Steven Johnson: Despite historic run, TCU has yet to play its best and that’s scary for the Big 12
Officially past the halfway point of the season, we’ve learned a ton about Sonny Dykes and his TCU football program.
The Horned Frogs are explosive and resilient, coming back from consecutive big deficits in back-to-back weeks against two Top 25 opponents.
TCU has one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Max Duggan. Kendre Miller and Quentin Johnston can make the same argument at running back and wide receiver.
Yet perhaps the biggest lesson from the Horned Frogs’ 38-28 win over No. 17 Kansas State is that while the Horned Frogs are in the midst of a historic run, they’ve yet to really play up to their full capabilities.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” linebacker Johnny Hodges said. “I don’t think we’ve put together four quarters of a really good football game together yet. It’s nice to get into the win column against a good team. I guess we’re alright for now.”
On its face it sounds like a form of coach speak or media training for this type of situation. TCU has beaten four ranked opponents in a row which has never been done even when the program was humming under Gary Patterson.
Just alright? That’s kind of harsh isn’t it, Johnny?
Except when you think about it, it’s actually true. At this point it feels like the Horned Frogs have just needed to play one good half or maybe a quarter and a half to topple their opponents during the 7-0 start.
Think about their explosive second halfs against Colorado, Kansas State and Oklahoma State. Then think about how TCU blitzed SMU out of the gate along with Oklahoma. The Sooners were probably the closet thing we’ve seen to a complete game, but the injury to Sooners quarterback Dillon Gabriel skews that a bit.
The Horned Frogs can start fast or finish strong. Now it’s just about figuring out a way to do both in the same game.
“It starts in practice. The first couple of games we were doing a really good job of starting fast. We’ve just gotta make sure we’re executing at a higher level. Doing things that lead up to the games and it starts at practice,” Duggan said.
In the wake of a victory that cemented the Horned Frogs as the Big 12 favorite and a viable option for the College Football Playoff, the team was already focused on things it needed to improve.
There’s joy, there’s celebration of course. But there’s no complacency setting in despite TCU defying all expectations. It’s just another example of Sonny Dykes has firmly shifted the culture of the program into his vision.
“There are teams that I’ve coached in the past that have gotten off to fast starts where you could kind of see guys that start to feel good about themselves and lose some focus,” Dykes said. “I don’t think this team is like that. I’ve kind of been waiting to start hearing some talk about this or that or conference standings or rankings and I haven’t heard it ever.
“I think the guys have adopted the mentality of let’s just show up on Tuesday and have a good Tuesday practice. I think these guys buy into that.”
For Dykes the buy in of his roster is more important than the message from him and the staff.
“I think it’s the culture of our program. It’s certainly the players, it’s a player-driven culture. It’s our job to guide, but they’re the ones that do the stuff, they’re the guys that deserve all the credit and praise. They’re the ones that go out and perform on Saturdays,” Dykes said.
You can imagine that Dykes was more than encouraged from the attitude of both Hodges and Duggan. Each a leader on their side of the ball recognizing that as well as TCU has played there’s still another level this roster can reach. He felt that energy at halftime with the Horned Frogs trailing 28-17.
“There was no panic, but there was frustration because we felt like we hadn’t played a great half of football, but I didn’t sense any panic,” Dykes said.
The offense has scored at least 38 points on every single opponent and the defense has gone back-to-back weeks with stifling performances in the second half against some of the most dynamic offensive weapons in the Big 12.
The Horned Frogs already have the resiliency and mental fortitude that every championship level team needs. Now it’s about finding that consistency to dominate quarter after quarter on both sides of the ball.
If TCU can find that, then this special run won’t stop anytime soon.
This story was originally published October 23, 2022 at 10:10 AM.
