Forget about statement games or motivation in bowl games.
The biggest takeaway from TCU’s emasculation of Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl is this: the Horned Frogs might just be the team to beat in 2015.
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TCU will return 18 starters from the team that not only scored 42 points on the nation’s No.1 defense, but made it clear that after a two-year transition in the Big 12, the Horned Frogs are among the nation’s elite.
Maybe even the elite in 2015.
"I don’t think I have to say anything,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said about TCU’s statement win. "I think everybody can see what kind of football team (TCU is).”
Think about this: TCU manhandled the team that beat No.1 Alabama, making a mockery of the nation’s No.1 defense with an up-tempo offense led by quarterback Trevone Boykin — an offense that had Ole Miss backpedaling from the first snap.
If that’s not enough, the Horned Frogs’ defense — the unit that gave up 61 points to Baylor this season and at times looked overwhelmed — played its best game of the season and held the Rebels to 129 total yards.
Only a late field goal against second teamers — and Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze’s decision to take easy points instead of scoring a touchdown — prevented the shutout.
The team that fell from No. 3 in the College Football Playoff poll to No. 6 on the final week of the season, now heads into 2015 as the team to beat. Or at least at the top of the list.
TCU will return Boykin, its top two tailbacks (B.J. Catalon, Aaron Green), star wideout Josh Doctson and the top four receivers on the team, and the nucleus of a defense that got better as the season progressed.
They’ll also return with plenty of momentum and a whole lot of motivation.