LOS ANGELES — You can’t talk about TCU football’s incredible 2022-23 season and road to the College Football Playoff national championship game without mentioning the team’s unofficial mascot, the quirky and psychedelic amphibian, the hypnotoad.
While the concept of the hypnotoad originated with the animated show Futurama, as The New York Times reported in a recent profile, it’s not new to TCU football. But throughout this season, it’s taken off and has become a memed phenomenon for the Horned Frogs and their fan base. And the powers of the trippy toad, the players say, have helped propel them to Monday’s national title game against Georgia at SoFi Stadium.
With the help of some delightfully unhinged celebratory videos TCU football’s Twitter account has been posting after wins, it seems like everyone has embraced the power of this unofficial mascot.
H̴̳̞̣̻͚̰́͆̂͗͠ͅY̴͍̹̎͆́̊̑̍͋̀̓͑P̴̪̹̜̳̮͕̈́̈́́͘ͅͅN̵̡̨̪̼̼̈́O̶͙͐̌̀̀̊̃̚̕͜Ţ̶̛̫͓̗̦͈͓̠͔̻̓̃͛̂̈́O̸̩̅̔͠A̷̛̼̜͖̘̾̾̽̊́̾̓̕͘͜D̵̢̤̼̳̩̖̺̹̑̾̐̈̍͌̕͜͝#GoFrogs #DFWBig12Team pic.twitter.com/Vc9X8QTnAj
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) October 21, 2022
Hypnotoad signs and flags have become ubiquitous at games, head coach Sonny Dykes has been seen wearing a hypnotoad sweatshirt and receiver Derius Davis added a colorful tie-dye hypnotoad to the white Air Force 1s he got for the national championship game.
And, of course, the hypnotoad all over social media.
countrytoads_final_pleasework.mxf#GoFrogs #DFWBig12Team pic.twitter.com/Z5dTzkUjPg
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) October 29, 2022
So what does the hypnotoad mean to TCU players?
It’s clear the hypnotoad and all its glory mean a lot to the Horned Frogs, who capped off their magical season with their first College Football Playoff appearance.
But we asked players to describe the hypnotoad in one word.
How would you describe the hypnotoad in one word?
We asked @TCUFootball players before the #CFPNationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/mNqJgAFIfs
— For The Win (@ForTheWin) January 9, 2023
“Crazy.” “Magical.” “Energizing.” “Hypnotizing.” “Drippy.”
“Energetic, because once our fans see it, they give us a lot of goofy energy,” Davis said. “So we’re thankful for the hypnotoad, and whoever came up with that idea, kudos to them.”
But Davis definitely is not the only player who believes the hypnotoad gives the team a boost. They say it makes them faster and tougher and adds a little extra motivation. It also can toy with TCU’s opponents, as backup quarterback Sam Jackson recalled the hypnotoad appearing on the Horned Frogs’ video board to encourage the other teams’ kickers to miss.
“He messes with your mind,” guard Wes Harris said, bamboozling opposing players and making them hallucinate. “He definitely gets our fan base going.”
More via The New York Times‘ profile of the hypnotoad:
“The overlap of Futurama and the fandom of football — that’s a tight little Venn diagram,” said Eric Kaplan, the television writer whose germ of an idea was fleshed out by his collaborators into the Hypnotoad. He described himself as “stoked” about the character’s second act as a pigskin meme.
“That the fans of T.C.U. have taken a character who I created, and they’re sampling it and remixing it, and it’s become part of their emotional and athletic lives — it’s amazing,” Kaplan said in a phone interview from Romania, where he was vacationing.
Here's a look at some of TCU football's weird but spectacular post-win Twitter videos
gotmilk.mp4 #GoFrogs #DFWBig12Team #FiestaFrogs #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/sFYa7MwoAe
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) January 1, 2023
frognado.mp4#GoFrogs #DFWBig12Team pic.twitter.com/Qwcmag198l
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) November 27, 2022
crazyfrog.mp4#GoFrogs #DFWBig12Team pic.twitter.com/v08fquCLnn
— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) October 16, 2022
