Why Sonny Dykes, TCU football are ‘fired up’ for the New Mexico Bowl
While most fans who root for TCU football aren’t excited about the Horned Frogs’ selection to the New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 28, head coach Sonny Dykes doesn’t share those sentiments.
Speaking with the media recently to preview the matchup with Louisiana in Albuquerque, Dykes made it clear he thinks the Horned Frogs will be eager to play for the chance to secure their ninth win of the year.
“We’re fired up to be going to Albuquerque and playing against a really good Louisiana team that’s a 10-win team,” Dykes said via zoom. “They just played for a conference championship.”
It may sound like just typical coach speak, but Dykes actually has legitimate ties to the area that extend beyond the football field.
“I’ve got some history in Albuquerque,” Dykes said. “I lived there when I was a child growing up, I’m excited to see some friends and family and some people I’ve known for a long time.”
Dykes’ father Spike was an assistant at New Mexico in the late 1970s and it should be a nice homecoming for Dykes. As for the players, it’s fair to wonder how much motivation there will be for this game.
Most bowl projections had TCU playing some type of SEC team, which would’ve allowed the Horned Frogs to make a statement against a big brand in the heat of the transfer portal season.
A win over the Ragin’ Cajuns won’t move the needle as much, but Dykes said motivation won’t be lacking in the locker room. It’ll be less about who they’re playing and more about the fact they have one more game with each other.
“Our players have really enjoyed playing together this season, the guys really like each other,” Dykes said. “They like this football team, they really enjoy playing for TCU and each other, it’s a very unselfish group. I know they’re excited to get another game and fired up to be coming to Albuquerque and to a bowl game that has traditionally been a very good game.
“There’ve been some great matchups in the past and we’re looking forward to hopefully being in another one.”
How good the matchup could be will be determined by who’s playing quarterback for Louisiana. Starting quarterback and Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Year Ben Wooldridge has missed the last four games with an injury and his backup Chandler Fields exited the conference championship game with an injury as well.
The Ragin’ Cajuns could be forced to start freshman Daniel Beale or put wide receiver Lance Legendre back at quarterback. Legendre played quarterback at Maryland before eventually transferring and moving positions.
While he has experience at quarterback, Legendre is also Louisiana’s leading receiver and the Ragin’ Cajuns already lost one of their top pass catchers to the portal. Regardless of who is under center, TCU’s approach won’t change defensively.
“One of the things we always want to do defensively is pressure the quarterback,” Dykes said. “When you sit down and talk to our defensive coordinator Andy Avalos, that’s kind of the one thing he comes back to a lot. Trying to pressure the quarterback and make him uncomfortable.
“Especially when you have a quarterback that hasn’t played a lot, I think that’s one of the things you want to try and do to a young quarterback. That’s where it begins for us.”
Pressuring the quarterback is a universal approach that works whether the opposing team is breaking a freshman or using a more experienced signal caller.
As for the other aspects of Louisiana’s team, Dykes and the staff are just now beginning to work up a gameplan, but there were a few things that stood out.
“No. 1 I was impressed with their field goal kicker,” Dykes said. “That was one of the things I noticed pretty quickly, they made a bunch of field goals, they kick at a really high percentage, I think over 90% successful on field goals.
“Defensively, the speed standouts from what I’ve seen. They play hard and they’re well-coached. They’re very multiple in what they do schematically.”
There’s a reason Louisiana’s kicker, Kenneth Almendares, caught Dykes’ attention. Almendares is a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, annually given to the country’s best kicker. Almendares has made 27 of his 29 field goal attempts including a 53-yarder and 46 of his 47 extra point attempts
Defensively, the Ragin’ Cajuns have multiple all-conference players on the unit led by standout linebacker K.C. Ossai and defensive back Tyrone Lewis Jr.
Louisiana isn’t LSU, but the Ragin’ Cajuns still won 10 games and can’t be overlooked. Dykes also knows they’ll be hungry to end the season with a win over a Big 12 team.
“From my time at (Louisiana) Tech it always felt like you were fighting for respect,” Dykes said. “It certainly felt that way when we were at SMU as well when we weren’t in the power four. Any time you got to play against a power four or power five opponent, there was extra motivation.
“You had a chance to prove yourself, to prove you belonged. I know this Louisiana team is going to be highly motivated, they’ve got a chance to knock off a power four team and a team that played for a national championship a couple seasons ago.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
