Gary Patterson sends message to TCU ahead of Big 12 Championship
Oct 2, 2021; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; TCU Horned Frogs head coach Gary Patterson before the game against the Texas Longhorns at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Gary Patterson may have left the TCU Horned Frogs a year ago, but his heart was clearly with them on Saturday.
Patterson sent a message of support to TCU on Saturday ahead of the Big 12 Championship, where the Horned Frogs were facing Kansas State with a likely College Football Playoff berth on the line. Patterson wished the Frogs good luck, and even encouraged them to make up for “being left out in 2014.”
This tweet is for the Frog family, Big12, State of Texas and being left out in 2014 “Good luck and Go Frogs”!
— Gary Patterson (@FBCoachP) December 3, 2022
Patterson’s 2014 reference is to the 12-1 TCU team that year. They won the Big 12 but were left out of the inaugural playoff, partly because the Big 12 did not have a championship game at the time. TCU actually had sat at No. 3 in the second-to-last set of playoff rankings, but were leapfrogged by eventual champion Ohio State after the Buckeyes won the Big Ten championship.
TCU had its reasons for moving on from Patterson, and their 12-0 campaign has silenced pretty much all of the doubters. Their former coach is now an assistant at Texas, but at least for one day, he’s rooting for his old school.
