Three Things TCU Coach Sonny Dykes Said ahead of OSU’s Trip to Fort Worth

Sonny Dykes’ first two seasons at TCU were on opposite ends of the spectrum.

His first year with the Horned Frogs saw TCU make the national championship game and finish the year 13-2. His second saw the Horned Frogs not make a bowl at 5-7. TCU has a chance to get to bowl eligibility Saturday when the 5-4 Horned Frogs host 3-6 Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. in Fort Worth.

Dykes met with reporters this week to preview the game. Here are three things that stood out from what he said.

1. Gundy Props, Pokes Still Playing Hard

Dykes said when you turn OSU’s film on, you find that the Cowboys are a good football team.

OSU’s record doesn’t necessarily show that this season, as the Cowboys will head to Fort Worth at 0-6 in Big 12 play. Dykes was complementary of running back Ollie Gordon and quarterback Alan Bowman. He also made a few mentions of how good the Cowboys looked in the return game against Arizona State this past weekend. But one of the things he mentioned is something OSU coach Mike Gundy has mentioned — the Cowboys haven’t given up despite things not going their way.

“One thing that I’ve been very impressed with: I thought they played very hard against Arizona State,” Dykes said. “I have not seen any sign at all of any kind of let up with this football team. I think they’re playing really hard. They’re accustomed to winning. You have to tip your hat to Mike Gundy. I think it’s 18 straight winning seasons. That is virtually impossible to do in today’s college football world. …

“There’s just a lot of parity right now in college football. It’s a strange time with some of the things that are going on.”

2. Speaking of That Parity

Outside of the Cowboys (for the most part), it has felt this season that just about any Big 12 team could beat another on any given Saturday.

This past weekend was an example of that when Texas Tech went to Ames and busted Iowa State’s unbeaten season, and Kansas State traveled to Houston and lost. The Big 12 standings feature six teams that are either 3-2 or 3-3 in conference play. There are another four squads that are either 4-1 or 4-2 in the league.

Dykes referenced his time as an assistant at Texas Tech from 2000 to 2006 to note that it wasn’t always like that.

“It’s been a while, but you’d look across the league, and you’d say, ‘OK, we’re gonna play four nonconference games and we’re gonna play four nobodies,'” Dykes said. “You go 4-0. Then you go, ‘OK, we’re gonna play the teams in the (Big 12) South,’ and there are a couple of teams that were really bad. You go, ‘OK, we’re 6-0.’ Then you’re gonna play a couple teams in the (Big 12) North, and there’s two bad teams in the North. You go, ‘Yeah, we’re 8-0, and we haven’t played anybody that can beat us.’ Then the rest of the season was determined by the two other games you played that were about the same, the teams that were about the same, and then the two teams that were really, really good. If you can manage to win (against) the teams that were about the same and one of the two (really, really good teams), then it was a great season and you went on down the road.

“This is different, man. That doesn’t happen anymore.”

3. Dana Leaves for Lincoln

Former OSU offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen (at OSU during the 2010 season), was on Dykes staff this season, but now he is headed to the Big Ten.

After his one-year stint in Stillwater, Holgorsen was the head man at West Virginia from 2011 to 2018 before making a move to Houston in 2019. He was fired at the end of last season, but Holgorsen drove up the interstate to be a consultant on Dykes’ staff. That was before news broke this week that Nebraska’s Matt Rhule was bringing Holgorsen up to Lincoln to work with the Cornhuskers’ offense in a role that “will evolve as the season goes on,” according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Dykes said he wasn’t surprised by the move.

“That was something that we’ve been talking about a little bit during the season,” Dykes said. “That was something that I think Dana had talked to them maybe before the season started about a potential role, and I think as the season unfolded, I was kind of aware what was going on.

“I think it’s a good move for Dana. I’m excited for him. He did a really good job here, and we appreciate what he did for us. It’s a good opportunity for him, for sure.”