As much fight as Michigan showed, rallying from 18 points late in the third quarter to draw within a field goal, the Wolverines bungled a bushel full of opportunities — including their last fourth-down gasp, when the snap from center caught McCarthy off guard and the ball bounced off his knee, leading to a mad scramble of laterals with less than 30 seconds to play.
The Horned Frogs then had to survive a disquieting moment when officials reviewed the play for targeting before deciding that no foul had occurred.
“It was a hell of a way to end a ballgame,” Dykes said.
The Wolverines had spoken this week of being much better prepared this season than last. They met their two stated goals by winning the Big Ten and beating rival Ohio State for a second straight year following an eight-game losing streak in the rivalry. In their playoff loss to Georgia a year ago, they acknowledged this week, they were just happy to be there.
But from the start, they played as if their place here was not a privilege. Michigan fumbled away one scoring chance in the end zone, wasted another when a trick play went kaput, settled for two short field goals, and surrendered a touchdown when Bud Clark — who also recovered the fumble — picked off McCarthy and bolted 41 yards for the game’s initial score, giving T.C.U. a lead it never relinquished even amid the chaos.
The Horned Frogs, by contrast, were superb when it mattered most.
The roots of their offensive execution, particularly near the goal line, were borne from the disappointment of their only loss — to Kansas State in the Big 12 title game.
When T.C.U. was stonewalled on back-to-back cracks from inside the 1-yard line in overtime, Dykes immediately pledged to be better there if his team got into the playoff. Earlier this week, he said the Horned Frogs would have to be stronger up front, but also more creative.
“We’ve put a lot of work into, a lot of attention to it,” Dykes said several days ago. “When you look at college football these days, teams are so evenly matched, typically what the game comes down to is being able to convert third downs and, especially, fourth downs and scoring situations.”
