GLENDALE, Ariz. — Who will run the Big 12 when Oklahoma and Texas jump ship — possibly as soon as 2024 — for the greener pastures of the SEC?

That just might be Texas Christian University, a school whose entire alumni base seemingly could fit inside Texas’ 100,000-seat Darrell K. Royal Stadium.

After the Horned Frogs beat Michigan 51-45 in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday to seal a berth in the national championship game, that looks downright likely.

The win makes TCU the first program from Texas to play for a national title since the Longhorns lost to Alabama in the BCS Championship game on Jan. 7, 2010. On that day, current TCU quarterback Max Duggan was a couple of months shy of turning 9 years old and the Horned Frogs played in the Mountain West Conference. You can bet the recruiting impact will be felt across the talent-rich state, where kids who grew up wanting to be Colt McCoy will now pretend to be Duggan, who battled back against Michigan during a wildly entertaining second half.

“I think it’s a game-changer quite frankly,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said before the game was played. “I think that’s everybody’s message. … There’s already a high level of interest from some really good players across Texas and across the country, and I think this is going to do nothing but enhance our ability to go and recruit some of the best football players in the country.

“Obviously, when you can also sell the face that, look we are going to have an opportunity to play for a national championship, that’s really all you can ask for. I think that’s going to be a huge feather in our cap.”

With the CFP set to expand after one more four-team run next year, the premium on spots will no longer be limited to the SEC and Big Ten, both of which have gotten multiple teams in during the four-team model at the expense of the Pac-12 and Big 12. Suddenly, being a school that can recruit the talent-rich Dallas Fort-Worth area, can consistently win in a weakened Big 12 and just had the best season in program history seems an attractive proposition.

That’s an unlikely position for a program that drifted in the wilderness after the Southwest Conference’s dissolution. Twenty-five years ago, TCU had a 1-10 record in the Western Athletic Conference, with losses to New Mexico, Texas-El Paso and Rice. Three conferences later, the Horned Frogs are in position to become a national power.

“I think in a lot of ways, TCU — obviously before I was there, really before any of these players were there — it’s always been a fight for credibility,” Dykes said before the game.

After this victory, that fight is done and dusted.