TCU Football 1998 Sun Bowl Team: The Forgotten Faces

When you think of the best team in TCU football history, many teams come to mind, but none should be in front of the 98' team and their accomplishments because without them who knows where TCU would be.

Before embarking on a Hall of Fame NFL career, LaDainian Tomlinson was part of TCU's 1998 squad that went on to win the Sun Bowl over USC. One could argue that without that 1998 team, there would be no 2010 Rose Bowl, 2014 Peach Bowl, or 2022 CFP teams. / Ronald Martinez/Getty Image

Editor's Note: On Saturday, the 1998 Sun Bowl team will be honored during the TCU/UCF game. In advance of that recognition, we sat down with Dennis Franchione, the coach of that team, and Shannon Brazzell, a TCU linebacker from 1997 to 2000 and a member of the TCU Hall of Fame.

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If you were to build a Mount Rushmore of TCU football teams, which teams would make the cut? 2010, 2014, and 2022 all make it, but what takes the last spot? Maybe the 1938 Davey O'Brien-led team? How about Sam Baugh and the 1939 team? All decent choices, but unfortunately they would all be wrong.

There is a team that many fans, myself included, often forget about or have never even heard of. Not only do they deserve a spot on Mount Rushmore, but they should be the first name suggested. They are the cornerstone of TCU's success, and the reason the program is a household name is that a group of players bought in and trusted their brand new head coach, brand-new Dennis Franchione.

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TCU's 1998 Sun Bowl Team

In 1997, the Horned Frogs finished their season 1-10. They had been left out of the Big 12 and were relegated to the WAC. Fans were pissed off, the administration was left scrambling to put a plan together, and TCU football was in one of the worst droughts of program history. Then AD Eric Hyman would call a coach from New Mexico named Dennis Francione and poach him to Fort Worth, a town Coach Fran had loved since he visited while on the Kansas State coaching staff.

Coach Fran got here, and there were players "sunbathing on the football field," he knew then he'd have his work cut out for him. He put the team through Hell in training camp, and while at first the players questioned his method, they soon bought in. Shannon Brazzell said, "We took his message to heart... we knew we could turn it around and see the fruits of our labor", and that was what they did. They bought in, busted their tail, and worked to turn the program around.

The team would start their path to the Sun Bowl in Ames, Iowa, on the road against Iowa State and would win the season opener, already having tied their previous season's win total. The Frogs would be at home the following week against the vaunted Sooners, and before kickoff, the two teams were already fighting, something that put a discreet smile on Coach Fran's face. He knew at that moment that he had something special, that these guys on his roster were willing to go to war for the program and each other.

TCU lost that game 9-10 to the Sooners but bounced back the next week and handed the No. 13 Air Force their only loss of the season, propelling TCU to a three-game game win streak. However, the Frogs would go on a four-game losing streak, finding themselves sitting at 4-5 on the season with just two games left to play. The Frogs beat Tulsa and UNLV, finishing the season 6-5, but they wanted more.

Coach Fran lobbied hard with executives from the Sun Bowl during the last week of the season. He and a TCU contingency traveled to El Paso, trying to convince them to pick a Texas team. He made multiple calls over those days. Coach Fran estimates he made 100 calls, practically begging the bowl officials to give his team a shot. It worked. TCU received the bid to the Sun Bowl, where they would face USC, led by Carson Palmer.

It was a sea of purple in El Paso for the game, with Shannon even saying, "The city probably sold out of every purple shirt because of all the residents buying one in support of the team." The support certainly helped as the Frogs would take down the Trojans with a score of 28-19 off the back of Basil Mitchell, who finished with 19 carries for 185 yards and two touchdowns. London Dunlap, a defensive lineman, would finish as the game MVP.

This wasn't an ordinary win, either. It would propel TCU football into what it is today, and since that season, the program has only missed a bowl game in four seasons. It was the first domino to fall and shape the program into being successful, but more importantly, a brotherhood. "There are teams out there that are just teammates and not friends, but every guy on that team is my brother and the best friend I could ask for," Brazzell said.

The roster had an influx of talent, and names that you still see around TCU today include LaDainian Tomlinson, Landry Burdine, Aaron Schobel (whose son is a current TCU football commit), Mike Scarborough, David Bobo, Michael Keathley, and Cedric James. Those are all players who either continued to play in the NFL or still work with TCU in some capacity and established what it truly means to be a Horned Frog.

From the 1998 season on, TCU wasn't scraping by during football seasons. They became one of the best Group of Five teams in college football and were rightfully invited into the Big 12. TCU became a nationally known name. The 2010 team wouldn't have made the Rose Bowl had it not been for the 1998 team. The 2014 team would never have even been in the position to be left out of the playoffs had it not been riding on the backs of the teams that came before them. And there would not have been a 2022 national championship game team had it not been for Coach Fran and that entire 1998 squad.

Yes, there have been many great teams in the program's history, some of whom have made it to the highest level, but do you know what they all have in common? They all came in the 2000s after the Sun Bowl team. So, who knows where TCU football would be had it not been for the 1998 season, had it not been for a team that bought in and became the foundation for the program that fans know and love?

Want to hear more about Coach Fran and the 1998 team? Listen to Episode 208 of the KillerFrogs Podcast. CLICK HERE to listen.

The team will be honored before the TCU vs. UCF game on Saturday. So, if you are in the stadium, stand up, give them their flowers, and thank them for what they did because TCU might not be where it is today without them.

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