Programs capable of crashing the 2023 College Football Playoff

Everybody wants to be the next TCU.

The Horned Frogs nearly completed the greatest turnaround in college football history but fell one win short of winning a national championship in Sonny Dykes' first year leading the program.

How did Dykes perform such a football miracle? How did a four-win team with multiple double-digit losses transform into a powerhouse who bucked the odds with seven comeback victories led by one of the nation’s most explosive offenses?

Mid-tier programs across the Power Five are searching for those answers and attempting to recreate the Horned Frogs’ recipe this offseason. All it takes is a pinch of talent from the Transfer Portal, a mix of veteran stars and a cohesive coaching staff, right? The Horned Frogs didn’t need a miracle. They added 14 transfers. Two of them became their leading tacklers. They turned to starter-turned-backup Max Duggan at quarterback when Chandler Morris went down with injury. They also hired a staff of hungry risk-takers — particularly at the coordinator spots. Throw in the most comeback victories in the sport last season and you too can contend for a championship.

Although the steps seem simple, what TCU accomplished was an outlier in a sport still dominated by the blue bloods like Georgia and Alabama.  Still, there are programs without College Football Playoff appearances on the cusp of becoming the next glass-ceiling smasher. Who are they? Well, I'm glad you asked.

This isn’t a list composed only of teams capable of turning a four-win season in 2022 into an undefeated march through 2023 and a championship strut into the College Football Playoff. Those type of seasons just don’t happen often. And when it does, those teams usually fall short of a national title (TCU in 2022 and Auburn in 2013). Context is everything. Many programs have hit their heads against the bottoms of college football’s blue bloods with 10- and 11-win seasons over the last decade. But some are in position to finally break through.

These are the programs we see as threats to the blue bloods thanks to strong recruiting classes, veteran leadership, a sprinkle of magic from the Transfer Portal and a coaching staff capable of leading them to the promised land.