TCU Tries to Halt Late Slide at Houston

The Horned Frogs are in a free fall toward the bottom of the barrel in the Big 12. Can they grab hold of a ledge and pick themselves back up this weekend against Houston?

Nov 15, 2025; Provo, Utah, USA; The Texas Christian University Horned Frogs enter the field before the game against the BYU Cougars at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

The sun has officially set on the 2025 TCU football season. At Big 12 Media Days in July, head coach Sonny Dykes said that if the Horned Frogs weren’t competing for a conference championship, then this season would be a failure. By that definition, the Frogs have fallen well short of the mark.

TCU is 6-4 and is coming off two of the most debilitating, demoralizing, and frustrating losses of the Dykes era against Iowa State and BYU. Those defeats derailed a campaign that previously delivered some promise, though there were massive red flags that this disappointing outcome could be coming.

With no hope of winning the Big 12 and subsequently making the College Football Playoff, TCU’s aspirations are now winning out the rest of the way and competing in a mid-tier bowl game. That all starts Saturday when the Horned Frogs make the in-state trip down Interstate 45 to play the Houston Cougars.

Houston’s Turnaround Has Been Phenomenal

Oct 25, 2025; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Houston Cougars head coach Willie Fritz with wide receiver Amare Thomas (0) against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Unlike TCU, Houston head coach Willie Fritz has the Cougars heading in the right direction in his second season. After a 2024 campaign that saw the team go 4-8 — with wins over the Frogs and a ranked Kansas State squad sprinkled in — the Cougars have completely flipped the script. They are 8-2 and have a shot at competing for a conference championship. Now that’s impressive.

A big reason for that is Fritz’s winning track record. He has won everywhere he has coached, from Blinn Junior College — where he won two national titles — to his previous stop at Tulane. Wherever Fritz goes, winning football follows.

That’s what made his hiring at Houston such a slam dunk. While he isn’t a flashy name, he’s someone who gets the job done, and that’s all that matters in college football at the end of the day.

The Cougars Have Skated By

Sep 26, 2025; Corvallis, Oregon, USA; Houston Cougars place kicker Ethan Sanchez (92) celebrates his winning field goal kick in overtime with quarterback Jake Sock (15) against the Oregon State Beavers at Reser Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images | Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

Houston has thrived in close games — the Cougars are 4-0 in one-score affairs — so Saturday’s contest could be a potential nail-biter.

The Cougars have required walk-off field goals in two games this season: one against Oregon State on the road in overtime and the other against Arizona a month ago. There’s an argument that Houston is simply getting lucky, but there’s also reason to believe the team just knows how to get it done when the lights are shining brightest.

For TCU, that’s fairly scary. The Frogs have continuously struggled in major moments — the recent loss against Iowa State comes to mind — and bucking that trend might be a monumental task for a team that can’t seem to get out of its own way.

TCU’s Got Some Road Woes

Nov 15, 2025; Provo, Utah, USA; BYU Cougars defensive back Evan Johnson (0) sacks Texas Christian University Horned Frogs quarterback Josh Hoover (10) during the second half at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

There’s no denying the Frogs have not played their best football away from Fort Worth. Three of the team’s four losses have come on the road, and one of their worst performances of the season — the 23-17 victory against West Virginia — also occurred outside Amon G. Carter Stadium.

If one extrapolates the trend to previous seasons, the road woes get even worse. TCU struggled to beat a terrible Stanford squad last season in the opening game. It also got routed by SMU a couple of weeks later in what remains one of the most embarrassing defeats in the history of the Iron Skillet. Additionally, Baylor took down TCU in Waco at the beginning of November last season, marking one of the few times over the past decade-plus that the Bears have gotten the best of the Frogs. TCU did pick up road wins against Utah and Cincinnati in 2024, though neither team was of high quality.

It gets worse if one looks all the way back to 2023. That season was a mess in many regards, and a major reason for that was TCU’s inability to win away from home — the team went 1-4 on the road.

All told, if TCU is to pick up the pieces and find a way to temporarily put an end to the negativity surrounding the program, it will have to do something it has struggled to do for the better part of three seasons. Yikes.

TCU’s journey toward making this season less of a failure continues Saturday afternoon in Houston at TDECU Stadium at 3 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on FOX.