Dee Winters, Quentin Johnston assess how they were able to 'shock' Michigan

Many outside of the locker room of TCU never believed the College Football Playoff was possible, let alone defeating Michigan in the semifinals to advance to the national championship.

Alas, that’s exactly what the Horned Frogs were able to accomplish on New Year’s Eve, sending the Wolverines home by virtue of a 51-45 loss. Two players who knew what TCU was capable of were wide receiver Quentin Johnston and safety Dee Winters, who spoke to the media about how they were able to defeat Michigan.

“Yes, definitely I kind of seen the (inaudible), especially like the third quarter, we started running more of a tempo offense and hurry up. And it was like taking them a minute to get set,” answered Johnston, asked when he knew the Horned Frogs had the Wolverines where they wanted them. “And a lot of them were tired and worn out early. I feel like overall that’s where we had the upper hand.”

While Michigan was off to a fast start due to a 54-yard run by Donovan Edwards on their first play from scrimmage, Winters added that aside from that play, he believes the Horned Frogs had the Wolverines “shook.”

“From a defensive standpoint, I think besides the first play of the game, I think it was the whole game that kind of had them shook,” added Winters. “They were told we were small and they were big. That’s all they’ve been hearing.

“So I think once they realized that we were there to tackle and they felt our strength, they were, like, these guys came to play. And I think they were shocked.”

All season long, TCU hasn’t feared anyone, even if the entire world was counting them out. Now, all that’s left is the Georgia Bulldogs, and they can cap off a histroic season with a title if they have four more quarters of magic in them.

Sonny Dykes explains the moment he knew this TCU team could be special

Meanwhile, TCU coach Sonny Dykes knew what his team was capable of achieving after its performance in the Big 12 opener. The Horned Frogs turned in a dominant 55-24 victory against Oklahoma that day, catapulting themselves into the top 25. 

Few could have imagined the run the TCU would go on next, as it finished Dykes’ inaugural season with a 12-0 record before losing in the conference championship. The Horned Frogs didn’t allow that loss to get them down, however, bouncing back for a 51-45 win against Michigan in a College Football Playoff semifinal game Saturday.

Now with Dykes getting ready to lead TCU into the national championship game against Georgia, he took a moment to reflect on that season-defining game against the Sooners.

“I think the Oklahoma game is when we saw, okay, look, here’s what we’re capable of because we played really good football on all three sides of the ball,” Dykes said. “We played great offense, great defense, great special teams in that game. It was a bit of an eye-opener for me, honestly because we played okay up to that point. We felt we were playing against really good competition. And the big question we had to answer after that was how are we going to handle prosperity. And also how are we going to deal with adversity, because that’s going to happen quickly.”

Dykes was correct about adversity soon following, as the Horned Frogs would be tested two weeks later against Oklahoma State. The Horned Frogs trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half of that game, but battled back in the second to force overtime and ultimately win 43-40. 

Dykes went on to say while the game against the Sooners may have put TCU on the map to the rest of the country, it was the contest against the Cowboys that he realized this team was special. For in that game, he saw the fight that would go on to define the Horned Frogs down the stretch of the season as they have continued to defy odds this year.

“Fortunately Oklahoma State rolled around right after that,” Dykes said. “And we were down 17. And we had to rally. And I think that was, to me, that was just a big a moment for our football team was seeing how we were going to do when we were down. And the great thing about both of those games was I remember walking into the locker room at halftime of the Oklahoma game expecting to find our players celebrating and patting each other on the back. And I was going to address the team. I walked in, everybody was sitting in their chair talking about the first half didn’t mean anything. The second half is the only thing that matters. 

“Well, fast-forward a week, we’re in just the opposite situation, we’re down double digits at halftime. And I expected to walk in and find guys moaning and complaining and griping and panicking and all that. I found them doing the same thing, sitting there talking about the importance of the second half. And so, to me, that was when I thought, okay, this is a special group. These guys get it and there’s some maturity, and we might have something fun here. And so those were two moments for me I thought were big.”

Since that moment, Sonny Dykes has seen TCU continue to do what few outside of Fort Worth believed it could. They entered as underdogs last week and against the Wolverines and will do so again on Monday against Georgia. But if anything is for certain, that won’t bother the Horned Frogs, who have worked well when counted out many times this year. 

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this article.