TCU’s season has become a study in how quickly control can slip away. Five losses, five one-score games, and each one has carried its own brand of heartbreak. The Horned Frogs have been undone by penalties, turnovers and late mistakes, turning games they could have owned into losses they can’t shake.
It started in Dublin, where TCU showed up as a 7.5-point favorite in the Aer Lingus Classic and walked out with a 15-10 loss to Bill Belichick’s North Carolina. The opener unraveled through 11 penalties, a safety after a bad punt snap, a Jaden Craig fumble and a 1-of-5 performance on fourth down in the upset in Ireland.
The Big 12 opener brought a similar script. Against Central Florida’s backup quarterback, TCU was hit with 11 penalties again and gave away the game with a late interception in a 21-13 loss at Acrisure Bounce House. Keyone Jenkins was nearly perfect, going 19-of-20 for 160 yards, while the Horned Frogs couldn’t get their run game going.
Then came the home loss to No. 10 BYU, a game that looked like it might tilt TCU’s way before it didn’t.
The Horned Frogs kept the Cougars to a season-low in a half and had a chance to force a tie late, but Nate McCashland missed a 46-yard field goal. BYU answered with Bear Bachmeier’s 21-yard touchdown run, in which he dragged defenders into the end zone with 2:06 left, and TCU fell 17-10.
West Virginia was another missed opportunity. TCU entered as a 10.5-point favorite, outgained the Mountaineers 484-265 and controlled the clock, but the game still slipped away in the final minute when Craig was strip-sacked in a 24-20 defeat.
The latest gut punch came in Tucson. TCU led Arizona 28-20 with 6:35 to play, only to watch Noah Fifita hit a touchdown pass to trim the margin to 28-26.
Then Ed Small muffed a pooch onside kick, and Michael Salgado-Medina finished the comeback with a go-ahead 37-yard field goal in a 29-28 loss to No. 22 Arizona.
In Other News...
Sonny Dykes Future Just Got More Complicated For TCU
TCUs board of trustees is set to meet with more than one big-ticket issue on the table, and Sonny Dykes contract is among them. The discussion comes at a time when the athletic department is navigating budget pressure from rising athlete compensation costs and major campus expansion projects, even as the universitys sizable endowment is not typically tapped for athletic expenses.
For a program trying to keep pace in an era when coaching contracts and buyouts keep getting more expensive, the timing matters. TCU has to weigh what it can afford now against what it may need to spend to stay competitive later, and Dykes future sits right in the middle of that calculation. [Read more 🡒]
TCU's Quarterback Debate Just Got Harder To Ignore
Sonny Dykes made it clear this week that TCU is at least entertaining a larger role for sophomore quarterback Adam Schobel after the recent stretch from senior Jaden Craig. Schobel has only seen limited action this season, but the conversation around him has sharpened as the Horned Frogs look for a way to get more out of the position without unsettling the offense.
The challenge now is less about whether Schobel has a place in the plan and more about how TCU can use him without inviting the kind of mistakes that can stall drives and shake confidence. For a staff trying to balance the present with Schobels long-term development, the next steps at quarterback suddenly carry a lot more weight than they did a week ago. [Read more 🡒]
TCU May Have Found A Central Texas Pipeline Worth Watching
A growing recruiting connection in Central Texas is starting to look like one worth monitoring for TCU, with Waco University High School emerging as a school the Horned Frogs have made a point to visit. The relationship has been built through campus trips and steady communication between the two coaching staffs, a sign that TCU is trying to stay active in a part of the state where college programs are always looking for an edge.
Waco University has become a more visible stop on the recruiting map, drawing interest from more than 50 colleges as the school uses social media to spotlight its athletes. The talent level is real, too, with players such as Davontrae Kirkland, who is committed to Baylor, and Ro Enriquez, who is committed to Texas Southern, already on college radars. For TCU, the value of that relationship may be less about one player than about establishing itself early in a place that keeps producing attention-worthy prospects. [Read more 🡒]