Sonny Dykes walked into Big 12 Football Media Days with the kind of confidence that makes sense for TCU right now. The Horned Frogs have stacked back-to-back bowl wins and 9-4 seasons, and even with a roster that’s been reworked, they’re still sitting in that intriguing spot: good enough to matter, but still overlooked by plenty of the national college football conversation after reaching a national title game just over three years ago.
Dykes knows exactly what he wants next.
“I’m proud of what we’ve done,” Dykes said. “Year 1 was pretty wild to go 13-2 the first year (and) kinda set the bar for the program… we want to get back to that. We’ve won 18 games the last two years, which on paper looks pretty good and I’m pretty proud of that, but we’ve left some opportunities on the table… We’ve made some changes within our program this year that’ll hopefully give us the opportunity to close those games out and get back in the CFP where we belong because we really do believe our program is capable of doing that.”
That message fits the way TCU is shaping up entering the 2026 regular season. Dykes, who went 13-2 in his first season in 2022 and was the consensus National Coach of the Year, is trying to steer the program back toward the College Football Playoff with a new look on offense and a defense built to hold up over a long Big 12 season.
The biggest change comes at offensive coordinator, where UConn’s Gordon Sammis is stepping in for Kendal Briles, who is now at South Carolina. Sammis will have to do it without Josh Hoover, who is now at Indiana, but he does inherit a quarterback room led by Harvard transfer Jaden Craig.
There’s still plenty for Craig to work with. TCU returns receivers Jordan Dwyer and Ed Small, and South Alabama transfer Jeremy Scott gives the passing game another option.
The offensive line is expected to be strong enough to support Sammis’ pass-heavy approach, the same style that helped make the Huskies so productive over the last two years. In the backfield, Jeremy Payne’s Year 2 breakout gave the Frogs another established piece and another player with real standing in the locker room.
On the other side, TCU’s defense looks built to make life difficult for opponents. The secondary is deep, with Jamel Johnson at safety and Vernon Glover at corner, and the Frogs also bring back two tackles in Ansel Din-Mbuh and Connor Lingren.
Under Andy Avalos, that gives TCU a defense that can hold up. The one spot still waiting on a clear answer is designated pass rusher, though Western Kentucky transfer Koron Hayward could eventually settle that role.
The schedule gives TCU a chance to make noise early. The Horned Frogs are sitting at a consensus 6.5 wins, and that number looks light.
They could start 4-0 with North Carolina on Aug. 29 in Ireland, followed by Grambling State on Sept. 12 at home, Arkansas State on Sept. 19 at home, and UCF on the road on Sept. 26.
The first major checkpoint comes Oct. 3 at home against BYU, which is ranked preseason No. 12.
After that, the path gets much rougher. TCU goes to Baylor, then hosts West Virginia and Kansas before facing a brutal finish: at Arizona, home against Kansas State, home against Utah and then the regular-season finale at Texas Tech. If the Horned Frogs are going to be in the Big 12 title conversation in November, they’ll have to survive that stretch first.
In Other News...
Why Baylor Believes DJ Lagway Can Change Everything Through The Air
During Big 12 Media Days, Baylor made it clear it wants DJ Lagway to do more than manage games. The quarterback talked about expanding the passing attack and embracing a more aggressive approach, while also pointing to Dave Arandas track record with quarterbacks as part of what drew him in. For TCU, that matters because the Horned Frogs are not just preparing for a more experienced passer, but for an offense that expects to use its tight ends as a bigger piece of the plan and stretch defenses in more ways than one.
The challenge for TCU is that Lagway does not fit neatly into one scouting report. He can work the ball through the air, but he also brings the kind of movement that can turn a clean pocket into a scramble drill and a routine snap into a problem. Later in the season, when these teams meet, the Horned Frogs will have to account for all of it at once, and that is exactly the kind of matchup that can change how a defense has to call a game. [Read more 🡒]
Brendan Sorsby Saga Just Pulled Another Program Into The Mess
Brendan Sorsbys path out of Cincinnati has already left the Bearcats dealing with one legal fight, and now another layer of scrutiny has landed around his time there. The school is expected to provide the NCAA with requested documentation after the governing body sent a letter of inquiry, adding a fresh wrinkle to a situation that has already kept Sorsby and his former program in the headlines.
The inquiry does not accuse Cincinnati of wrongdoing, but it does keep the focus on a messy stretch that began after Sorsby acknowledged sports betting while at the school and later moved on to Texas Tech. Cincinnati is also pursuing a lawsuit against him over his NIL contract, so even as one chapter closes on the field, the paperwork and disputes around his departure are still very much active. [Read more 🡒]
TCU Media Days Took A Turn Frogs Fans Will Definitely Notice
Day 2 of Big 12 media days brought the full circuit of individual school turnouts, with Arizona, Cincinnati, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, TCU, Utah and West Virginia all taking their turns at the podium and in Q&A sessions. The biggest coaching news of the day came from Utah and Kansas State, where Morgan Scalley and Collin Klein were introduced as new head coaches and spent time explaining the transition from assistant roles into the spotlight, along with the philosophies they want to bring to their programs.
For TCU, the conversation had a different edge. Sonny Dykes addressed the NCAAs letter of inquiry to Cincinnati over Brendan Sorsbys gambling situation and made clear where he stands on the Big 12 side of the issue, backing commissioner Brett Yormarks handling of it. It was the kind of media-days moment that can get lost in the shuffle, but Frogs fans will notice when their coach is weighing in on a league matter that could shape how the conference handles similar problems going forward. [Read more 🡒]