FORT WORTH, Texas — If you watch more than a few minutes of a TCU football game - and especially if you watch College Gameday on Saturday in Arlington - you'll see a sign or two featuring a funny, slightly demonic-looking frog.
No, TCU hasn't had a logo change.
They've just adopted a new one.
And you can't argue with the results.
The Hypnotoad has become as symbolic of TCU's undefeated season as anything.
For the uninitiated, the Hypnotoad is from the cartoon show, "Futurama." The following is from the highly-official Futurama Fandom website:
"The Hypnotoad is a large toad-like creature that has large oscillating multicolored eyes, and emits a droning hum. His eyes glow all the time. The toad apparently uses these as a power of hypnotism on surrounding people and animals."
And the most important nugget from the fan website? Hypnotoad's status: ALIVE.
In TCU's case, the hypnotized people and animals have been every other team in the Big 12. Sorry, Bevo. Plus Colorado (sorry, Ralphie). And Tarleton State. And SMU.
The bottom line, for TCU opponents: If you see the Hypnotoad, it's already too late.
The reptilian creature became a staple of TCU's in-game entertainment, and the star of the Frogs' trippy postgame victory videos.
Take the Texas Tech game in early November. The Frogs struggled for much of the first three quarters. But as the tide began to turn, a video flashed on the giant screen above the north endzone: Odd as this sounds, it was a mashup of Hypnotoad and Willy Wonka. The candy man's eyes turned red, ultimately giving way to a giant Hypnotoad.
The TCU crowd went wild, and Tech was toast.
Before the game, TCU coach Sonny Dykes explained to FOX's Big Noon Kickoff crew how the Hypnotoad became a thing.
"My first time to experience it was at [TCU men's basketball coach] Jamie Dixon's basketball games this past spring. Saw the Hypnotoad at halftime of the game and was like, 'What in the world is this?' It was just weird enough that it appealed to me. I really thought it was cool. We have a lot of really young people in our program that do a great job of branding our program. It was something different and something that our fans really love.
In TCU's home finale Saturday, a banner across the south endzone seating read, "ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD."
The video board at Amon Carter Stadium featured its usual dose of Hypnotoad. A kickoff countdown with the psychadelic frog and a trippy video edit to match.
The video met the Hypnotoad criteria, if there is any: Weird, yet hard to look away.
The Frogs proceeded to score on their first drive of the game Saturday, en route to a 62-14 win over Iowa State.
The irony in all of this is that TCU's mascot, a Horned Frog, is technically a lizard. A Texas horned lizard, to be exact. As TCU explains here, the lizard's frog nickname comes from "their round body, short snout and pronounced stance that make them look more like a frog or toad."
Lizard, frog, Hypnotoad. Whatever works.
And the Hypnotoad is working.