ORLANDO, Fla. — TCU coach Sonny Dykes says his staff has already begun culling game tape from the New England Patriots, University of Washington and schools across the country to prepare for their season opener against Bill Belichick and North Carolina.
If this has a bit of a déjà vu feeling for the Horned Frogs, that is because they also opened the 2023 season against a megastar football coach making his FBS coaching debut: Deion Sanders and Colorado.
Asked what TCU did to be put in nearly the same situation once again, Dykes told ESPN with a laugh, “Not sure how we pulled that off. It’s called bad scheduling.”
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“Hopefully we’ll fare better than we did last time. We didn’t play well last time, but we’ve got a second chance.”
In 2023, TCU was coming off a national championship game loss to Georgia and ranked No. 17 in the nation. But Colorado pulled the upset, 45-42, in Sanders’ debut in a wild game that featured more than 1,000 yards of offense. Shedeur Sanders threw for a school-record 510 yards and four touchdowns.
The hype surrounding Belichick has been on a similar level. The six-time Super Bowl champion took the North Carolina job last December, his first head coaching stint in college after spending his entire career in the NFL. Belichick has not coached a game yet, but there is intrigue about how the Tar Heels will fare under his leadership, particularly since this is a program that has not won an ACC title since 1980.
But he has been active in completely transforming the roster, in a similar way to Sanders. North Carolina has brought in more than 50 new players from the transfer portal, including South Alabama quarterback Gio Lopez, and eight new offensive linemen — many with starting experience.
To begin to figure out what North Carolina will look like when they kick off on Labor Day Night, Dykes said he and his staff have watched previous game tape of the Patriots, Washington — where son, Steve, served as defensive coordinator last year — in addition to tape of all the new players who have arrived via the portal.
“We’re in the process of trying to look at all those players, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and figure out how to attack the schemes and go play a big game. That’s the good thing. You can project the two-deep and say, ‘These guys are going to be the starters. You can find the tape of where they were last year and get a quick view of what they’re like. We’ve already begun doing that,” Dykes said.
Unlike UNC, the Horned Frogs did not rely as heavily on the transfer portal this offseason and bring back quarterback Josh Hoover, who set a TCU season passing record in 2024 with 3,949 yards. Hoover is the only returning quarterback in the entire country to average 300 yards per game passing (303.8) and have a passer rating of at least 150. Dykes cited the veteran group he returns, saying “that typically is a good thing for us.”
As for the opener, unlike the Colorado game, the one against the Tar Heels will be the lone primetime game on Monday night. The national spotlight will be on them.
“It’s a big game for our program. It’s a big day for the Big 12, and we certainly need to get off to a good start,” Dykes said.
