TCU’s Halloween win over Kansas came with a strange kind of aftertaste. The Horned Frogs rallied from a 13-point deficit to win 22-16 at Amon G. Carter Stadium, but the more striking image was the amount of purple missing from the stands.
That emptiness said plenty. Fans have already spent eight games watching an offense sputter and a season drift away from the kind of expectations TCU opened with. A program that talked in the preseason about a Big 12 championship and a College Football Playoff push is now sitting at 4-4, with the conversation narrowed to finding two more wins and reaching a bowl game.
Still, Saturday did produce real moments worth remembering. Max Carroll turned an interception into a 60-yard touchdown.
Ace Theus, who had barely factored into the offense early in the year, broke free for a 28-yard score. And Jaden Craig, a quarterback who has taken plenty of heat, finished the comeback with a 17-yard touchdown run in the final two minutes.
Those plays mattered, even if the overall mood never fully matched the scoreboard. TCU trailed 13-0 at halftime and needed its defense to get the comeback started before the offense could do much of anything. The game was close, then tense, then finally won - but after so much offensive frustration, the whole thing still carried the feel of a party that had already been declared over.
Sonny Dykes has leaned on the kind of language coaches use when the explanations run thin. He said there was a good practice and that he didn’t see this coming.
Maybe that was all sincere. It just doesn’t land the same way anymore, not after the losses and not with the stadium thinning out the way it has.
Even so, there’s still a case for finding something in the wins that remain. Kansas lost, TCU won, and the people who stayed until the end saw a comeback that should stand on its own. Not every Saturday has to be measured only by the larger disappointment around the program.
For some fans, the appeal is bigger than the team’s record anyway. The tailgate, the walk into the stadium, the familiar faces in the same seats every week - those things still matter, even when the football doesn’t. College football is built on that kind of community, and a bad season doesn’t erase it.
For others, the players are what’s left to hold onto. Craig delivered the winning score after spending much of the afternoon behind an offense that couldn’t get out of its own way.
Carroll made the defensive touchdown possible. Theus turned an unlikely comeback into something real.
Those moments belonged to the players, not to the people making decisions about the program’s direction.
It’s easy for anger at the bigger picture to swallow everything underneath it. But the young men in that locker room did not build the coaching staff, sign the contracts or promise a conference title.
They practice through the criticism and show up again the next week. That deserves something.
The criticism of Dykes isn’t going away, and neither is the schedule. Arizona comes next Friday, followed by Kansas State, Utah and Texas Tech.
Those four games won’t fix what’s broken in Fort Worth. But they can still produce a play worth cheering, and fans can be furious about the program while still appreciating a great throw, a hard tackle or a catch like one Jordan Dwyer might make.
The empty seats will likely be there again, and so will the questions. But if another moment like Saturday’s comes along, somebody should be in the building to see it. That may be a smaller kind of happiness than TCU expected this fall, but it is still happiness.
In Other News...
Noah Fifita And Arizona Face A Real Friday Night Test
Friday night in Tucson brings a Big 12 matchup that should tell us a lot about where Arizona and TCU really stand. Arizona comes in leading the conference in passing offense behind Noah Fifita, and the Wildcats will lean on that strength against a Horned Frogs defense that has been one of the leagues toughest against the pass and has also set the pace in scoring defense.
For TCU, the trip is another chance to steady an offense that has been searching for answers, while Arizona has its own questions after both teams have had trouble getting much going on the ground. If the Wildcats can turn this into a clean aerial game, they can put real pressure on a TCU unit built to make life difficult through the air. [Read more 🡒]
TCU Defense Faces Its Biggest Big 12 Test Yet In Arizona
Arizonas passing game is about to put TCUs defense in a different kind of spotlight, with quarterback Noah Fifita at the center of it. The Horned Frogs have spent much of the season leaning on a defense that has been one of the leagues best, and now they get a test that asks whether that group can keep a polished, experienced passer from dictating the pace. Sonny Dykes and senior safety Jamel Johnson both pointed to Fifitas accuracy and mobility as the traits that make him such a difficult matchup.
For TCU, the challenge is less about simply getting stops and more about handling a quarterback who can extend plays and punish mistakes in the passing game. Arizonas offense has the kind of rhythm that can stress a secondary snap after snap, which is why this trip feels like such a measuring stick for the Horned Frogs. If TCU can make Fifita uncomfortable early, it could say plenty about how far this defense has come. [Read more 🡒]
Sonny Dykes Just Fueled A Bigger TCU Debate Than Ever
TCUs latest football conversation has drifted well beyond the field, with Sonny Dykes fielding questions at a recent press conference about the temperature around his job and the noise that comes with it. The Horned Frogs coach said he did not notice the negative reactions from fans and kept the focus on the work in front of the program, even as the scrutiny around him has only grown louder.
Dykes also pushed back on a report about TCUs football payroll, saying the number being circulated was not accurate and that the programs budget is much closer to $30 million, which would put it near the top of the Big 12. He acknowledged that coaches live with constant pressure and social media criticism, but said he does not let any of it change how he approaches the job, leaving the bigger debate around the program very much alive. [Read more 🡒]