Head Coach Sonny Dykes Reflects on Season-Opening Win in Weekly Presser

Coach Dykes spoke about the UNC win, the scheduling for the Frogs, and the team's mentality heading into the bye week.

Sep 1, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick with TCU Horned Frogs head coach Sonny Dykes after the game at Kenan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

On Wednesday, TCU Head Coach Sonny Dykes met with the media to discuss TCU's 48-14 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels. The head coach discussed a multitude of topics, including his evaluation of the season-opener, the upcoming schedule for TCU, and even about rivalries within the Big 12 and former Southwest Conference members.

In what was supposed to be a historic moment for newly hired head coach, Bill Belichick, the Horned Frogs felt the disrespect by the media around the country and promptly ran the Chapel Hill faithful out of the building because of it.

TCU's offensive attack shone in the season debut, powered by the veteran quarterback Josh Hoover, who threw for 284 yards while completing 27 of 36 passes.

Newly minted Horned Frogs, Kevorian Barnes and Jordan Dwyer, also made their mark on the TCU faithful, each being responsible for over 100 yards of offense: Barnes with 113 yards rushing, and Dwyer with 156 yards receiving.

One of the many highlights of the night came on a 75-yard touchdown where Barnes found the endzone untouched.

Untouched😤 pic.twitter.com/B6vumpL71Y

— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) September 2, 2025

What Did Coach Dykes Have to Say at his Press Conference?

Dykes opened up the presser by immediately going to questions from the media in attendance. When the head coach was asked about the media attention surrounding the game against North Carolina, Dykes answered by saying that his team had a gameplan for exactly that kind of outside noise and publicity.

"To me there was just a lot of conversation about this (Belichick's college debut), I understand that," Dykes said. "It's a big deal when you've got the second winningest head coach ever who won the most superbowls.... I think for us it was just about us trying to avoid those distractions the best that we could."

When Dykes was asked about the upcoming schedule for the Frogs, he answered by saying that the Monday night game did throw things off for the team, but also may have led to some of their success against the Tar Heels.

"Waiting around I think was hard for us," Dykes said. "Our guys were excited and ready to play, but we needed every day. I feel like every day of preparation was important for us, and our guys practiced well...so I'm excited to get back to a normal schedule."

When asked about the schedule leading right into a bye week after the win in Chapel Hill, Dykes discussed how weird it felt finally getting on the field and then having a week off this early in the season.

"Yeah, it's strange you know the schedule, when we wanted to move this game to Monday we wanted to make sure that our players would have a chance to get back here and get settled before jumping in and playing next week, " Dykes said. "We had to move the Abilene Christian game a little bit later in order to make this thing work on Monday."

After discussing the schedule and the North Carolina game, Dykes was asked about the SEC moving to a nine-conference-game schedule in the near future. The head coach responded by discussing why it's a positive thing for college football.

"You need to have consistency in scheduling," Dykes said. "What makes the NFL great is that everybody kind of deals with the same things when it comes to scheduling, and there's some parity and fairness when it comes to scheduling...Right now, you know some leagues are playing eight conference games and playing nobody competitive in out-of-conference games, you know, and have a pretty clear path to the college football playoff."

After talking about the old members of the Southwest Conference and protected rivalries, Dykes closed the media availability by discussing his thoughts on transfers like Barnes and Dwyer and their impact on the team.

"You know we want guys that have had success that are hungry," Dykes said.

"I think if you look at the transfers that we've had that have been successful, that's been the guys that have maybe played at a lower level and are hungry, competitive, and want to prove themselves and have a chip on their shoulder, as opposed to maybe a heavily recruited five-star that went some place and couldn't figure it out...We just feel like that's more in tune with our program."

The Horned Frogs now play the waiting game due to the bye week and will prepare to take on Abilene Christian University in a little under 10 days. The game versus the Wildcats will be TCU's home-opener at Amon G. Carter Stadium. The game is September 13 at 7 p.m.CT.