It is rare that the playoff includes a plucky interloper.
Cincinnati acquitted itself well last year in a loss to Alabama, and though T.C.U. is a member of a more august conference, the Big 12, there are still raw feelings from the first year of the playoff when the Horned Frogs’ only defeat — 61-58 at Baylor — was enough to keep them out of the playoff. Baylor, whose only loss was at West Virginia, was also frozen out — in part because the Big 12 did not have a championship game.
“The Big 12 in a different place as it was then,” Dykes said. “I think they’re going to see it different, but at the same time you don’t know. I’m concerned obviously, but I have faith in the committee.”
It can be said with certainty that nobody expected the Horned Frogs to be here. They were picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 after Dykes arrived from Southern Methodist, inheriting a 5-7 team. What he did not appear interested in inheriting was Duggan, who had started for three years but lost the starting job in August.
But when Chandler Morris, a transfer from Oklahoma, was injured in the opener, Duggan again took the reigns and hasn’t let go. He engineered second-half comebacks against Oklahoma State, Baylor, Kansas and Kansas State in the regular season. He nearly did it again on Saturday, overcoming a fourth-quarter interception in the end zone to bring the Wildcats back from a 28-17 deficit with less than eight minutes left.
He carried the ball six times on an 80-yard drive — the last of which was an 8-yard scoring run — that tied the score with 1:51 left after he threw to tight end Jared Wiley for a 2-point conversion.
It was the type of performance that seems certain to land Duggan at the Heisman Trophy ceremony next weekend in New York, where he will be a fitting exemplar for his school, which likewise is trying to poke its head among more celebrated company.
That was far from Duggan’s mind late Saturday afternoon.
Though more than an hour had passed before Duggan made his way to the interview podium, he struggled to mask his disappointment. He paused to wipe away tears with the sleeve of his sweatshirt and at times his lip quivered as he dutifully answered questions.