No. 2 Michigan (13-0) and No. 3 TCU (12-1) meet for the first time Saturday at the Fiesta Bowl, a matchup of one of college football's bluest blue bloods and the most unlikely team ever to reach the CFP semifinals.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Before facing off in the College Football Playoff, TCU's Sonny Dykes and Michigan's Jim Harbaugh talked fondly about the fathers they followed into coaching and a time when they might have shared more than a stage for one final pregame press conference.
The Horned Frogs were picked seventh in the Big 12 this season, their first under Dykes. Most of their players, including , have never played in a bowl game during their college careers. “It’s always been a fight for credibility,” Dykes said of TCU’s long and winding path to college football’s biggest stage.
“We’ve been through so much,” Avila said. “And I just feel like us being here and us having the season that we did, just proved a lot of people wrong.” Michigan last won a national championship in 1997, but the last two seasons under Harbaugh have been a return to glory. Michigan is 25-2, winning consecutive Big Ten titles for the first time since 2003-04.