TCU head coach Sonny Dykes on Texas: "I think they're constructed the right way, built the right way"
TCU Horned Frogs head coach Sonny Dykes was available to Fort Worth media on Tuesday. Here’s what he had to say about this weekend’s matchup in Fort Worth.
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Opening statement: “Looking forward to playing against a really good Texas team Saturday. The guys are obviously fired up just to get back out and play. Looking forward to the game. Guys are preparing well. Going to go try to play our best game we’ve played all year on Saturday. We’re certainly going to have to play well to have a chance to win.”
On quarterback, where TCU will start Josh Hoover: “I think Chandler (Morris) is healthier. I think the big thing we’re trying to do this week is just get an evaluation on him. He clearly wants to play. He’s excited to get back and help the team win. He’s got a great attitude and wants to do the right thing. I think the biggest thing we have to do is making sure he’s healthy, we protect him, and put him in a good situation.”
On if they’re preparing for multiple Texas quarterbacks: “We have to. Any time you play anybody that’s got multiple quarterbacks, you just have to prepare for both. The gameplan probably won’t be that much different if it’s one quarterback or the other, that’s my guess based on what they’ve in the past and what they’ve done since Maalik Murphy has taken over. We have to prepare for both.”
On preparing for two quarterbacks: “It makes it a little bit more difficult, obviously. I think that’s just the nature of college football. You look around the league, and starting with us there have been a lot of starting quarterbacks who have gone down and a lot of backups that have had to step in and play. It’s just the nature of the beast right now.”
On if TCU looks at the 2022 contest: “We do for sure. I’m sure we do and I’m sure Texas does, too. That’s the thing. Both teams obviously have the film. Guys really played well last year. That’s been our challenge this year. We’ve played well at times. We just have to be consistent.”
On playing Texas for the last scheduled time: “It certainly doesn’t change our preparation or anything like that. It’s probably more of a thing for the fans honestly than it is for the players. I think there’s always motivation when you play against programs that are historically successful programs or big programs, or however you want to phrase it. That may be a little bit of an added incentive, but from a coaching perspective we’re going to coach our hardest every single week no matter who the opponent is.”
On Texas’ offense: “They’ve just got good players. I think the biggest thing is good players. Probably to me, the biggest difference is the way the team is built. Texas teams in the last decade have probably not been as strong as this team is up front on both lines of scrimmage. I think the strength of this football team is both of their lines. Typically, when you have a team you can say that about, that’s a good football team. I think they’re constructed the right way, built the right way. That’s the way you want to build football teams — from the line out. Their offensive line is big, and starting to get more and more experienced. A lot of those guys have played a lot of snaps and they’re athletic. Same thing with the defensive front. They’re really, really big, really athletic, playing hard, and playing at a high level. That’s what I think makes this team different than maybe teams in the past.”
On Jonathon Brooks: “Runs hard. That’s what I’m impressed with, just how physical he runs and how he finishes runs. Has strength, speed, and power, and just like a lot of their players, just a really, really good athlete that’s playing well. You’ve got to give them credit. They’ve got a lot of weapons, and the guys are performing, playing well, and figuring out how to win ballgames. You look at what Texas has done, they’ve had to hold on in some one-score games. They’ve managed to win those games and that’s why they’re in the situation they’re in. We’ve managed to lose our one-score games and that’s why we’re in the situation we’re in. Really, that’s what it comes down to. That’s college football and that’s the way it plays out. I think you look at the difference between our team this year and our team last year, it’s 7-1 in one-score games (last year) and 0-3 in one-score games this year. That’s the margin between winning and losing in college football.”
On Jack Bech, Warren Thompson, Dylan Wright: “They’re all out.”
On the Texas front seven: “It’s easy to see on tape. That’s the thing about it. When you turn the tape on, you can see how big, how powerful, how strong, and how deep the group is. Then you look at the success they’ve had in short yardage situations, 4th and 1 and 3rd and short, those types of situations. You’re good at those situations when you have really dominant, physical, strong, hold-the-line kind of guys. That’s what they are defensively. They’re big, they’re powerful, and they’re athletic. They can rotate a lot of different guys and it creates problems for you.”
