This TikTok, in particular, about a disgruntled Arkansas fan who wants to encourage fellow students to storm the field after every game loss or win so the AD gets tired of the racked-up fines and finally changes the team for the better, is lowk inspiring. I was floating the idea around with some friends since even two fines could create a half-million deficit. It's a long shot, but with how the bags of shame have people participating, who knows 👀

GO Frogs

How we feel about Craig? Bech seems to really have taken a step forward!

Fire Sonny Dykes (even on the bye week!)

TCU is sitting at 2-3 with an 0-2 conference record.

Baylor, West Virginia, & Kansas are up next on the stretch?

How are we feeling?

Y'all realize they're 4-1? Sonny Dykes seat is scorching hot. I have actively sold tickets for this game, and man it's a hard sell. If I don't get my price The Bagman rides again

TCU is getting what it deserves, and I say that as a Horned Frog alum. Going next door and poaching the coach from SMU is easily the laziest coaching search I've ever seen. I don't care that Sonny Dykes took the team (with Patterson's guys) to the championship (only to get blown out). He's a lousy coach. I say that as someone who lives in former Pac-12 country and saw how bad he was at Cal.

Rumor is, is that he wants outta USC’s political shit show. Dude can recruit and hire. Obviously. Let’s bring him back to Texas, and maybe we’ll get our boy back in some capacity.

Tonight could be the night…

Source: https://x.com/scootbarley/status/2106566461514793335?s=46

EDIT 10/4 AM: I realize the source is super thin here. Mostly just fueling the rumor mill. I would guess it happens if we lose to Baylor and WVU. Otherwise, I expect it at the end of the season. Maybe TCU has bet the under on win total to cover their losses like many schools are doing.

Fire Sonny Dykes

Yall are doing SO GREAT! Let’s give Sonny another raise!!!!

My first semester at TCU academically went decently for me as I got 4 B's and an A. Not spectacular, but solid, and more importantly I thought a good result for the amount of fun I was having and how much I was willing to cut into that fun.

Then can my Spring semester of my Freshman year and my lack of established study habits and discipline with my time caught up with me in a 3-hour class tied to a 2-hour lab that would be something I would need if I wanted to bring my academic dreams into reality.

Unfortunately, the prof was not a good teacher, one of those who would talk for 50 minutes straight and not really say anything, would supposedly pull test questions from a book, but no one was sure exactly which text, and then the lab was run by a snarky TA who was only too happy to tell us how much smarter they were than the class and did so at any and every opportunity.

Okay, maybe all these years I still am that very immature college freshman who didn't want to put the work in to understand what the prof was rambling on about and not able to find the willingness to put up with the TA. The lecture and lab mid-terms were not quite a UGA CFP title game ass kicking, but they were bad enough it would have taken a miracle for me to pull a B out in the class. That wasn't mathematically impossible, but highly improbable as I would need to be damn near perfect on every test and quiz going forward to the end of the semester.

This ugly truth raised doubts in my mind if I was academically cut out for the field I was wanting to enter or maybe I should make some changes. The lesson I really learned was that in life, you will encounter challenges that don't give you a good or easy choice. For me, that meant one of three options. Drop the class, lose the tuition cost for 5 hours and prepare to cover those cost myself the next time around. Stay in the class and try to learn something, but accept I would most likely need to retake the class and that would be up to me to cover all of those costs. Finally, change majors and change future dreams which might have been more appealing if I really knew what else I wanted to be went I got out of college.

After the game in Orlando the administration and the alums at TCU are facing some ugly truths and tougher choices. Much like me entering that Midterm, the Frogs could in theory run the table and win out hoping for a chance in the Big 12 title game. Not sure anyone believes that is going to happen and sets off an series of difficult questions.

Giving Sonny more time for his new chances to fall into place would have a bit more merit if the offensive line wasn't regressing and more importantly we didn't see the defense shit the bed the way they did on the drive where they need to get a stop because were called for 4 penalties that gave UCF a new set of downs each time.

What next is a question that actually sets off a series of questions and puts things in motion that are going to create issues on their own. I am in no way saying Sonny should be kept because of fear of what might happen, but that firing Sonny is not a single decision.

Truthfully, in my mind the buyout will be the easiest part as I think there are some who are motivated and damn well might have been preparing for this day for since the 2nd quarter of the Georgia game.

The first big question to me is who is going to be the driving force behind the search and willing to repair the schisms in the TCU money base, refocus the direction of the program, and prepare to provide the resources needed to keep a roster together, bring in new talent, and do so going forward.

These aren't things that will be worked out over time. One thing I can guarantee from talking with coaching friends is players on the TCU roster are being contacted by other schools about transferring. If and when Sonny is fired those contacts are going to go through the roof and it will be very likely some players simply stop playing and wait for the window.

Who is going to be the person(s) who address players concerns about the future direction of the TCU program? if TCU will continue to honor NIL promises? How much more is TCU going to have to spend to keep some players around and if anyone doesn't think there are any players on the roster worth keeping we aren't watching the same teams.

Finally, if the plan is let whomever wishes to walk do so be it. Will the Frogs be ready to spend what is needed to replace an entire roster and do so with competitive players?

Much like my mid-term scores it is easy to see the results for TCU are not where we hoped and not where they need to be to reach some goals. It is also easy to see changes need to be made and from a big picture perspective it is easy to see what those changes need to include, but from there the decisions are trickier.

Simply firing Sonny is only the first step and who is going to walk TCU through this process and make sure the resources are there to restore the program.

I will be selling paper bags with professionally stamped-out eyeholes tomorrow at the game beginning at halftime - dm for details and special group deals. Non-eyehole models also available following them showing LT doing the "Electric Glide," one size fits all, one free replacement if you end up vomiting in disgust.

Edit: man I made bank at just 25 cents a pop. (And betting BYU online) Is this what they call a side hustle?

Been a die hard fan since 05 this is the worst 3 year stretch I’ve seen. Gary Patterson laid the foundation for a tough team and Sonny has completely destroyed it all. Fire his ass

sure would be nice to have three time outs at the end of the game here.

sure would be nice to not have 10+ penalties in multiple games when we’re only a quarter of the way through the season.

sure would be nice to have a half-way decent offense when we have an offensively minded HC

sure would be nice if we fired Sonny Dykes!

I’m Tired of this team.

WHY is our clock management so bad? Three out of four games this season before halftime he's done this. You can't blame this on a good practice brother...

Prior to the Arkansas State game I told a fellow Frog that TCU alum that the game would be a good stress test.

That is a term that has almost become a cliche to some, but effectively it is the utilization of an event(s) to project how a person, system, institution, or structure fares in adverse and possibly extreme conditions.

No one intentionally tries to trigger a failure with a stress test, but instead identifying weaknesses, areas of potential and impending problems so they can be addressed ahead of time.

A friend who was a career football coach has talked about his working at one high school the last two decades of his career. During that time, the HC would continually schedule one school early in the season before district play. The staff hated playing this school because despite their level of talent it was going to be a fight and the opposing staff was very good at exploiting weaknesses.

Teams talk about self scouting, they have multiple people on staff whose job it is to find weaknesses in their own roster, but to me much of that is similar to role playing exercises in a sales training program.

The intent is good, but I never encountered the same feeling with a prospect , the same obstacles from a prospect or a competitor that I did from someone based in our home office who says yes after I countered their first objection in our role play.

I said before the game that Butch Jones and Ark State weren’t showing up in Ft Wort simply to get a check and try to get out healthy.

What I find interesting is the number of Frogs who seem to have forgotten Gary AND Bumpass frustrating opponents offensive lines trying to block the Frogs‘ smaller and quicker defensive fronts that were well prepared to used stunts and scheme to attack weaknesses found through scouting.

I guess some leave that type of game prep is unique, but I seem to remember Leach writing in his book that he liked to hire coaches from “lower” levels because of their creativity and willingness to try things outside of the unconventional.

Maybe Sammis and his staff were out prepared, maybe they should have adapted quicker, and there are things that need to be addressed and that lesson got taught last Saturday.

I have mentioned growing pains before and this is a perfect example. When you read Van Hoy talk about struggles recognizing and adjusting on the fly this is a guy with 16 career games and 1 start. McKinney, Register, and Witten have 11 COMBINED starts and this was game three in a new scheme for the entire line.

Unfortunately, simply watching film, work at the white board, and drill work in practice isn’t enough most times. There is a reason real game time action is valued.

The key is how does Sammis and his staff address the scheme issues, how does Sammis counter defenses with his play calling, how do they put players in the best situations to succeed, and how do the players collectively respond?

Those are answers that can only be found on the field and starting Saturday there is no safety net.

Hey guys! The season preview I posted here a few weeks back did pretty well, so circling back like I said I would.

I had you at 7-5 and expected a bumpy first year for Craig, with almost nothing coming back around him. The opener looked exactly like that: a 15-10 loss to North Carolina where he threw for 175 and no touchdowns. Since then he's been a different guy, with 391 yards and 4 TDs against Grambling and 337 and 3 against Arkansas State, for 65 of 92, 903 yards, 7 TDs and one pick on the year. UCF on the road Saturday is the first real test of which version is the real one, and BYU at home the week after is where I had you as a coin flip.

What are you guys seeing that the box scores aren't, and how do you see the season ending up?

Quick aside since it's in the title, we just launched a free weekly college football pick'em, $225 in prizes this week. Ten games, pick the winners, locks Saturday at noon ET, three and a half hours before you kick off at UCF. Nothing to buy.

https://www.mainmarket.com/c/college-pickem-wk4

There were more than a few rough spots in this games, missed blocks, poorly thrown passes, blown coverages, a fumbled point, and a fired up opponent who schemed the hell out of this game and yet......

• the Frogs won by 24 to cover the spread.
• they outgained Arkansas State by 206 yards.
• Arkansas State was held to 11 first downs for the game.
• the Frogs converted more than 50% of the time on 3rd down and held Arkansas State to 5 out of 14.
• the Frogs had a goal line stand, stopped all 3 of Ark State's 4th down try's,
• despite the run game struggles and missed throws the Frogs offense still gained over 460 yards.
• the Frogs only punted 3 times (2 of which pinned the Wolves inside their 20) and had a 10 minutes advantage in TOP.

There will be plenty of time to bemoan the mistakes and point out how these continued mistakes will get the Frogs beat once B12 play begins, oh, which is next week in Orlando.

Enjoy the win tonight and hopefully you enjoyed what was a good win.

There are a number who would laugh at the idea of the Frogs beating the crap out of Grambling as the team having "success". If we are talking about reaching the ultimate goal we are told for this program which is competing for the Big 12 title and a chance to play in the CFP I completely agree with that idea.

Nothing should be taken for granted, but beating Grambling is a fairly low benchmark . It is however a step in playing meaningful games in December if you winning that game meant you did things in the manner you need to build successful habits that you can carry into the conference season and hopefully pay dividends during that 4-game stretch in November.

I am not going to try to convince anyone that Jayden Craig had one the of great games of any TCU quarterback throwing the football against Grambling, but how many people after the UNC game thought it would be possible that even against Grambling Craig would put 29 of 31 throws in a place where the receiver could or should have made the catch? I am not as convinced the Jeremy Scott drop on the deep throw was on Scott, that looked to me to be a good effort by Jeremy to get back and het his hands on an underthrown ball.

Yes, those TCU receivers were open against Grambling, but during that 2nd quarter stretch against UNC there were 6-7 consecutive throws that really were not contested by the Tarheels that Craig just didn't give his receivers a reasonable chance to make a play on them. So what changed? I don't know, what I know though is we saw the difference, and we need to see that same behavior play out again against a better opponent.

As for the drops? The big plays might stand out more, but just as critical if not more are plays such as Ed Small's 3rd down drop and James Scott's 3rd down drops. Both were catches that weren't contested and both would have extended drivers. Hitting big plays when they present themselves is important no doubt, but remember that those are often a by product of the Frogs being able to sustain drives and force defenses to play up to stop the run and cut off inside passing lanes.

Arkansas State isn't coming to Ft Worth for a check, Butch Jones doesn't coach that way, and they will be aggressive and come after the Frogs. They will have game plans not based upon keeping the score close, but winning the game and this will be a dress rehearsal for Orlando.

Their strengths on offense and defense will challenge some of the weaknesses the Frogs need to address. Example, their secondary is aggressive and will try to be physical with the Frogs' receivers. Hayes and Small have showed some upside for the Frogs, but neither is a big body and that is where Sammis needs someone like James Scott, Shelton, or Jeremy Scott to show they can handle being the big body receiver who can make contested catches to extend drivers. Kari is a possibility, but if one of those others can step forward that allows Sammis to use Ashley to create mismatches out of those tight formations.

The Frogs' offensive line need to show continued growth in both run and pass blocking and they will get a better challenge as well. Ark State can't match the UNC defensive line talent (something I think we will learn was greatly under appreciated), but they do have some and are aggressive. A perfect test to see where the Frogs' offensive line is roughly a month into the season.

Defensively, the strength for the Frogs has been the defensive tackles which is a nice base to build on, but there needs to be some real progress shown at the defensive end positions and linebacker. Oyewale has been tough against the run, but outside of bull rushing he hasn't shown many pass rush tricks and during Grambling we saw Avalos using a variety of combinations. The Ark State quarterback is experienced and has some arm talent. Who steps up to provide the Frogs a consistent pass rush from the edge? Unfortunately, growth isn't always linear and predictable so do we see a jump from Schobel, Woodfork or Hayward, Heck, do see more of Carter Buck (Go back and look who forced the bad throw on the Parks' interception) because he showed a bit more punch and explosiveness from the edge.

Truthfully, outside of the defensive tackle position and corner the Frogs are searching for consistency and production at edge, linebacker, and safety. There have been flashes mixed with moments of WTF was that, all which are part of the growing pains with new players be those recruits or transfers.

Arkansas State isn't a pallet cleanser like Grambling, they are a stress test for where the Frogs are before they go to Orlando. They don't have to be perfect, don't have to be as good as they will need to be in November of when BYU comes to town or when they go to Orlando.

What they need to be is capable of showing improvement since Ireland, showing growth and the ability to operate in their given offensive and defensive schemes. Hopefully, present some clearer answers at some key positions so that when the staff gets together on Sunday the answers to some critical questions won't be as difficult, the decisions or steps to find answers not so drastic.

If the Frogs show the continued trend of growth offensively I am not as concerned about their ability to move the ball and score points. My bigger concern is defensively and I would love to see some players step forward and present themselves as answers.

The big thing to remember though is regardless of the outcome on Saturday in Ft Worth, the real season starts in Orlando.