FT WORTH, Texas — You could say that Kate Dykes is a little superstitious. This is the second week in a row the wife of head coach Sonny Dykes has watched her husband’s team play in a nail biter. Last week in Lawrence, Kansas, she went to the bathroom in the third quarter and heard the Frogs scored on the radio broadcast, so she stayed in there for the rest of the third stanza, even texting a high-profile TCU booster a picture of her new seat.
This week, she was in the stands while the Frogs pulled off a furious second-half comeback, but she says she refused to move from her seat while TCU stormed back to send the game to overtime and become the last undefeated team in the Big 12, knocking off Oklahoma State their previously perfect perch.
TCU is 6–0, having beaten three ranked opponents in a row for the first time in school history. There are football bonafides for why they’re winning. The defense didn’t let Oklahoma State score a touchdown for the game’s final 40 minutes of regulation. Quentin Johnston legitimately looks like one of the best receivers in the country, with his coach saying after the game he’ll likely be watching him on Sundays next year. Quarterback Max Duggan has been efficient, and running back Kendre Miller is an absolute load to tackle. But this is largely the same team that Gary Patterson’s coaching staff left at the end of last season and Sonny Dykes inherited. And that leads to some of the more ethereal and unexplainable things around these Frogs, such as a general sense of belief and just the substantially different vibes around the program after the last few years of Patterson’s tenure—which those around the program say were far more slog than celebration.
We started the day with 15 undefeateds in FBS. James Madison, Penn State, Alabama, USC, Coastal Carolina and the aforementioned Cowboys exited the unblemished stage.
The Chants had looked shaky so far this season, and the rent came due in a 49–21 drubbing against Old Dominion. The Dukes, however, truly looked like they belonged in FBS after moving up from FCS. It’s an unfortunate irony that the team that beat them was Georgia Southern (45–38), which is one of the recent teams to come up to FBS and enjoy significant success like the Dukes have. As far as USC goes, the Trojans raced out to leads of 14–0 and 21–7 before Utah clawed back thanks in large part to Cam Rising’s 415 yards through air, much of which went to tight end Dalton Kincaid, who had 15 catches and 217 yards. You could be forgiven if you forgot about Utah after losing to Florida to begin its campaign or losing to UCLA last week, but the Utes haven’t quit on this season.
Nine undefeateds remain. It sets up college football for an exciting second half of the season with contenders in all five leagues pointing toward big games in November. While they’re certainly partying on this side of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex now, as Sonny Dykes said in the locker room, the Horned Frogs have to turn the page quickly because Kansas State looms next coming off of a bye week. Kate Dykes had better choose where she sits next week wisely.
