Texas Christian University will play the University of Georgia for the national championship next Monday night in Los Angeles (7:30 pm, ESPN). It helps to read the sentence aloud, just to let the reality sink in, just in case the No. 3 Horned Frogs’ thrilling victory over No. 2 Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday wasn’t enough.

TCU, which finished the regular season 12-0 before dropping the Big 12 Championship Game to Kansas State, became the largest underdog (7.5 points at kickoff) to win a College Football Playoff game when they tripped up the Wolverines in the desert last weekend. They will be even larger underdogs against Georgia, which opened betting as a 13-point favorites early Sunday morning.

While TCU is absolutely a wonderful story, the Horned Frogs are much more than just a made-for-Hollywood underdog story. They are a tremendous football team, and if Georgia wants to repeat as national champions, they’ll need to play better football than they did in surviving Ohio State in the Peach Bowl on Saturday night.

Here are 10 things you need to know about TCU ahead of the College Football Playoff championship game.

TCU is the first team in the College Football Playoff era to begin the season unranked and play for the national championship

Just how magical has TCU’s season been? The Horned Frogs were unranked when the AP Top 25 dropped in August. In fact, TCU didn’t receive a single vote in either the AP or Coaches’ Preseason polls. The Horned Frogs didn’t receive a vote in the AP Poll until Week 5, when 1 lonely media member ranked them 25th. Monday night, TCU plays for the national championship. What an incredible journey.

A win would make TCU the second straight national champion that did not win its conference

For a while Saturday night, it looked as if the College Football Playoff championship would involve 2 teams that didn’t win their league. Then Georgia rallied, eliminating a situation where a second straight national champion that didn’t win its own conference was guaranteed. One of the largest practical reasons for a Playoff system is to make sure the best teams are afforded the opportunity to win, even if they don’t happen to win a winner-take-all conference championship game. The system has benefitted Alabama and Georgia previously, and if TCU pulls the upset on Monday night, they would become the 3rd team to win the College Football Playoff without lifting a trophy on conference championship weekend.

It would also make TCU the first Big 12 team to capture a College Football Playoff national championship

The Big 12 has not won a national championship in football since Vince Young’s magical game against Southern California in the January 2006 Rose Bowl. In fact, the Big 12 hasn’t played for a national title since Texas fell to Alabama in the BCS National Championship game in January 2010, helping Nick Saban win his first national championship at Alabama. Prior to this season, Oklahoma had been the only Big 12 program to appear in the College Football Playoff, and the Sooners were one-and-done in all 4 of their Playoff appearances. By simply reaching Los Angeles and the title game, TCU has made history. They’ll make more with a win on Monday night.

Against a top-10 schedule, TCU beat 5 ranked teams in the regular season

The Horned Frogs faced a top-10 regular-season schedule, per Team Rankings. It included 5 victories over ranked teams, including road wins at Kansas and Texas. The Horned Frogs’ Playoff semifinal win over Michigan was the team’s 6th victory over a ranked opponent. For perspective, Georgia finished the regular season with just 2 wins over ranked teams. The Dawgs have beaten 2 more since, of course, routing LSU in the SEC Championship Game and overcoming Ohio State in the Peach Bowl semifinal. Georgia has also played a top-10 schedule, and per the Stats Solutions ELO rankings (which accounts for every opponent’s strength of record), Georgia played the 3rd-most difficult slate in the SEC and 4th-most difficult schedule nationally, behind only Florida, Colorado and Auburn.

Sonny Dykes is the first coach in to reach the title game in Year 1

Striking a blow to fans and administrators screaming for “patience” across the sport, TCU coach Sonny Dykes is set to become the first head coach in his first year at a program to have his team play for the  College Football Playoff championship. Due primarily to the dominance of a handful of programs (and coaches) in the sport, Dykes joins an exclusive fraternity of coaches to guide programs to the championship game, period: Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Urban Meyer, Ed Orgeron, Mark Helfrich, Ryan Day and Georgia’s own Kirby Smart are the only other coaches in the “coached in the College Football Playoff championship game” club. Dykes is the first to do it in season one on the job.

A win would be TCU’s 3rd national championship

Seriously.

The Horned Frogs previously won the national championship in 1935 and 1938. While both titles came well before college football integrated, the Horned Frogs would join Georgia with 3 national titles with a win.

Max Duggan played the worst game of his season in the Fiesta Bowl — and the Horned Frogs still won

Duggan, TCU’s star quarterback and the Heisman Trophy runner-up, was average in the Fiesta Bowl, completing only 14 of 29 passes for 225 yards. He also threw 2 interceptions. Granted, the Wolverines were the best statistical defense Duggan had faced all season, ranked in the top 5 in the country prior to the game. But the fact Duggan could struggle the way he did and the Horned Frogs could put up 51 points in the process offers some insight into just how explosive Dykes’ team is offensively.

Overall, Duggan has thrown for 3,546 yards and 32 touchdowns against just 6 interceptions after not winning the starting job out of fall camp. He replaced injured starter Chandler Morris in the 2nd half of TCU’s opener and hasn’t looked back.

Kendre Miller’s health matters immensely

The Horned Frogs found a way to win, as they have all season, despite losing Kendre Miller for most of the second half Saturday when the future NFL running back injured his right knee. Miller tweeted after the win that he’ll play Jan. 9, but that might be wishful thinking. TCU has a capable backup in Emari Demercado, who went 69 yards to the house in the Fiesta Bowl win.

Demercado is a powerful runner, too.

But to beat Georgia, the Horned Frogs need both Demercado and their 1,400-yard rusher, Miller. You have to be able to change backs and pace against the Bulldogs. Miller is faster and more elusive than Deearcado, and a future pro. His health is a huge story.

Quentin Johnston will be a first-round draft pick

Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. lit up the Dawgs in the Peach Bowl, winning about every matchup Will Muschamp and Smart threw his direction. While TCU’s Quentin Johnston lacks the NFL Hall-of-Fame bloodlines of Harrison, he’s every bit as special. Johnston is the best deep ball receiver in the country, and he showed it against Michigan, hauling in 6 catches for 163 yards. He’s also elite in space — just ask Michigan:

The best part of Johnston? His penchant for massive performances in big games. Against ranked foes this year, Johnston has been at his best. He’s tallied 43 catches for 879 yards with 5 touchdowns in those contests. That’s about 75-80% of his season production (59 receptions, 1,066 yards) in big games. Those numbers help make it easy to explain why he’s a first round pick in most every mock NFL draft.

Dylan Horton is the “Jalen Carter” for TCU’s excellent defensive line

Jalen Carter is Georgia’s ultimate “X-factor” on defense, the linemen who may be the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft and who impacts everything that happens schematically when Georgia’s opponents have the ball. He can rush the passer and the double teams he commands are a big reason Georgia leads the nation in run defense, allowing just 2.9 yards per attempt on the ground.

TCU doesn’t have a Carter, but they do have a quality defensive line led by Dylan Horton, an All-Big 12 performer who has 10 sacks and ranks 2nd on the Horned Frogs in tackles for loss with 16. The senior had 4 sacks against Michigan (after recording 2 in the Big 12 title game), and he’s a freakishly good athlete who projects to be selected in the 2nd or 3rd round of the NFL Draft thanks to his versatility.

Horton runs a 4.5 40, which he showed off on the clip above, and his vertical leap of 38 inches was on display in his 2 tipped passes in the Playoff semifinal.

There are not many players who make these types of hustle plays from the defensive line, but Horton’s ability to do so is illustrative of the sneaky athleticism that colors this TCU roster.