Head Coach: Sonny Dykes is entering his 3rd season as the head coach of the Horned Frogs with a 18-9 record. It certainly hasn’t been a boring time, his first year was spectacular as he led the Horned Frogs to an undefeated regular season, Fiesta Bowl playoff win over Michigan (only program in Texas to win a playoff game!) and a National Championship appearance. Last season was almost completely the opposite as everything went wrong and they plummeted to 5-7.
Program Outlook: TCU is in a good place, while last season took the shine off the playoff run the Horned Frogs still boast a playoff appearance which no one else in the conference can and the playoff win is even more rare considering not even 10 programs have one. Everything is in place for TCU to be a top dog in this conference. Still a lot of fans and even outsiders are wondering what this program looks like in a normal season under Dykes.
How does the 2024 Roster look?: TCU went into last season starting over at a lot of positions and dealt with injuries on top of it. As a result it’s a pretty experienced squad coming back. QB Josh Hoover was forced into action due to injuries, he showed a lot of potential especially against BYU and Baylor but also went through a lot of growing pains in real time and threw too many picks. Hoover did miss a lot of the spring which doesn’t help but he’s expected to be the starter. Depth is a concern here, they brought in 5th year Senior Ken Seals from Vanderbilt but the only option behind him is a true freshman. TCU has been very deep at RB for years they were able to absorb the loss of Kendre Miller last season thanks to Emani Bailey and now Bailey is gone but you can expect the Frogs to get strong play out of Trey Sanders and Cam Cook. An underrated piece of the magical 2022 was the offensive line, they had an awesome group up there and last season’s line was ok but not nearly the same level. This offseason TCU picked up some of the best portal linemen out there, if these guys can jell they will have a fantastic front. You also won’t be surprised to see TCU have a great group of receivers again they bring back Savion Williams, JP Richardson and added Eric McAlister an explosive playmaker from Boise State. This is also year 2 with them running the veer and shoot with Kendal Briles as the OC so it will look less clunky most likely. TCU struggled even more on defense last year, they couldn’t stop the run and they weren’t forcing turnovers like they did in 2022. Most of the defensive line for better or worse remains intact, and they added Nana Osafo-Mensah from Notre Dame to help. They brought in some instant impact transfers at linebacker and in the secondary to help out. The Linebackers in particular will help the run defense but to be successful the Frogs need the pass rush to be dangerous again. One final piece of intrigue, recently the Frogs have added just about every experienced unemployment high profile former Head Coach as part of their support staff. They now have Dana Holgorsen, Todd Graham and whoever else they decide to add in the time between me writing this up and when this article posts.
Screenshot from fbschedules.com1
2024 Schedule Thoughts: TCU has a pretty tough schedule. Their non-conference features multiple road games against ACC foes Stanford and SMU who are of course the first 2 teams you think of when you think about ACC teams. They also play the Long Island Sharks from FCS, they still have Chris Howell the QB with the wild throwing motion but they shouldn’t pose a threat to TCU. It could be good or bad that TCU’s home slate is so loaded. Certainly having those games at home is better than on the road but it also means their easiest conference games are all on the road. Still the Frogs can become a factor with a lot of improvement but it’s going to be a challenging road.
Vegas Projection: TCU’s win total is set at 7.5 with their odds geared toward the under. Vegas sees only some improvement.
2024 Best Case: The Frogs offense comes back together and the defense gets back to forcing turnovers. As a result they’re ready to remind everyone who’s the team in this conference with playoff experience. The Frogs roll to a 4-0 record with dominating victories to set up a showdown with Kansas. It’s a repeat of 2022 where both teams are undefeated entering the game and like 2022 TCU battles out a close win. They beat Houston and then hit the road against Utah in a battle of old Mountain West rivals reunited. TCU manages to fluster the Utes all game and they pull off the victory late. The Frogs handle Tech and Baylor to finish undefeated against in-state foes and then win massive home games over Oklahoma State and Arizona to solidify their spot in the Big 12 championship. TCU crushes Cincinnati to wrap up the regular season. The Big 12 championship brings a grudge match of the 2022 Big 12 championship but this time it’s the Frogs that pull off the close victory over Kansas State. TCU earns the bye in the Playoff and to the Frogs delight it is Texas they end up facing. TCU torments the Longhorns once again as their fans joke that Texas went to the SEC to get away from them all while showing them the “Horns Down” of course. TCU faces Ohio State in the semis. The Frogs force a few Ohio State turnovers and their own offense plays a great game to allow them to return to the National Championship, and yes of course it’s a grudge match against Georgia. No, TCU doesn’t get revenge but it’s definitely much more competitive than the 65-7 disaster.
2024 Worst Case: The offensive line is out of sync, Hoover can’t stop throwing picks and the defense stinks. The season is clearly off to a bad start when TCU’s defense can’t even stop Stanford’s offensive operation and they lose in a surprise opening weekend loss. Following the Kansas game TCU is 1-4 and this is going nowhere fast. Houston is better than expected and not a break for the Frogs they lose to them as a well. TCU finishes the year 2-10 including losses to Baylor and Texas Tech too. More frustrating is that Baylor has a rebound year and makes the Big 12 championship against Texas Tech. Where does this program even go from here? The fans are left to wonder.
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