Preview: Oklahoma
9/26/2022 2:32:00 PM | Football
Horned Frogs (3-0) are off to their best start since 2017
ABOUT THE GAME
•TCU is the only undefeated FBS program, out of 12, in the state of Texas.
•The Horned Frogs are 3-0 for the first time since 2017, when Head Coach Sonny Dykes was on staff as an offensive analyst.
•Dykes is the first TCU head football coach to win his opening three games since Francis Schmidt in 1929. Dykes is the 12th head coach since Schmidt.
•The last time TCU opened with a 3-0 record and played Oklahoma in its fourth game was 2014. The Horned Frogs won 37-33 in Amon G. Carter Stadium en route to a Big 12 Championship, 12-1 season and No. 3 final ranking in the Associated Press poll.
•TCU has not trailed in a game since the first 24 seconds of the second quarter in its season opener at Colorado. A Derius Davis 60-yard punt return gave the Horned Frogs a 7-3 lead it would not relinquish. TCU led wire-to-wire in its next two games.
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 past 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 Dykes lettered two seasons in baseball at Texas Tech.
FAMILIAR FACES
•Two TCU assistant coaches and a support staff member are former Oklahoma standouts.
•Outside Receivers Coach Malcolm Kelly was a two-time First-Team All-Big 12 selection and a 2005 Freshman All-American at Oklahoma.
•Kelly totaled 144 receptions for 2,285 yards and 21 touchdowns in just three seasons. When he left Norman, Kelly ranked second all-time at Oklahoma with 21 touchdown catches and nine 100-yard receiving games. He tied a school record with 11 receptions as a sophomore versus Texas Tech in 2006.
•Defensive Line Coach JaMarkus McFarland was a four-year letterman at Oklahoma. He earned All-Big 12 honors his senior year in 2012 when he posted a career-high 28 tackles, including 6.0 for loss and 3.0 sacks. He totaled 17.0 TFLs and 7.5 sacks for his career, helping the Sooners to three Big 12 Championships. He was a three-time First-Team Academic All-Big 12 recipient.
•Jonathan Alvarez, who played in 25 games with 16 starts (2014-18) as an offensive lineman for the Sooners, is in his first year as an athletics academic advisor working with the TCU football program.
SERIES HISTORY
•Oklahoma holds a 17-5 series lead over TCU.
•The Horned Frogs are 2-8 versus the Sooners in Fort Worth, 3-7 in Norman, 0-1 in Oklahoma City and 0-1 in Arlington (2017 Big 12 Championship Game).
•The first game in the series was a 34-19 Sooners victory in Oklahoma City in 1944.
•TCU's 17-10 win at No. 5 Oklahoma in the 2005 season opener was its first victory over an opponent ranked that high since a 6-0 decision at No. 1 Texas in 1961. The 10 points by OU marked its fewest in a home game under former Head Coach Bob Stoops.
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 $100 with five 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.
