FORT WORTH—With Ohio State’s Ryan Day and Alabama’s Nick Saban politicking like primary candidates on national television before and after TCU’s loss Saturday in the Big 12 championship, there was a bit of stress that evening that maybe the Horned Frogs would get bounced from the College Football Playoff in favor of bigger brands. After the overtime loss against Kansas State, TCU coach Sonny Dykes said he would trust the committee and put his program’s fate in its hands.
But on Sunday, when the TCU team, coaches, administrators, donors and their families met for a Selection Sunday watch party inside their stadium, some 25 miles from where the committee was making its final decisions, no one could really know what was going to happen.