TCU gained clarity about the future of its football program in loss to Oklahoma | Opinion

TCU’s quest for bowl eligibility came up short against Oklahoma, but the Horned Frogs received something much more valuable than an invite to a lower tier bowl game.

TCU gained clarity about what needs to be done in what becomes the most important off-season of the Sonny Dykes era. While speaking to the media after the 69-45 loss to the Sooners, Dykes reaffirmed that he has complete confidence that 2022 wasn’t a fluke and TCU is still positioned to compete in the new Big 12.

“I have a ton of confidence in our program and a lot of confidence in our players,” Dykes said. “We’re going to be a contender in the Big 12 moving forward, that’s our goal. To be year-in, year -ut one of those teams people talk about getting to the 12-team playoff.”

Right now the only thing people are talking about is how TCU is one of just three teams to make the College Football Playoff one season and to miss a bowl game completely the next.

So how does TCU get back in the right conversation? The first step is to make a change defensively. If it wasn’t clear before Friday, it has to be now especially clear after the Horned Frogs gave up 42 points in a half.

Oklahoma’s first play from scrimmage was a 50-yard strike on a post route. Dykes said after the game it was a miscommunication and there should’ve been a safety over the top.

The fact that a blunder like that could occur so early is just a microcosm of how things went defensively this season. When the dust settled, the Horned Frogs had allowed the most points in a game since 2004 and it was another game with an opponent topping 600 total yards of offense.

Asked Dykes directly if he was considering making a switch from Joe Gillespie at defensive coordinator, Dykes said: “I don’t know. It’s probably wrong time to ask me right now, I’ve got to sit down and evaluate everything. Anytime you have a kind of year that we had and the expectations we have as a program and you don’t meet them you have to evaluate everything.”

Dykes went on to add he’ll examine everything from TCU’s pregame meals to play calling. And while this answer sounded like typical coach speak, it is telling that Dykes didn’t use that moment to reaffirm his commitment to Gillespie and the 3-3-5 defense.

Just compare his answer about Gillespie to what he said about offensive coordinator Kendal Briles in the same press conference.

“Rocky start and a strong finish,” Dykes said. “We couldn’t quite get going offensively, we were inconsistent and lost some games early on we shouldn’t have lost because of too many turnovers and inconsistent play. But I do think we started to hit our stride and really started to play well the last couple of weeks.”

We’ll come back to Briles in a minute. While Dykes made it clear he was pleased with the overall direction of the offense, the same can’t be said of the defense who had a ‘disappointing’ today in his own words.

Loyalty is huge in the coaching ranks, particularly in college, and you can understand the hesitation Dykes might have in making a move. After all this was the same defense TCU used to advance to the national championship game.

However, if the Horned Frogs want to get back, there needs to be a massive shift on defense. The calls for Gillespie’s removal are understandable from a frustrated fanbase that watched great defense after great defense under Gary Patterson.

You can also understand Dykes’ perspective. He may not want to let someone he probably views as a friend and confidant go as well. There’s always a human element that fans ignore or simply don’t care about, in other words it’s not easy to simply fire somebody and cast them to the side.

From all accounts Gillespie is a brilliant football mind and the players, especially the linebackers really enjoy playing and learning under him.

But while we can keep that perspective in mind, at the end of the day if TCU wants to compete with the elites of the college football world, making the hard moves are necessary.

Sure you can maybe bring in a new position coach or two, try your best to sell out in the portal and land premiere front seven players, but everybody wants those players and TCU will be hard pressed to beat out contenders for top of the line portal talent.

So Dykes has two options on defense: Retain Gillespie and pray for a massive step forward despite losing most of the secondary or to go out and find an upcoming defensive coordinator that can create the right system for TCU’s roster.

Now let’s get back to Briles, Dykes’ comments seem to indicate Briles will be back next year which isn’t a surprise. Dykes is close with Briles and has been for years, not to mention you can’t deny TCU finishing top-20 in total offense and top-50 in scoring offense.

There are two ways to look at that. On one hand it does seem like the offense hit a groove in the second half against Texas Tech and the Horned Frogs averaged 35 points per game in the final four games of the schedule, which was the most difficult part of the slate.

The much maligned red zone offense showed improvement as well as TCU scored on 80% of its red zone trips in the final three games, which is 12% higher than their season average.

But it is fair to ask how much of that offensive renaissance was merely the Horned Frogs making the most of garbage time against Texas and Oklahoma. After all the Horned Frogs were shutout in the first half against Texas and trailed by nearly 30 points before the offense got into any type of rhythm against Oklahoma.

If it takes falling behind four possessions for your offense to find life then there’s still something wrong at the core of the offense, but even so most coaches wouldn’t make a change and Dykes is unlikely to as well. TCU fans may not like it, but it’s the reality of the situation now.

There was a lot of goodwill lost this year starting with the national championship game, in order for Dykes to earn some of it back he has to show he’s willing to make major changes when necessary. And that’s the beauty in disguise to the loss in Norman.

It’s crystal clear that time is now and the ball is in Dykes’ court to make it right.