Preview: at No. 18 Texas
11/7/2022 2:16:00 PM | Football
Horned Frogs and Longhorns Meet Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on ABC
ABOUT THE GAME
•TCU is one of just four undefeated teams nationally and alone atop the Big 12 standings with a 6-0 conference record. Four of the wins are against teams they lost to by at least two scores last season, including three by at least three scores.
•TCU is 9-0 for the first time since 2010, when it went 13-0 and won the Rose Bowl.
•ESPN's College GameDay will be on site. The Horned Frogs are 7-1 all-time when College GameDay has been present for its game, including a 6-0 record when it has been played on a campus. This is TCU's second game featured on College GameDay this season as the show was also at Kansas.
•TCU's Sonny Dykes is the first head football coach in Big 12 history to be 9-0 in his first season.
•Dykes is just the second head coach in TCU history, joining Francis Schmidt in 1929, to win his opening nine games. The 1929 Horned Frogs finished the season 9-0-1.
•At No. 4 in the Associated Press poll, TCU has its highest ranking since it was No. 4 in 2017 when Dykes was on staff as an offensive analyst
•Since beginning Big 12 play in 2012, TCU is 7-3 against Texas with a 4-1 mark in Austin.
•TCU already has five more wins than it had all of last season. Only Tulane (+6) has a bigger improvement.
•TCU does not leave the state of Texas in its four November games to close the regular season. Bus trips to Austin and next week to Baylor are sandwiched between home games last Saturday with Texas Tech and Nov. 26 against Iowa State.
•TCU's four wins this season over ranked opponents is second nationally, trailing only Tennessee's five.
•The Horned Frogs are just the third team since 1960 (Stanford, 2012; Iowa, 1960) to win four consecutive games over ranked opponents in a calendar month.
•TCU's four consecutive games with a win over a ranked opponent ties for first nationally since 1996. The Horned Frogs are the only Big 12 team to accomplish the feat in the regular season.
•Since 1996, TCU is one of just two teams nationally to rally from deficits of at least 17 points to beat AP Top 25 teams in consecutive games.
•The Horned Frogs lead the nation with 14 touchdowns of at least 50 yards.
MEET THE NEW BOSS
•Sonny Dykes is in his first season as head coach of the Horned Frogs and second overall at TCU.
•Dykes was an offensive analyst on the 2017 TCU team that posted an 11-3 record, played in the Big 12 Championship Game and finished the season with a No. 9 national ranking, its last top-10 appearance.
•Dykes was head coach at SMU the previous four seasons (2018-21). He led the Mustangs to three consecutive winning records for the first time since the mid-80s and their first back-to-back victories over TCU since 1992-93.
•Dykes also served as head football coach at Cal (2013-16) and Louisiana Tech (2010-12).
•He is the son of legendary Texas Tech Head Football Coach Spike Dykes. Spike coached the Red Raiders from 1986-99. Sonny spent seven seasons on the coaching staff at Texas Tech, serving as receivers coach from 2000-04 and adding the title of co-offensive coordinator from 2005-06.
•Sonny Dykes lettered two seasons in baseball at Texas Tech.
SERIES HISTORY
•Saturday is the 93rd meeting between TCU and Texas. The Longhorns hold a 64-27-1 advantage in a series that began with an 18-10 Texas win in 1897.
•TCU is 15-35-1 against Texas in Austin and 12-29 in Fort Worth.
•Texas is tied with Texas A&M for TCU's third-most played series. The Frogs' 92 games with the Longhorns trail only Baylor (117) and SMU (101).
SEVENTH IS JUST FINE
•TCU was seventh in the Big 12 preseason poll. The last time it was picked seventh was 2014, when it won the Big 12 championship.
GIVING BACK
•Jordy Sandy is donating $20 to Fort Worth's Hope Center for Autism for every punt inside the 20-yard line. Sandy has a 9-year-old cousin with autism back home in Australia. He has totaled $160 with eight punts inside the 20 this season.
TCU SUPPORT
•Since it began Big 12 play in 2012, TCU has had over $400 million in donor-funded athletics facilities upgrades. The most recent project was the $113 million Legends Club & Suites which opened in Fall 2020 on the east side of Amon G. Carter Stadium.
