What No. 4 TCU’s win over Baylor means for Big 12 title, College Football Playoff

In two previous instances of a Big 12 team being 10-0, the Baylor Bears were the squad to deliver those undefeated teams their first loss of the season. The No. 4 TCU Horned Frogs entered Waco with a perfect 10-0 mark in Week 12 hoping to keep their College Football Playoff chances alive.

The Bears created plays early and often on both sides of the ball but TCU responded each time. The teams were deadlocked 14-14 at halftime and the Horned Frogs even took the lead after a touchdown pass from Max Duggan to Gunnar Henderson. However, a missed extra point attempt ultimately came back to haunt TCU.

Baylor held a 28-20 lead after back-to-back touchdown drives but the Horned Frogs found the end zone with a little over two minutes remaining. Because of the missed PAT, TCU had to go for two and had the easy conversion but Emari Demarcado dropped the pass from Duggan. The TCU defense did its part to give the Heisman hopeful one more chance.

With 1:34 and no timeouts, Duggan drove the team into field goal range. After some questionable setup calls, kicker Griffin Kell made up for his missed PAT with a game-winning field goal. The Horned Frogs move to 11-0 in an all-time thriller.

TCU was already clinched a spot in the Big 12 title game, so this was really more about the playoff. The Horned Frogs have once again escaped a potential upset, although this was definitely the closest call of the season. Iowa State is up next and then it’ll be on to the Big 12 title game. If TCU enters that title game undefeated, the Horned Frogs could punch their ticket to the playoff with one more win.