SnoopFrogs11 said:
Anything less than playing for a national championship in the playoffs would be a bust of a season. Last season we were just trying to eek in the playoffs. This year we want to be right there in the thick of the hunt for the playoffs all season. A chance to win the national championship won't come along very often since we are losing most of the team next year.
This. We've already had an almost unbroken string of winning seasons. Only 2 losing seasons in the last 17 years, no matter what the conference. But this doesn't get us where we want or need to be. In fact, it's a rather Texas Tech-like brag. Some success, but never truly grabbing the brass ring -- at least not in a very long time.
It's not really a fair comparison, I'll grant you, since we've come far closer to it than Tech -- or for that matter, Baylor. Two national titles. Eighteen conference titles. Thirty bowl games. Twelve top-10 finishes. Four top-5 finishes. And part of the time we had to do it the hard way, without the recruiting or monetary advantages of a power conference affiliation.
Point is, TCU is now in a unique position that doesn't come around very often. In fact, it's pretty rare. We're in the right conference situation with the right coach, the right personnel, and the right national credibility to go for it all. If we don't get our shot now, who knows when it will come again?
After this season, we lose a lot of key seniors and will go into a minor rebuilding mode -- for a few years at least. We will still win more than lose, but aren't likely to truly be in the hunt. After this season, it may be several years before the opportunity rolls around again.
Now is the time. Today is our moment. Trite as it sounds, destiny is calling us. There's no room at this juncture for satisfaction with just getting close. We've been close so many times. This is our season of opportunity. We have to seize it. Whether we get a national title or not, if we don't at least make the playoffs, this team will have fallen far short of its potential.
If that happens, the season may not be a failure, but it will definitely be a bust in expectations. And not just TCU expectations, but the expectations of most of the college football chattering class.
There's a reason Gary Patterson has placed "National Championship" at the apex of the TCU Pyramid of Success in the team meeting room every single season for the past 15 years. And there's a reason he requires every team member to sign it. It isn't just an inspiring but unattainable goal, like world peace. It's a real, tangible objective. And it's currently within our reach.
With the right combination of effort, inspiration, and luck, we may make it. If we don't, it should never be said that this team didn't ascend as high as it possibly could.