch. 

TCU required a Herculean effort from Duggan to knock off the reigning champs. He needed to outplay fellow Heisman finalist Stetson Bennett for the Horned Frogs to win. Instead, Bennett was nearly perfect. He completed 18 of 25 passes for 304 yards and four touchdowns. He added two more touchdowns on the ground. Duggan was merely pedestrian. 

Whipped in the trenches: Georgia did to TCU what everyone assumed Michigan would do in the previous game. The Horned Frogs were dominated up front on both sides of the ball. They considered the offensive line a strength all season, but the front five were overwhelmed by the speed and power of the Georgia defensive line and linebackers. TCU couldn’t establish a running game to take pressure off Duggan. The absence of start running back Kendre Miller to injury didn’t help. 

Garrett Riley’s offense ran the ball 41 times for 273 yards and three scores in the Fiesta Bowl win over the favored Wolverines. The Horned Frogs averaged 6.4 yards a carry with backup Emari Demercado accounting for 150 yards on 17 carries in relief duty. Georgia didn’t allow them to repeat the trick. 

The front seven didn’t fare much better for the TCU defense. Georgia did whatever it wanted offensively, especially in the first half. TCU couldn’t take away the run and force the Bulldogs into a one-dimensional offense. Instead, Bennett punished the Horned Frogs with his legs and his arm. They scored on all six possessions of the first half and set a College Football Playoff record for most points scored in the first quarter and the first half. 

No shame for Horned Frogs: The lopsided loss to Georgia shouldn’t erase the feel-good feelings permeating from the TCU program after 2022. Dykes was clearly the right hire. The Horned Frogs beat Texas on the road and Oklahoma at home. They had a quarterback finish second in for the Heisman. The defense improved with Joe Gillespie in charge. Around 130 other FBS programs would’ve easily traded places with TCU on Monday night, even with the blowout loss. 

Maybe moral victories don’t taste like sugar, but it the 2022 season was exactly the medicine that the doctor ordered. TCU was 5-7 last season and 16-18 in the three years before Dykes was hired. Only four players on the roster entered the year with postseason experience as Horned Frogs. 

Transition is never easy. That’s even more true when a program moves on from a coach with a statue outside of the football facility after 20 years in charge. The Horned Frogs were a WAC team in 1999 and a member of Conference USA at the turn of the century. They were the second-best team in America in 2022. The spotlight and marketing opportunities from reaching the CFP championship game are estimated to be worth over $2 billion dollars. That money should ease the pain felt from the loss on Monday night.