Admittedly, I’m still glowing after the win. No one can ever take that away from TCU, ever. We are the 2010-2011 Rose Bowl Champions, and that sounds pretty damn good. But as the dust starts to settle, the question must be brought up. Did TCU and head coach Gary Patterson make the right decision by remaining so politically correct after the game? Should Patterson have taken the approach of former USC coach Pete Carroll who famously used his victory in the game to successfully lobby for a split of the national title back in the 2003-2004 season? It’s the question hanging over every Horned Frog’s brain this week. Columnist Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune went to work on it:
Maybe Patterson’s saying all this because TCU is leaving the Mountain West Conference for the Big East and its ridiculous automatic BCS bid, but this guy ain’t Lombardi.
“This is a great stage,” he said. “The Rose Bowl deserves a lot more than that. To us, this was a national championship-caliber ballgame.”
You won’t even hear me say the Rose Bowl isn’t great, and Saturday’s game was fine theater, but in years such as this, it is not the decider. That will come Jan. 10 in Glendale, Ariz., and I can’t see how anyone can tell me Oregon and Auburn would be slam-dunks against TCU.
TCU quarterback Andy Dalton, the game’s offensive MVP, who ran for a touchdown, threw for another and managed the game precisely against a bigger and more physical football team, basically echoed his coach.
“It’s a dream come true,” Dalton said. “I think the way the system is, it didn’t give us a chance to play in the game. It didn’t do any of that.”
Of course it didn’t. That’s the problem. It didn’t. It doesn’t. The Rose Bowl is wonderful. But it isn’t final.
I believe every TCU player was instructed to remain politically correct out here when it came to discussing the national championship. Their answers were too pat.
“I feel that TCU has proven that we can play with the best of them,” said linebacker Tank Carder, who knocked down the two-point conversion pass attemptby Badgers quarterback Scott Tolzien near the end that sealed the win. “All the critics don’t feel like the non-AQ (automatic qualifier) teams should have a shot.
“It feels a little better knowing that the non-AQ teams can play with them. Wisconsin is a Big Ten team. They’re really good, and I feel like we came in and made a statement today.”
Right. Wisconsin is a Big Ten school. Five Big Ten teams played in bowls Saturday. All of them lost. The statement was made, but it wasn’t finished. There was no period.
TCU, you made a case, dadgumit. Man-up to it.
I think he’s right.
[San Diego Union-Tribune]