Mem'ries Sweet: Turning a Bronco into a Horned Frog

Tori Couch remembers how TCU's first Fiesta Bowl appearance in 2010 challenged and changed her college football allegiance.

Photo courtesy Tori Couch

When the TCU football team played in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl, I cheered with all my might for the opponent.

Not out of hatred for the Horned Frogs, but because they played my hometown team.

I celebrated loudly in our living room when Boise State tight end Kyle Efaw caught a pass on fourth down from punter Kyle Brotzman. The fourth quarter gamble set up a two-yard game-winning touchdown.

The Broncos might not have slain a college football giant, but the mid-major crown would stay in Boise.

I was ecstatic!

Fast-forward a year and my tune changed.

Standing on the 50-yard line at the Rose Bowl Stadium about to play the national anthem as a member of the TCU Marching Band with an ESPN camera in my face, I still couldn’t figure how I had gotten there.

The Horned Frogs were 12-0, had won the Mountain West Conference and were about to take on Wisconsin in the “Grandaddy of Them All”.

That part made sense.

Why I picked TCU for college and moved more than 1,500 miles away from home remains a mystery nearly 12.5 years later.

TCU’s beautiful campus, great journalism program, and friendly faces helped. Perhaps part of me wanted to be that student who cheered for the “rival” mid-major program.

I grew up in Boise, Idaho watching every Boise State football game. Even though my family only attended a few games, I knew all the key players, coaches, and dates in program history.

Boise State started as a junior college program, worked its way up to a Division I-AA (now FCS) national title contender (1980 National Champions), and then moved to the FBS ranks in 1996.

Tori (Cummings) Couch with the longtime "Voice of the Broncos", Paul J. Schneider, during a BSU football game in the mid-2000s. Schneider called BSU football and basketball games for 35 years / Photo Courtesy Roxanne Cummings

The blue turf became the universal identifier for the Broncos. No matter where I went, everyone knew about the blue turf.

When head coach Dan Hawkins left after the 2005 season for Colorado, I wondered if the Broncos could become a national brand. They had slowly crept into the national consciousness under Hawkins.

New coach Chris Peterson answered the bell. He led Boise State to an undefeated season and an unforgettable, overtime Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma - the Hook-and-Lateral, the Halfback Pass, and Statue of Liberty plays followed by Boise State running back Ian Johnson’s marriage proposal to his cheerleader girlfriend on national television.

The Broncos broke the proverbial BCS glass ceiling for mid-major programs. Other mid-major programs including Hawaii and Utah (TCU’s Mountain West Conference rival) reached a BCS bowl game after BSU proved David could slay Goliath on a national stage.

BSU and TCU continued separating from the pack over the next couple years. When the BCS committee “rewarded” the programs with a matchup in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl, I was beyond upset.

I wanted the Broncos to prove, once again, they could beat a national power on college football’s biggest stage. Being paired with a fellow mid-major program felt like a low blow.

Little did I know that game would alter my college plans.

Shortly after the Fiesta Bowl announcement in December 2009, Boise’s local newspaper featured a story about TCU. The article highlighted the academic programs, most notably the Schieffer School of Journalism.

That morning, my mom half-jokingly asked if it would be fun to attend college in Texas. Groggy and just trying to make it out the door in time for zero-hour band rehearsal, I agreed and thought nothing more of it.

When I came home that afternoon, we researched the Schieffer School of Journalism. It sounded like a great program for a future journalism major, like the ones at the University of Oregon and Washington State University already on my list. Plus, Texas could really be a fun place to spend my college years.

Although I quickly got my TCU application in before the December deadline, nothing could change my allegiance for the 2010 Fiesta Bowl game.

Don’t worry, though, I turned into a Horned Frog the moment I stepped on campus in August. I loved my time at TCU. After the Rose Bowl experience, I attended two Mountain West Conference basketball tournaments with the band and served as TCU360 sports editor for a year and a half.

Tori (Cummings) Couch takes a quick break for a photo during a football pre-game pep rally in 2010 / Photo Courtesy Tori (Cummings) Couch

I even cheered for the Horned Frogs when they traveled to Boise in 2011 for a Mountain West Conference game.

After Boise State kicker Dan Goodale missed a 39-yard potential game-winning field goal and snapped a 35-home game winning streak, my mom, who attended the game, said it was so quiet in Albertson’s Stadium that “you could have heard a pin drop.”

I understood why, but I still celebrated the TCU win.

Of course, the Bronco fan in me will never die. When TCU moved to the Big 12 in 2012 and Boise State’s invitation to the now defunct Big East fell apart, I was heart-broken. The Broncos had missed their ticket to the Power 5 conference ranks.

TCU boarded the Power 5 train and it’s been a fun ride so far. This year, in particular, feels like a dream, and I’m enjoying every moment.

The Horned Frogs will have my full support for this Fiesta Bowl, but I can’t really display that during the game - cheering is not allowed in the press box.

My family has promised to pick up the slack and proudly fly a TCU flag in Boise (as they do on TCU game days that don’t include BSU) on December 31.

Now, if only I could get my family to appreciate the Riff, Ram cheer. 

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