Will the TCU-Michigan Fiesta Bowl be this year’s College Football Playoff blowout? | College Football Enquirer
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel, and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde and Ross Dellenger discuss the College Football Playoff Semifinal between No. 2 Michigan and No. 3 TCU in the Fiesta Bowl, and debate if TCU will be able to hang with the physicality of the Big Ten Champions.
Video Transcript
DAN WETZEL: They remind me of the UFC, of fighting one of the Diaz brothers, Nate and Nick Diaz. They like to bleed.
TCU, dream season, unbelievable. The game, it was a loss, but what an incredible comeback, just a fun team. Just, like, I don't know how you-- it's just a fun team. And gutsy team, but now they get Michigan. There's no Blake Corum. He's not coming back. But a bunch of other guys are going to be able to play for Michigan in a month, or three weeks or whatever this is.
And Donovan Edwards, you know, I like him a lot better when he's running 14 carries, than whatever he had coming out of the backfield. I don't like him as you're everyday down back, but, man, he's awful good. So can TCU beat Michigan, or is this the lopsided semifinal? Pat.
PAT FORDE: It might be lopsided. It's still the right match-up. I'm fine with it. But we'll see. We'll see how TCU matches up inside. Again, that's going to be another one where one team is a really physically dominant team at the line of scrimmage. The other team needs to answer some questions still there. Donovan Edwards, 401 yards in his last two games. Not bad. Not bad.
He is an unbelievable backup to have. It's a little bit like when Alabama had one guy on top of another guy on top of another guy at running backs. It's like, yeah, somebody gets hurt, or someone gets tired, yeah, we'll just bring in somebody else, who can go for 50. Michigan has had a phenomenal season. They have done everything right. I absolutely think they're the better team in this match-up. I don't think it's a walkover.
I think TCU throws the ball as well as anybody they have faced, including Purdue. Purdue throws the ball extremely well because they do it a lot, but TCU has more bounce. They've got a running back who can really go in Kendre Miller. TCU, it's just going to be up to the defense to keep them in the game long enough to make some plays. But you are right that, to me, TCU is the least likely playoff team we've ever had and.
And that includes a group of five, Cincinnati last year, which started the year number eight in the AP top 10, and was undefeated the year before except for a last play loss in the Sugar Bowl. Everybody looked at Cincinnati and said, that could be a playoff team. Nobody looked at TCU coming into this year and said that could be a playoff team. They were the-- picked seventh in the Big 12 coming into the season.
And so for them to roll the season all the way through to get to 12 and 0, and then get to the championship game, and get it overtime, wow, incredible season. Super impressive from them. It probably ends in Glendale, but great run.
ROSS DELLENGER: Not even their coach, I don't think, expected to be a playoff team. I know, Pat, you, over the summer, met with Sonny Dykes, and I met with him in the spring. He had just taken over the team. He was like a month or two in, and I remember asking him, like, what do you think about the situation? And he said, we got some problems, and, specifically, on defense, he said we got some problems. But that segues into, defensively, Dan, asking about how this match-up will go.
You got to stop Michigan's running game. You just got to slow it down some way, and TCU has not been the best at that. Their 64th nationally in rushing defense. They give about 150 rushing yards a game. They've given up 21 rushing touchdowns. That's like-- that's one of the highest marks in the country this year. So that's a problem. And you could see them wearing down, but, man, the comeback kids.
I mean, when they need to score, Duggan just leads them down the field, and they score. So they feel-- you feel like they are never out of the dang game. And you kind of feel like this game is going to go just like all their other ones this year. The opponent's going to look awfully good in the first half, maybe hold the lead and look out for Max Duggan in the second half.
DAN WETZEL: They remind me of the UFC, of fighting one of the Diaz brothers-- Nate and Nick Diaz. They like to bleed. Like, when they started bleeding, like, absolutely no impact on them at all. They loved it. It's like, good, I'm bloody. Let's go. It was like, here we go. Not scared. Not-- yeah, no, now we're fighting, all right. Just absolutely nothing there that scares TCU.
But, yeah, they're going to have their work cut out for them.
