It took a minor miracle for TCU football to make a bowl game, but the Horned Frogs are back in the postseason for the 16th time in 18th seasons as they face off against Cal in the Cheez-It Bowl.

The TCU team that plays on Wednesday will look different than the the one that played most of the season. Quarterback Shawn Robinson has already transferred. Several key defenders are out with injuries. Production has to come from somewhere.

However, the Horned Frogs have had success against the Pac-12 in bowl games. TCU has played Pac-12 teams in two of the last three seasons, and achieved big comebacks to beat both Oregon and Stanford. Gary Patterson’s teams always seem to find a way; we’ll have to see if they can do it one more time.

Here’s our full preview of the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl, presented by TicketCity.

Cheez-It Bowl details

When: 8 p.m. on Dec. 26

Where: Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz.

Point spread: Cal -1.0

What channel is TCU vs. Cal on?

TCU vs. Cal will be broadcast live on ESPN. It can also be streamed live on WatchESPN.

How can I buy tickets to TCU vs. Cal?

Click here to buy tickets to the Cheez-It Bowl at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Cheez-It Bowl preview

Defensive battle

This matchup pits a Big 12 team against a Pac-12 team. Funnily enough, despite the reputation of either of these conferences, this will be a matchup of two of the top defenses in college football.

TCU holds opponents to just 24.4 points per game and 344.4 total yards per game, despite playing in a pass-happy Big 12 conference. Cal is even better, allowing 319.4 yards and 21.3 points per game.

This is going to be an ugly game, but it will be a hard-fought defensive slugfest, the kind you don’t see in college football too often anymore.

Inconsistent Cal offense

Cal’s defense is a force to be reckoned with. Its offense is not. The Golden Bears rank No. 110 in total offense and No. 109 in scoring offense. They scored fewer than 20 points five times, and ranked No. 121 in offensive S&P+. The only worse S&P+ Power Five offense was Rutgers.

The Golden Bears rotated quarterbacks Chase Garbers and Brandon McIlwain. Neither performed particularly well. The freshman Garbers seems poised to hold onto the starting job heading forward, but he still averaged just 5.9 yards per pass attempt. TCU’s elite pass defense will have a field day.

Injury woes

TCU suffered terrible injury luck throughout the 2018 season. In many ways, this was one of the most impressive coaching jobs of the Gary Patterson era.

The Horned Frogs lost quarterbacks Shawn Robinson and Michael Collins to season-ending injuries. Highly-touted freshman quarterback Justin Rogers also has not performed this season after recovering from a catastrophic knee injury. The defense was perhaps even worse, with almost the entire secondary going out.

However, senior practice squad mainstay quarterback Grayson Muehlstein kept finding a way, and the defense maintained its next-man-up mentality. They’ll have to do it one more time against a good Cal team.

Players to watch

Cal: Linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk

Kunaszyk was the one Cal player named to the All-Pac 12 first team, and for good reason. He posted 133 tackles, including 83 solo, and added 11 tackles for loss, four sacks, five forced fumbles and three pass breakups. Kunaszyk is a do-everything linebacker that perfectly embodies what Cal coach Justin Wilcox wants to accomplish on defense.

TCU: Wide receiver Jalen Reagor

Jalen Reagor is the best player on either of these football teams. The way offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie used him late in the season was more akin to how a 2A high school coach would use an elite recruit. Reagor lined up in the Wildcat, got the ball on jet sweeps and caught passes. He was responsible for four touchdowns in the final two weeks of the season for a TCU offense that was otherwise hapless.

Score prediction: Cal 14, TCU 10