Quarterback Trevone Boykin came up big against the Sooners in 2014
1 THE HUNT IS ON ON OCTOBER 4 2014 TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY TCU HAD A CHANCE TO MAKE A NAME FOR ITSELF IN THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL WORLD THE FOURTH RANKED OKLAHOMA SOONERS HAD ARRIVED AT AMON G CARTER STADIUM IN FORT WORTH TEXAS TO FACE THE TCU HORNED FROGS The game would be played in front of a packed crowd dressed in TCU purple As was often the case Oklahoma was favored to win Some even thought that Oklahoma's team was the best in college football that year But the game would be settled on the field and the Horned Frogs hoped their home crowd could help put them over the top It was time for TCU to see where it stood in the Big 12 Conference TCU got the ball first The Horned Frogs had scored on the opening drive of their first three games that season Oklahoma had not allowed any points on opening drives that year Something had to give
B. J. Catalon 23 watches as tight end Cliff Murphy recovers Boykin's fumble for the game's first touchdown On the opening drive the Horned Frogs moved quickly into Oklahoma's red zone where they faced third and goal from the l yard line Quarterback Trevone Boykin kept the ball on a draw play and lunged for the end zone He took a hard hit just before crossing the goal line The ball popped out of his arms and rolled into the end zone But TCU tight end Cliff Murphy recovered the ball for a touchdown The Horned Frogs had caught a lucky break and took a 7-0 lead
HORNED FROGS On TCU's second drive Boykin completed two long passes to All American wide receiver Josh Doctson The Frogs were set up deep in Sooner territory again Junior running back B. J. Catalon ran the ball untouched into the end zone to finish the drive That put TCU on top 14-0 Amon G. Carter Stadium rocked as the TCU fans went crazy This was the moment they had been waiting for The home team was on its way to beating a mighty opponent with the whole country watching But Oklahoma would not go away that easily The Sooners answered with two quick touchdowns of their own At halftime the score was tied 24-24 The back and forth game promised to have a classic finish TCU fans had to relish what was a huge moment for the program Few people had expected much from the Horned Frogs when they PAPER CHAMPIONS The National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA used to decide its Division I national championship on paper not on the field Media organizations and coaching associations once conducted polls of their members to determine the national champion Whichever team got the most votes would be declared the champion by each organization That often led to split championships when one team didn't win every poll In 1992 the NCAA began taking steps to ensure that the No. I and No. 2 teams would face off in a bowl game to determine the national title on the field This move eventually resulted in the College Football Playoff which now slots the top four teams in the country in two national semifinal games played at major bowl sites The winners then meet in the national title game THE HUNT IS ON
