CBS Sports: What happened to TCU? Examining the Horned Frogs' post-title game slide, what the future holds in Fort Worth

[Mean Purple]

We are getting beat up front on both sides of the ball. Perhaps a combo of players, coaching, scheme. I feel we have way better talent than what is being produced on the field. We look unprepared then we get out-coached and out-played.

This ^^^^^

 

[BrewingFrog]

This staff is fumbling most of their decisions based on the availability of talent. (I don't have an answer to that question..Dykes post UH gm) ....Second and THIS is THE BIG ONE...is motivation by this team in general!!! Dykes was quoted many times as saying I like the attitude of this team in the early part of the season. Q here....did he say the same thing last year?? If so, Hv any idea what pooped on the parade then, coach?

I'll say this again, what are Sonny's talents to direct this program? Maybe offense.....maybe... but it is 46th in offense. Some people call that average but if you want to be up there with a profitable program, you will have to perform on a higher plateau. Seriously ... we have a great guy in Dykes who should be selling real estate in California.

Sonny and his Crack Staff have a problem evaluating talent. From benching Max in favor of Chandler Morris, to our current RB starter, they cannot seem to choose wisely. This extends to who to pursue via The Portal, or out of HS.

 

[PineyWoodsFrog]

Sad reality, but we're on the verge of getting left behind by NIL, transfer portal and realignment. We just don't have the big bucks along with program prestige and conference association that's going to attract the players that we need to compete consistently. The Big 12 is awful this year and we're one of the worst teams in it. The players that we have to settle for are not the caliber that we need to stay afloat on a national level. We saw a prime example against Georgia. Yes, we did beat Michigan and it was a great accomplishment, a moment I'll never forget, but to be a top-tier program we can't just rely on a single playoff win. We have to do it consistently. And we need GREAT players to do that. I know most think it's just a coaching issue, so we can just agree to disagree on that.

The only thing that gives me hope at this point is the decision-makers see how ridiculous the current conference realignment is and makes changes in the near future. We have Penn State going to USC, Miami going to Cal, etc. Logistically, it just makes no sense. Some of these places don't even have direct flights to the location and players have to bus the rest of the way. East coast teams going out west to play night games and not returning home until 6am is just not sustainable to me. It's going to become a player health/safety issue. Maybe wishful thinking on my part to think that the NCAA cares about player health, but I just don't see how this continues long-term. Does that lead to a "super conference" structure where the focus is mainly on the SEC and Big 10? I don't know, but I'm hopeful for something that restores the regionality of the sport because that's how college football is meant to be played.

Maybe I'm just ranting because the current landscape of college football honestly makes me sad and I miss the games and rivalries that I grew up watching that made me love the sport, but these are my thoughts.

 

[Mean Purple]

Everybody is mentioning coaching and talent. Nobody is mentioning the real culprit: Motivation.

Motivation is why a team under GP that was discouraged by his stance on NIL went 3-5 with GP at the helm with some terrible losses, and a week after he "resigned", beat #5 Baylor. Steel can vividly remember many times that "star" players did the old helmet tap, asking to come out of the game. Same group went to the NC game the next year not because SD was that much a better coach than GP, but because they were a motivated, veteran team with good veteran leadership.

If you think players don't each have their own limits as to what they are willing to do for the team or school, you are smoking some good juju.

Do you really think Army has superior talent or superior coaching? Do you even know who the coach of Army is? They're 6-0.

Blame the changed dynamic including NIL. Blame the transfer portal. Blame SD (and yes there are great motivator coaches but they are vanishingly rare and SD, a former baseball player for Chrissakes, isn't one of them). This is a team that has shown time and again the last year and a half that, much like the Dallas Cowboys, when they get punched in the face, they aren't willing to respond in kind.

If they don't care enough to fight, Steel don't care enough to watch.

A. It's Jeff Monken. Saw what he did at GA Southern and, because of family ties, I look every year wondering if someone is going to steal him from Army. He's a very good coach.

B. It's you. It's really you. I was beginning to think you really were a myth, something parents tell their Frog offspring ... be a bad poster and Steel will come to get you.

C. Will you be signing autographs?

 

[4 Oaks Frog]

We are getting beat up front on both sides of the ball. Perhaps a combo of players, coaching, scheme. I feel we have way better talent than what is being produced on the field. We look unprepared then we get out-coached and out-played.

Coaching…

 

[4 Oaks Frog]

When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

That TCU reached the national championship game with a coach who literally had no idea that or how his senior class achieved the feat despite not because of him and his staff would have been impossible to believe had someone suggested it at the time. Evidence since has suggested that this is the truth. That evidence grows by the week. Expect more in Salt Lake City.

Coaching…

 

[Limey Frog]

Sad reality, but we're on the verge of getting left behind by NIL, transfer portal and realignment. We just don't have the big bucks along with program prestige and conference association that's going to attract the players that we need to compete consistently. The Big 12 is awful this year and we're one of the worst teams in it. The players that we have to settle for are not the caliber that we need to stay afloat on a national level. We saw a prime example against Georgia. Yes, we did beat Michigan and it was a great accomplishment, a moment I'll never forget, but to be a top-tier program we can't just rely on a single playoff win. We have to do it consistently. And we need GREAT players to do that. I know most think it's just a coaching issue, so we can just agree to disagree on that.

The only thing that gives me hope at this point is the decision-makers see how ridiculous the current conference realignment is and makes changes in the near future. We have Penn State going to USC, Miami going to Cal, etc. Logistically, it just makes no sense. Some of these places don't even have direct flights to the location and players have to bus the rest of the way. East coast teams going out west to play night games and not returning home until 6am is just not sustainable to me. It's going to become a player health/safety issue. Maybe wishful thinking on my part to think that the NCAA cares about player health, but I just don't see how this continues long-term. Does that lead to a "super conference" structure where the focus is mainly on the SEC and Big 10? I don't know, but I'm hopeful for something that restores the regionality of the sport because that's how college football is meant to be played.

Maybe I'm just ranting because the current landscape of college football honestly makes me sad and I miss the games and rivalries that I grew up watching that made me love the sport, but these are my thoughts.

Do Iowa State and BYU have money and geographical advantages that we don't? How about Cincinnati? In the long run this diagnosis might be correct, but we can still control what we can control. If we're the best team in the Big 12 and we're getting crushed in the playoff, having players jump in the portal to join Big Ten and SEC schools, and losing successful coaches repeatedly, this would ring true. But we're not doing what we can to be the best version of our program where we are right now. TCU football should be competing to win this conference. Programs with better arguments than us for why they can't are actually doing it.

 

[Krötenechse]

I’m convinced Sonny only coached the national championship game that season.

 

[SW toad]

This staff is fumbling most of their decisions based on the availability of talent. (I don't have an answer to that question..Dykes post UH gm) ....Second and THIS is THE BIG ONE...is motivation by this team in general!!! Dykes was quoted many times as saying I like the attitude of this team in the early part of the season. Q here....did he say the same thing last year?? If so, Hv any idea what pooped on the parade then, coach?

I'll say this again, what are Sonny's talents to direct this program? Maybe offense.....maybe... but it is 46th in offense. Some people call that average but if you want to be up there with a profitable program, you will have to perform on a higher plateau. Seriously ... we have a great guy in Dykes who should be selling real estate in California.

Commercial or Residential ??

 

[Mean Purple]

Commercial or Residential ??

Depends on the part of Cali. Palo Alto, sure, go for some commerical or mixed use. San Rafael up into Marin community, go full residential.

 

[SW toad]

Depends on the part of Cali. Palo Alto, sure, go for some commerical or mixed use. San Rafael up into Marin community, go full residential.

NO. MP, my question is does Dykes have the demeanor to handle commercial or residential brokered deals.

I say Commerical. Specifically, NOCAL (Walnut creek, Rocklin, inland empire, central valley.) Dykes would probably be good with the sellers of these properties.

Funny but a little bit of sad we're actively suggesting alternative career tracks for the former baseball player.

 

[Mean Purple]

NO. MP, my question is does Dykes have the demeanor to handle commercial or residential brokered deals.

I say Commerical. Specifically, NOCAL (Walnut creek, Rocklin, inland empire, central valley.) Dykes would probably be good with the sellers of these properties.

I can totally see that. He is a little too demure in conversation to see the ritzy homes. But can see him talking about ths square footage and commercial loadout and parking capacity. lol

 

[This Ain't Chopped Liver]

What is the injury and return status of Paul Oyewale and Micheal Ibukun-Okeyode?

 

[Putt4Purple]

I just feel my financial budget getting lighter this coming 2025 year. I will not renew my season tickets with the current product on the field. I must be specific by saying product. I’m speaking of coaching staff.
Go Frogs!

 

[SW toad]

I can totally see that. He is a little too demure in conversation to see the ritzy homes. But can see him talking about ths square footage and commercial loadout and parking capacity. lol

Do you mean that he'd be too much deputy dog on residential with the girlfriends who make too many of the decisions on house purchases because of the kitchen layout and home color scheme?? Even though most of them don't cook?

 

[Mean Purple]

Do you mean that he'd be too much deputy dog on residential with the girlfriends who make too many of the decisions on house purchases because of the kitchen layout and home color scheme?? Even though most of them don't cook?

That and he probably can't fit in the red soled shoes!

 

[tjcoffice]

Sonny needs to get TCU back to being a stable developmental program. You can say this is impossible in the portal/NIL era, but that can't be true because other Big XII programs are still doing it. If K-State and Iowa State can do it, why can't TCU?

As I read the article, that is the problem in a nutshell. Too many losses in the portal, and a few key injuries. The article does not get into the quality of the coaching or quality of preparation for games. But, all teams need a stable recruiting class year in, year out. Hummer says we need to get to 50% retention or better for each class and we are only getting to 29%.

 

[tjcoffice]

Sonny and his Crack Staff have a problem evaluating talent. From benching Max in favor of Chandler Morris, to our current RB starter, they cannot seem to choose wisely. This extends to who to pursue via The Portal, or out of HS.

This article says it a little differently: "The Horned Frogs lack upper-level NIL money, but their staff does a very good job identifying value. Overall, 14 of TCU's regular 22 starters are former transfers."

 

[Bruce Berry]

Sonny Dykes happened. Its beyond me he is still coaching this team.

 

[TemCatFrog71]

Ol' Dabo looks better by the week. I would say across college football the portal kings are coming a cropper. Live by it, die by it. You can have a good team one year and a terrible one the next. Look at MSU after Kenneth Walker (Wake transfer) left; disaster in '23. Look at FSU this year, or Ole Miss's "championship calibre" team in the SEC. The list goes on. The portal can fill a few positions of need but you've still got to recruit HS players, figure out how to keep them around, and develop them. Maybe that's happening in ways we can't see and will pay off next year...

Maybe. I have lost faith entirely, but I'll hope without faith to be proved wrong.

"you've still got to recruit HS players, figure out how to keep them around, and develop them." Limey, I believe that is the key to continual success in the NIL/Portal ERA!!!!!