AP

TCU QB Duggan goes from losing job to winning every game

Nov 28, 2022, 12:58 PM | Updated: Nov 29, 2022, 6:35 am

FILE - TCU quarterback Max Duggan (15) stands at a tunnel exit during team introductions before an ...

FILE - TCU quarterback Max Duggan (15) stands at a tunnel exit during team introductions before an NCAA college football game against Kansas State in Fort Worth, Texas, on Oct. 22, 2022. Duggan’s 41st career start for third-ranked TCU will come in the Big 12 championship game on Saturday, Dec, 3, 2022, with the undefeated Horned Frogs on the brink of making the College Football Playoff. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez, File)

(AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez, File)


              TCU quarterback Max Duggan (15) passes with blocking from teammate offensive tackle Andrew Coker against Iowa State defensive end Will McDonald IV (9) during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
            
              FILE - TCU head coach Sonny Dykes, right, hugs quarterback Max Duggan (15) after an NCAA college football game against Bayor in Waco, Texas, on  Nov. 19, 2022. Duggan’s 41st career start for third-ranked TCU will come in the Big 12 championship game on Saturday, Dec, 3, 2022, with the undefeated Horned Frogs on the brink of making the College Football Playoff. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
            
              FILE - TCU quarterback Max Duggan (15) stands at a tunnel exit during team introductions before an NCAA college football game against Kansas State in Fort Worth, Texas, on Oct. 22, 2022. Duggan’s 41st career start for third-ranked TCU will come in the Big 12 championship game on Saturday, Dec, 3, 2022, with the undefeated Horned Frogs on the brink of making the College Football Playoff. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez, File)

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Without Max Duggan, the fourth-year quarterback who had lost his starting job going into this season, third-ranked TCU might not be undefeated, getting ready for the Big 12 championship game and on the verge of making the College Football Playoff.

“It’s just our guys’ undying belief in him, and our guys trying to play their tails off for him because they have so much respect and admiration for what he brings to our football program every day,” first-year TCU coach Sonny Dykes said.

“I’d do anything for that guy,” sixth-year senior offensive lineman Wes Harris said. “He’s got the heart of a warrior and he’s just a leader.”

Since taking over in the second half of the season opener, after redshirt freshman starter Chandler Morris sprained his knee, Duggan has been one of the nation’s most efficient passers. He has completed two-thirds of his passes, leads the Big 12 with 3,070 yards and 29 touchdowns, and has thrown only three interceptions.

Duggan is set for to make his 41st career start for the Horned Frogs (12-0) in the Big 12 title game against 13th-ranked Kansas State (9-3). They have already made a strong case to be part of the four-team playoff, though a win Saturday would guarantee that.

While disappointed when finding out from the new coaching staff about a week before the opener that he wouldn’t take the first snap of his senior season, Duggan never considered leaving.

“Maybe that might have been the last time I was playing, might have been my last snap, but there was never a thought of me leaving,” Duggan said. “I was going to be here. I wanted to make sure I graduated here. I wanted to make sure that I was here when TCU was back on top.”

And he certainly has had a huge part in making that happen. Duggan could go from losing his starting job to TCU’s first playoff, and maybe a trip to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony.

TCU, picked seventh in the league’s preseason poll, is the first Big 12 team since Texas in 2009 to complete a regular season undefeated. They won seven consecutive games by no more than 10 points before last week’s 62-14 win over Iowa State.

“The entirety of what’s happened to us this season, it’s hard not to go, well, there’s got to be a reason this happened,” Dykes said. “It’s almost like an act of God that this has happened, and then you go, OK, why? … Well, here’s this guy that’s played incredibly well at an incredibly important position.”

Dykes got emotional even before the first Big 12 game, saying then that he was as proud of Duggan as any player he has ever had because of how he handled the entire situation. The coach said Duggan never pouted, never had a bad practice and was always thinking about the team.

The Iowa Gatorade player of the year and a four-star recruit, Duggan started 10 games for TCU as a true freshman in 2019. But he missed the start of the following season because of a previously unknown heart issue discovered during enhanced preseason testing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two days after a procedure to fix the heart issue, Duggan had to have an emergency surgery because of a blood clot. He didn’t miss a game, though he didn’t start the delayed opener before coming in to throw for 241 yards and three touchdowns.

Duggan then played most of last season with a broken bone in his foot, limping to class without a protective boot to avoid having pictures taken and posted on social media.

“I don’t think a lot of people know I didn’t practice at all,” he said. “So I literally would just stand there and then Saturday, I’d get shot up and hopefully try to gut it out. So it was it was pretty difficult.”

Even though he is a senior who has played four seasons, Duggan still has another year of eligibility since 2020 didn’t count against any player. He insists he hasn’t really thought about if he will enroll in graduate classes and return to play again next season, though he will have to decide soon.

The business major graduates Dec. 17, two weeks after the Big 12 title game and exactly one month before the start of TCU’s spring semester.

“I really don’t know,” he said. “It really never crossed my anything. I’ve just been focused on too many other things.”

Like winning games.

___

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25. Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/mrxhe6f2

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

Associated Press

Ex-Packer Guion gets 1 year for domestic violence assault

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Former Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Letroy Guion was sentenced to one year in jail after pleading no contest in a domestic violence assault at his home last fall. Brown County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Walsh also ordered Guion on Tuesday to serve three years’ probation and complete a domestic […]

1 year ago

Joe Jarzynka...

Associated Press

Durant eager for Suns debut vs. Hornets after knee injury

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kevin Durant has been through quite a bit during his 15-year NBA career — but joining a new team midway through the season is a new one for the 13-time All-Star. The 34-year-old Durant doesn’t seem all that worried. Durant makes his highly anticipated Phoenix Suns debut on Wednesday night against […]

1 year ago

FILE - Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores stands on the sideline during the second half of an N...

Associated Press

Judge: NFL coach can press discrimination claims in court

NEW YORK (AP) — NFL Coach Brian Flores can pursue some of his discrimination claims against the league and its teams in court rather than through arbitration, a judge ruled Wednesday. The written decision by Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan was issued months after lawyers for the league tried to get the lawsuit moved to […]

1 year ago

Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Alex Stalock cools off in the first period during an NHL hockey game ...

Associated Press

Kane trade reinforces hard reality of Blackhawks rebuild

CHICAGO (AP) — After days of speculation, the harsh reality of the Chicago Blackhawks’ situation was reinforced by one move in a flurry of transactions ahead of the NHL trade deadline. Showtime is over, at least in Chicago, and a seemingly bright future is, well, way off in the distance. The reverberations of Chicago’s decision […]

1 year ago

FILE -  Yves Jean-Bart, president of the Haitian Football Federation, wearing a protective face mas...

Associated Press

Disgraced ex-Haitian soccer president announces he’s back

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s former soccer federation president whose lifetime ban from sport over sexual abuse allegations was overturned last month announced Wednesday that he is reclaiming his position. Yves Jean-Bart’s defiant announcement could lead to a standoff with FIFA, which already has appointed an emergency management committee to lead the Haitian Football Association […]

1 year ago

FILE - Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers walks off the field after an NFL football game against the ...

Associated Press

Rodgers says decision on future will come ‘soon enough’

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers says he will make a decision on his future “soon enough” as the four-time MVP quarterback ponders whether to play next season and if his future remains with the Green Bay Packers. Rodgers, 39, discussed his future while speaking on an episode of the “Aubrey Marcus Podcast” that […]

1 year ago

TCU QB Duggan goes from losing job to winning every game