Dykes Talks Plan vs. Bill Belichick After 'Bulls--t' Distracted TCU vs. Deion Sanders

TCU head coach Sonny Dykes feels his team will be much more concentrated on the primary objective when they kick off the 2025 regular season compared to the last time they crossed paths against a notable coach in his debut.

Dykes told The Athletic's David Ubben the Horned Frogs weren't in the right frame of mind when they opened against Deion Sanders-led Colorado in 2023.

"Our guys thought it was going to be easy," Dykes said of the Colorado game. "And then when it wasn't easy, you could see there was a palpable sense of panic on the sideline. ... They didn't have the ability to focus on the game. They got caught up in all the other bulls--t."

History is repeating itself to some degree as TCU plays North Carolina on Sept. 1, which is Bill Belichick's first game in charge of the Tar Heels.

Dykes told Ubben it's important to strike a balance between respecting Belichick's coaching resume and not psyching his players out.

"We're gonna have to build up Belichick a little bit from the standpoint of, 'This guy's a really good coach, whatever, whatever," he said. "Then we'll have to build him down a little bit, too. 'Hey, he's not gonna play the game. He's won however many Super Bowls, but he's not gonna score any touchdowns.'"

TCU quarterback Josh Hoover was a redshirt freshman when the 17th-ranked Horned Frogs were upset 45-42 at home to Colorado. This time around, he believes the roster has enough experience to avoid another letdown.

"There are guys for the young guys to look to and we can say, 'Hey, this is how it's supposed to go,'" he said to Ubben. "This year, it'll be about being focused on our game plan. You can't do anything about ESPN GameDay or helicopters circling. You have to be focused on what you do."

Another major difference is that TCU is coming off a 9-4 season that ended in a New Mexico Bowl win rather than a trip to the College Football Playoff title game. That success in 2022 set expectations unreasonably high for the 2023 squad.

The 2025 team is unranked and an outside contender to win the Big 12 instead of a clear favorite. That might motivate Dykes and his players even more to make a firm statement in Week 1 in Chapel Hill.