TCU Celebrates Perfect Season

FORT WORTH, TX - TCU's celebration to honor their football team filled Daniel Meyer Coliseum. 7,500 fans showed up to relive a season that they will never forget.
"I was a horned frog when horned frogs weren't cool," says Jim Vaughn of Granbury.

They talked about having a team good enough to win a championship.

"We could have beaten the hell out of Auburn," Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief told the crowd. "We could have beaten the hell out of you, you, you, you, you! Go Frogs!"

The last time TCU football got this kind of notoriety was 1938, that's the year they won the national championship. They didn't bring home a national championship trophy, but the Rose Bowl trophy is as close as they could come.

"The top of our pyramid, by the way we did color it in, I want you to understand, it says champs," says TCU head coach Gary Patterson. "We did color it in. The bottom line is they did everything they could do to be that, so in my mind, and since I’m keeping the pyramid, it's colored in."

Patterson accepted a photo from the Rose Bowl committee taken during the fly by and they handed him the Rose Bowl Trophy a second time.

Nine days ago, Patterson had two more years added to his contract which now extends through the 2018 season. That's eight more seasons and that lead the fans to a chant of "eight more years!"

"If I live through it, I’ll be here for 20 years," Patterson said after the gathering. "This will be my 14th season and everyone has been on the same page. Like I've told people, the greatest thing about Fort Worth and TCU, as a whole university, we're trying to be a national champion."

Jake Kirkpatrick leaves TCU having won the Rimington award as the nation’s top center. He and his wife Callie are expecting their first child before the end of the month.

"I've been trying to keep the baby in until Jake is settled and so now we're just ready to have a baby," Callie says.

"We made it past the season and winning the Rose Bowl was nice but having this baby is going to be one of the best moments in my life," Jake says.

Andy Dalton's parents were on hand to see a send off for their son who leaves as the winningest quarterback in TCU history.

"It's been exciting," Andy's father Greg said. "We haven't come down yet i don't think."

"It's just been such a fun ride," Andy's mother Tina said.

Andy Dalton and Jordan Jones will be married in July. For the seniors, it may have been the last gathering for the entire team.

"There will still be some other things," Dalton said. "We'll all come back but it's kind of crazy that it's all over with now."