TCU football schedule: Can Horned Frogs recover from Colorado home upset?

Losers in three of their last four, the TCU Horned Frogs need to find that special sauce fast!

There is so much left to play for, but what a deflating first loss of the year for the TCU Horned Frogs.

Last year's national runner-up could not stop a nosebleed defensively, as the upstart Colorado Buffaloes marched up and down the field in Fort Worth. Deion Sanders' defense got enough stops to hold on in their upset bid of the Frogs. His son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, broke a school passing yards record in his first career start for the Buffs. All the while, TCU has to play a hard 2023 schedule.

Let's look what they have the rest of the way to see if they have a shot at the College Football Playoff.

TCU football schedule: Can Frogs save their season after bad Buffs loss?

For those who don't live and die by all things TCU, here is who they have to play the rest of the way.

• Sept. 9: vs. Nichols
• Sept. 16: at Houston
• Sept. 23: vs. SMU
• Sept. 30: vs. West Virginia
• Oct. 7: at Iowa State
• Oct. 14: vs. BYU
• Oct. 21: at Kansas State
• Nov. 2: at Texas Tech
• Nov. 11: vs. Texas
• Nov. 18: vs. Baylor
• Nov. 24: at Oklahoma

TCU may get a nice bounce-back win vs. Nichols next week, but the Frogs' other non-conference game is against bitter rival SMU, who looks like a potential contender to win the Group of Five before joining the ACC in 2024 alongside Cal and Stanford. As far as conference play is concerned, keep in mind that the Big 12 is a 14-team league this year with a nine-game slate, but no longer a round-robin.

While TCU avoids Cincinnati, Kansas, Oklahoma State and UCF this season, the Frogs will have to face their toughest conference tests in the second half of the campaign. At Kansas State feels like a loss. Home vs. Texas could be very tough, as could on the road at Oklahoma at regular season's end. The Frogs are fortunate to draw beatable teams like Baylor, Houston, Iowa State and West Virginia.

To me, I think there is next to no chance TCU returns to the College Football Playoff. Colorado could be this year's TCU or what Auburn was like under Gus Malzahn in 2013. A lack of depth in the trenches will hurt the Buffs in Pac-12 play, but CU could be an eight-win team for all we know. And that's kind of about where TCU will reside this year. At best, they'll go 10-2, but feel like an 8-4 team.

Look for TCU to be around a top-25 team throughout this year, but not push for a New Year's Six bowl.