TCU is forcing college football to see past big-name brands as Sonny Dykes’ squad rolls through Big 12

TCU has a picture drawback. Sonny Dykes ought to know.

It wasn’t till lately the TCU coach was acknowledged at an area Starbucks whereas fetching espresso for himself and his spouse.

“I told her, ‘Well, it’s the very first time everybody in the place kind of knew who I was,'” Dykes recalled in a dialog with CBS Sports. “I was a little disappointed.”

But in a great way. Dykes has all the time wished to be in a metropolitan space, in a position to mix in, even when that now means teaching at a non-public college with an undergraduate enrollment of about 10,000. The TCU campus is not solely small however subdued, tucked away within the western fringe of the Metroplex in Fort Worth, the slower-paced neighbor of Dallas.

It is completely comprehensible TCU may very well be a spot that provides a little bit of anonymity. However, football has intervened. Eleven months into the gig, Dykes has made No. 7 TCU a nationwide story.

The Horned Frogs (8-0) are considered one of six undefeated groups this week of the primary College Football Playoff Rankings. They are the one undefeated staff left within the Big 12, a convention they now have to be favored to win. They at one level had 4 consecutive wins over ranked groups, although the final three victories have been of the come-from-behind selection.

Now, about that picture drawback. It is actual contemplating the corporate TCU retains in these CFP Rankings. Compared to the likes of Tennessee, Ohio State, Georgia, Clemson, Michigan and Alabama, TCU does not have the identical custom or identify recognition. No shock it is behind all of them in the rankings, together with the one-loss Crimson Tide.

Armed among the best resumes within the nation, the query stays: Will TCU get correct consideration from the CFP Selection Committee?

“In college football today, people have a hard time seeing past the brands,” Dykes stated final week earlier than TCU’s win over (*12*). “But this has a chance. It really has been a really good place.”

Dykes then will get past the visibility factor by noting former coach Gary Patterson’s Frogs completed within the prime 11 of the AP Top 25 seven instances from 2005-17.

“It’s obviously been done,” Dykes stated.

It’s additionally the explanation he is at TCU after shifting throughout city from SMU final November. It was a troublesome alternative … and it wasn’t. In 2019, Dykes turned the primary SMU coach to win 10 video games in a season since 1984. Still, SMU is not in a Power Five convention like TCU. Unlike Cal, this system from which he was fired in 2016, TCU invests emotionally, financially and fanatically in football.

Patterson is largely accountable for that, too. He’s additionally a substantial motive Dykes took that crosstown drive to TCU. After that Cal firing, Patterson employed Dykes as analyst. Not to say the son of a training legend (Spike Dykes) could not discover work, however at that time in his profession, he was fragile. Dykes had by no means been fired earlier than.

“If it hadn’t been for Gary, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now,” Dykes stated. “He was great to me. He gave me a job. I learned about how passionate he was about what he did. It was good for me. That flame burned hot. I had been at Cal for four years, and man, I was worn out.”

The SMU run bought the native Texan again dwelling. His dad coached for 14 years at Texas Tech. Spike’s roots run so deep {that a} six-year-old Sonny can bear in mind being within the Texas locker room when Darrell Royal introduced his retirement. Spike Dykes was a Texas assistant from 1972-76.

On Sundays after video games, little Sonny and his neighborhood buddies would play on the identical Memorial Stadium turf the place Earl Campbell had run.

“I remember kind of wondering what the heck was going on,” Sonny recalled. “I was perceptive to know I’m the locker room and I’m not usually in the locker room. I can remember like it was yesterday.”

Now Sonny Dykes, at the least for the second, is one of the best coach of one of the best program within the state. That ought to go a good distance to stepping into the CFP if the Frogs maintain profitable. In the historical past of CFP, no undefeated major-conference champion has been overlooked. So, in that sense, the bottom guidelines are set. Win out, and TCU ought to be in.

Where TCU will get into hassle is if it loses alongside the way in which and is in contrast to a second staff from the Big Ten or SEC. The committee may a favor a convention champion in that scenario … but it surely may not.

The “brand” factor seemingly went away final yr when Cincinnati turned the primary program from the Group of Five to get in. That was an uphill climb for a program that went 22-1 over two seasons to break through.

TCU, although is not battling through the Group of Five. In truth, its excellence is an enormous motive the Big 12 cashed in with its new media rights deal. Rightsholders primarily determined there was sufficient football depth within the Big 12 to spend money on the league even with out Texas and Oklahoma.

Dykes is rolling at this second regardless of being considered one of a handful of coaches who by no means performed college football. He gravitated towards baseball rising up in West Texas. The reasoning was easy.

“West Texas football, we practiced for three hours every day,” he stated. “It was blood and guts every day. Baseball, it’s batting practice and pretty girls.”

His dad did not a lot thoughts. Sonny’s teaching profession began 28 years in the past at a small West Texas highschool. Transitioning later to highschool football in suburban Dallas, he thought that is all there was to life.

“You have this illusion of what your life is going to look like,” Dykes stated. “To me, it was coaching high school football, getting on a boat and going fishing. That hasn’t happened once in my life. It’s not the way my life is. It’s not the way of a college football coach. It’s a different world now.”

Dykes turned a part of the Mike Leach/Hal Mumme teaching tree in 1997 by becoming a member of the Kentucky employees. That’s the place the roots of the TCU offense you see in the present day have been planted. For some time, TCU quarterback Max Duggan led the nation in cross effectivity. After a gradual begin, Quinten Johnston may now be the Big 12’s greatest large receiver. Senior WR Derius Davis has 5 profession return touchdowns from kickoffs and punts.

“You’ve just got to go out there and say screw it,” stated Davis of the perils of standing in towards punt return protection. “A lot of guys are scared to go back there. I was scared at one point. You really just got to be patient and take a deep breath. Really, it’s about confidence.”

When Davis fumbled whereas returning a punt towards Oklahoma State, Dykes’ delicate contact confirmed itself.

“He walked up to me and told me I was fine,” Davis recalled. “‘Go back out there and just be you. It helped a lot.'”

Davis returned the following punt 27 yards into Oklahoma State territory. The Frogs scored, starting a comeback from a 24-7 gap.

There is a little bit of serendipity this week. To keep undefeated, Dykes has to beat his dad’s old fashioned. This Fort Worth Cinderella was picked seventh within the 10-team Big 12. Several gamers transferred. Dykes stuffed in. Duggan may not be on this place had a coronary heart situation not been found throughout the COVID-19 yr. The solely motive he is enjoying now is starter Chandler Morris went down with an harm within the opener.

Then momentum has simply … rolled. During a 4 week stretch in October, TCU beat 4 these consecutive ranked groups: Oklahoma, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Kansas State. There have been three straight sellouts. More than half the coed physique — about 6,550 college students — clogged Amon Carter Stadium.

At a time when athletic administrators are shedding college students’ consideration spans, that is a advertising dwelling run. Dykes has made football enjoyable once more in Fort Worth. “Futurama” character Hypnotoad has grow to be the unofficial mascot of that enjoyable. 

There was a call to be made when each the Texas Tech and TCU jobs got here open on the identical time final yr. Same convention, distinction impacts on Dykes’ profession. He might have chased his dad’s legacy, however that did not match the narrative the coach had created for himself.

“I like a little bit of an adventure,” he stated.

“Gary Patterson made me realize how good a job it was, how good you could recruit,” Dykes added. “Growing up, I didn’t know how good this place was. Man, football is really important to the university and the city.”

Now, it is Patterson who is attempting to remake himself as an analyst at Texas. As destiny would have it, a Nov. 12 assembly with the Longhorns could be the Frogs’ largest remaining problem towards an undefeated common season.

The greatest coach of one of the best program in Texas hopes to maintain the committee’s consideration.

“Texas has nice amenities and an incredible popularity. So does Texas A&M,” Dykes stated. “But we feel we have a lot to offer here. You’ve got to do what Coach Patterson did. At some point, you have to have so much success that people can’t help but notice you.”