‘Laughingstock’ TCU football looking to rebound from loss to Coach Prime, Colorado
A win over Nicholls State won’t be enough to completely shake TCU’s emotions of last week’s stunning defeat to Colorado, but it’ll be a start.
Usually teams have a 24-hour rule, where they celebrate a rousing victory or sulk after a disappointing defeat, but for the Horned Frogs, that wasn’t enough time to get over the loss on a national stage.
“I think we’re disappointed in the way we played,” coach Sonny Dykes said. “There’s a lot to be learned from. There are some games you play in and you look back and say there’s not much we could’ve done. That’s really not the case with (Colorado), there’s a ton of things to learn from.”
Dykes took it one step further when describing the mental state of his team the last few days.
“I think our guys were disappointed and frustrated,” Dykes said.
Defensive leader Johnny Hodges echoed Dykes’ sentiment especially in regards to defending defensive coordinator Joe Gillespie. Gillespie has taken a lot of heat for the Horned Frogs’ defense surrendering 45 points and over 500 passing yards to the Buffaloes.
Hodges called out the effort of the entire defense on Tuesday.
“I don’t think it’s too hard to go find videos on social media of people not willing to put their bodies on the line,” Hodges said. “That’s very upsetting. It’s something we will not let happen again at this school as long as I’m here, as long as the coaches are here. It’s not fair to them.”
The struggles of the TCU defense weren’t about scheme and preparation according to Hodges.
“I know our defensive coordinator is taking a lot of heat right now and it’s upsetting to me and other guys,” Hodges said. “He’s done nothing but put us into situations to succeed. Our coordinator told us all they like they like to do is hitch, (verticals) and digs. It’s very upsetting that our defensive coordinator has to take this slack when he’s done nothing except tell us exactly what was going to happen.”
The anger still felt fresh as of Tuesday as a program that started 12-0 under Dykes has now lost three of its last four games.
So was the Colorado game a wake up call? If it’s not then there’s no telling what it will take to help motivate TCU to find its edge from a year ago.
“I guess you can say it’s a wake up call,” Hodges said. “I don’t know how losing in the national championship by 60 isn’t a wake up call, but right now we’re definitely the laughing stock of college football with 22 missed tackles. Having who knows how many missed defensive assignments, making our defensive coordinator look awful.”
Hodges’ words are harsh, but heartfelt. And no, the Horned Frogs aren’t the laughing stocks of the sports it’s just that their last two losses have come in the most high profile games on the season.
In the social media era of sports, a loss is immediately thrown under the scope with Monday morning quarterbacks and would-be coaches making their opinions and critiques of the game known not just on their timeline, but sometimes to the players directly.
It’s frustration on frustration with the only cure being TCU getting back to the same team spirit it had a year ago. The first step is going to be putting away a Nicholls State team trailed 38-10 to a FCS opponent midway through the fourth quarter.
“There are teams on Saturday that beat teams they weren’t supposed to beat,” Dykes said. “You have to be able to play with a high level, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing. I think these games are games people perceive as mail-in games, well they’re not. It’s a competitive world out there. You have to be the most excited team to play.
“We were a five-win team the year before we won 13 ballgames. We did that because week in and week out we were the most excited team to play. It didn’t matter who we played, it didn’t matter if we were big favorites or underdogs our guys were motivated, we had great leadership and we went out and played at a high level.”
Dykes and the staff focused hard on the messaging this off-season, trying to keep the players as hungry as they were last season.
The Colorado game showed there’s still more work to be done in that area.
“We talked about this a lot in the off-season, not losing that edge,” Dykes said. “It’s hard to get it back once you lose it and we didn’t play like a team that had that edge on Saturday.”
The first step to getting that edge back and quieting the noise around Gillespie is to come out and dominate Nicholls from start to finish.
You have to start somewhere right?
This story was originally published September 6, 2023 at 12:43 PM.
