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Oklahoma 2023 Schedule Preview: TCU Horned Frogs

In Oklahoma's final Big 12 home game, the Sooners will look to exact a measure of revenge on Sonny Dykes' TCU Horned Frogs.

Ryan Chapman

Oklahoma 2023 Schedule Preview: TCU Horned Frogs
Oklahoma 2023 Schedule Preview: TCU Horned Frogs /
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As August closes in, AllSooners previews every game on the 2023 schedule.

Oklahoma’s 12-game regular season schedule features six home games, five road games and the annual neutral-site Red River Showdown.

The Sooners will close the year at home against last year’s national runner-up, the TCU Horned Frogs. 

Midnight was especially cruel to last year’s Cinderella.

Sonny Dykes shocked the world in his first year at TCU, taking the Horned Frogs within one win of a national title.

Led by a slew of redshirt seniors, TCU marched through the Big 12 regular season slate, only falling to the Kansas State Wildcats in the conference championship game.

Despite Dykes naming Oklahoma transfer Chandler Morris the starting quarterback to start the season, Big 12 veteran Max Duggan quickly stepped in after an injury and eliminated all the problems that had held him back throughout his career.

Chandler Morris
Chandler Morris / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Duggan threw over and ran past every defense that stood in his way throughout the regular season, leading the nation’s ninth-best scoring attack and landing himself in New York City at the end of the year as a Heisman Trophy finalist.

Despite the hiccup in the Big 12 Championship Game, the Horned Frogs got the nod into the College Football Playoff, becoming the first Big 12 team to win a semifinal contest in shootout fashion over the Michigan Wolverines.

Oklahoma's 2023 Schedule

Georgia then demolished TCU in the National Championship, overmatching the Horned Frogs in every possible way en route the most lopsided performance in college football national title history, a 65-7 walkover for the Bulldogs’ second-straight crown.

But the first glimpse at just how good the 2022 Horned Frogs might be came against Oklahoma all the way back on the first day of October.

TCU embarrassed the Sooners, blowing out Brent Venables’ team 55-24 in Fort Worth.

OU quarterback Dillon Gabriel was knocked out of the game in the second quarter by linebacker Jamoi Hodge, and while it certainly compounded Oklahoma’s issues, the Sooners were already well on their way to a humbling defeat.

In 2023, Oklahoma will have to wait until the final week of the regular season to exact any form of revenge.

On the back of OU’s longest road trip of the year to BYU, the Sooners will take on TCU for the unenviable 11 a.m. Black Friday contest.

Dykes’ second Horned Frogs team will look very different, however.

Without many of the super seniors he inherited, Dykes will have to replace Duggan, big-bodied wide receiver Quentin Johnston and his running mate Derius Davis, running back Kendre Miller, offensive lineman Steve Avila, defensive lineman Dylan Horton, linebacker Dee Winters and defensive back Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson.

Get to Know TCU

Nov. 24, Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, OK

  • Series: OU leads series 17-6.
  • Head coach: Sonny Dykes, 2nd year at TCU (13-2), 13th year overall (84-65)
  • 2022 record: 13-2
  • 2022 offense: 27th overall (31st rushing, 39th passing, 9th scoring)
  • 2022 defense: 95th overall (79th rushing, 97th passing, 90th scoring)

Losing key playmakers at every level of the defense will be a big blow to TCU, who was far from elite on that side of the ball anyways.

The Horned Frogs finished No. 95-overall in total defense, relying on Duggan’s high-powered attack to lead the team.

But just as he did in his previous stop at SMU, Dykes aggressively attacked the transfer portal to try and reload.

The Horned Frogs added Florida defensive back Avery Helm to a core that returns Hodge and his fellow linebacker Johnny Hodges, who finished last season as a Second Team All-Big 12 selection, and defensive lineman Damonic Williams.

Still, TCU will likely need to put points on the board in bunches to try and replicate its 2022 success.

Morris is primed to start the year again at quarterback, and he’ll be flanked by a bevy of talented transfers.

Dykes landed a talented trio from Alabama in wide receiver JoJo Earle, running back Trey Sanders and offensive lineman Tommy Brockermeyer as well as Oklahoma State pass catcher John Paul Richardson, Ole Miss receiver Jaylon Robinson and Minnesota’s 6-foot-4 wide receiver Dylan Wright.

There were also major changes behind the scenes.

Offensive coordinator parlayed TCU’s magical season into the same job at Clemson, and Dykes turned to Arkansas’ Kendal Briles.

The regular season finale is still likely the worst time for OU to catch the Horned Frogs, however.

With an entire regular season for TCU’s new pieces, including Briles, to get acclimated to Fort Worth, the Sooners will get the best version of Dykes’ side. 

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Ryan Chapman
RYAN CHAPMAN

Ryan is deputy editor at AllSooners and covers a number of sports in and around Norman and Oklahoma City. Working both as a journalist and a sports talk radio host, Ryan has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, the Oklahoma City Energy and more. Since 2019, Ryan has simultaneously pursued a career as both a writer and a sports talk radio host, working for the Flagship for Oklahoma sports, 107.7 The Franchise, as well as AllSooners.com. Ryan serves as a contributor to The Franchise’s website, TheFranchiseOK.com, which was recognized as having the “Best Website” in 2022 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. Ryan holds an associate’s degree in Journalism from Oklahoma City Community College in Oklahoma City, OK. 

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