One week ago, this preview would have opened up a lot differently than it is right now.
To be fair, a week ago, the TCU Horned Frogs hadn’t just lost an ugly week zero game at the hands of UNC.
However, when Kansas and TCU meet, they each will be fully entrenched in Big 12 play and maybe TCU’s loss to the Tar Heels will be completely forgotten. TCU would have already faced Big 12 foes: UCF, No. 14 BYU, Baylor and West Virginia. Assuming Week Zero was a rare misstep in the career of Dykes, then TCU at most only has one more loss up to this point.
For KU, they would have just played Baylor in what is a complete toss-up.
The Jayhawks have struggled to compete against the Texas side
The last 10 times these two schools met, TCU has exited victorious in nine of those matchups, with the last KU win coming in 2018 in a thrilling 27-26 Jayhawk win.
These two last met in 2024 at a point where KU had launched their season off to a shaky 1-3 start, meaning that a win in Kansas City was an absolute necessity. Instead, a methodical Josh Hoover notched 356 passing yards and three scores, including the game’s dagger with 11:19 to go in what turned into a 38-27 TCU win.
Dykes has led the Frogs since 2022, and only once during that time has TCU not posted a winning record. Dykes currently holds a 36-18 record in four full seasons (and one game of 2026). Prior to joining the Big 12 side, Dykes marshalled rebuilds at Louisiana Tech, Cal and SMU. While his stint at Cal wasn’t as successful as his other stops, he did at one point, orchestrate for the Golden Bears to be ranked in the AP Top 25, which is an accomplishment in and of itself.
Last season, the Horned Frogs finished the season with a strong 9-4 record that was comfortable enough to beat the teams they should, but struggled to beat teams at their level or above, as shown in losses against Arizona State, Kansas State, Iowa State and BYU.
Once again TCU is reloading at quarterback
Dykes’ calling card has been his ability to get the best out of his quarterbacks; it started with college football cult hero Max Duggan and soon carried over to Josh Hoover. The problem is Hoover departed for the Indiana Hoosiers at the end of the 2025 campaign, like KU, forcing the program to lay its hopes on former Harvard quarterback Jaden Craig. Last season, Craig notched 2,869 passing yards over 208 completions, alongside 25 passing touchdowns to just 7 interceptions. Craig left FCS football as the Crimson’s all-time leader in yards (6,072) and touchdowns (52).
While week zero exposed where TCU needed to improve, Dykes has become one of the game’s steadiest coaches, so it's unlikely these issues will last for long, only lessening Kansas’ chance at a win.
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