TCU Basks in Rose Bowl Win

The Rose Bowl may be long over, but the celebration continues at TCU.

Close to 7,000 die-hard fans showed up weeks after the football team's Rose Bowl win for a celebration inside the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum on campus Sunday.

Though the game was played New Year's Day, school officials waited until students got back from Christmas break to hold the celebration.

Two weeks after the win, the city of Fort Worth, the university, the football team and its fans are still basking in the glow of TCU's undefeated 13-0 season.

"It was very exciting! It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip to go to the Rose Bowl," said Cindy Horne, a TCU alum, who sat in the first row at the celebration on campus.

To hear the crowd cheer as they saw a highlight reel from the season, you would have thought they were watching the Rose Bowl itself.

Fans got an up-close look at their favorite senior players, including senior wide receiver Bart Johnson.

"The senior class, we had all came in together and we worked hard, and it's all about heart and hard work," he said.

All-American center Jake Kirkpatrick was asked about his long hair.

"I told you I wasn't cutting it unless we lost, and we never lost," he said.

It was a chance for head coach Gary Patterson to thank the fans who followed his team the entire season and then to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

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"I will tell you it was fun to be at the Rose Bowl, but not as much as with this team and these fans," he said.

Mayor Mike Moncrief said thanked the Frog football team for "making us the envy of the entire country."

Despite the flawless season, many fans and the even the mayor believed, if given the chance, the TCU Horned Frogs could have won it all.

"We could have beat the hell out of Auburn!" Moncrief said.

"There's no doubt in my mind TCU could have beat both of those teams," said Jason Horne, a TCU alum who went to the Rose Bowl.

Still, fans and the football team say the support they've gotten from fans all year and the crowd of close to 7,000 fans at the the end of year celebration was the perfect end to a perfect season.

MVP quarterback Andy Dalton, who has already graduated and will get married this year, says he is also training and will participate in the Senior Bowl. He will also participate in the NFL Combine and is getting ready for the draft.

Patterson has signed a contract to stay with TCU until 2018.

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