How ‘do your job’ helped Sonny Dykes fuel TCU’s remarkable turnaround

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2 years ago

January 9, 2023

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7:00 AM ET

LOS ANGELES — After all the anxiety-inducing finishes, after the Fiesta Bowl upset of Michigan, after making history as the longest of long shots to make the College Football Playoff National Championship, TCU has just one thing left to do.

Its job.

“Do your job” is the unsexy, unflashy mantra that coach Sonny Dykes pounds into the heads of his Horned Frogs. Senior guard Wes Harris said he can’t even imagine how many times he’s heard it this season.

“Probably about 1,000 if I had to guess,” Harris said Saturday at media day. “Let’s see, I’m saying he says it 15, at least 20 times a week. I’m not good at math, but that’s a lot of doing your job. Two, three ‘do your jobs’ a day, five, six, seven days a week.”

Dykes obviously doesn’t see any need to break from that formula before TCU faces Georgia in the national championship game Monday at SoFi Stadium (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App).

There’s not much for the Horned Frogs to lean on other than putting in the work. They were supposed to be overmatched going into the season with a new coach while losing their two best players in the transfer portal — running back Zach Evans to Ole Miss and defensive end Ochaun Mathis to Nebraska. They were supposed to be outclassed in the Big 12, where they were picked seventh in the preseason poll without receiving a single first-place vote. They were supposed to be exposed in the Fiesta Bowl, making the playoff field despite being a historic outlier in recruiting rankings. No national champion in the CFP era had a recruiting class outside the top 15 in four years prior to winning the title. TCU has never had a single top 15 class since ESPN began its recruiting rankings in 2006.

“We come into this game with a lot of motivation, obviously,” Dykes said. “It’s been a long season. We’ve exceeded expectations, at least externally. And so anytime you do that there’s always a little bit of extra motivation.”

History keeps staring the Horned Frogs in the face. After being just the second team to make the CFP despite being unranked in the preseason (Michigan last year was the other), TCU is the first unranked preseason team to make the national title game since Auburn in 2013, two years before the CFP came into existence.

No team outside the preseason top 25 has won a national championship since Georgia Tech in 1990. And no team coming off a losing season — TCU was 5-7 last year — has won a national championship since Michigan State in 1965; only four have ever done it.

None of that is daunting to the Frogs, however, because their insouciant coach doesn’t care what the narrative may be about his team or his style.

“[Dykes] hasn’t changed a single game this whole year,” Harris said. “I feel like it helps us because obviously we haven’t been on this stage before, but it’s true, dude, like we ain’t got nothing to lose. We shouldn’t feel any pressure anyway.

“He’s like, ‘Man, just do your job. It’s another game. There’s no need to blow it out of proportion even though it is the biggest game you can play.’ He does a good job of kind of just telling everybody to calm down, take a deep breath and just soak it all in.”

Dykes no doubt is soaking it all in. Coaches coach their whole lives without getting an opportunity to play for a national championship. His late dad, Spike, did it for 40 years and never got a shot at one, perhaps coming closest in his first year as an assistant at Texas in 1972 — the Longhorns finished No. 3 in the postseason poll.

Dykes couldn’t have imagined being in this position a year ago as he watched Georgia claim its first national championship in 41 years from a table in the back of Mad Dog’s British Pub, a bar on the River Walk in San Antonio, where he was in town for the American Football Coaches Association convention. This year, he’s coaching against the Dawgs in Los Angeles.

The AFCA convention is annually held the same weekend as the title game. Georgia might have expected to miss it. Not TCU.

“Every year at the convention, you make plans on where you’re watching the national championship game,” offensive line coach A.J. Ricker said. “One of our graduate assistants told me, ‘We’re gonna miss the convention this year.’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s a good thing.'”

It’s been a surreal climb for TCU.

“This whole thing’s nuts, dude,” Harris said. “I’m just like, ‘When’s it gonna hit us, when’s it gonna hit us?’ I just feel like we just need to make the most of it because it is pretty cool.”

Harris said he was back home fishing last year at this time because football wasn’t really on his mind since TCU’s season was over. Josh Newton, the first-team All-Big 12 corner after transferring from Louisiana-Monroe, wasn’t even at TCU yet, and watched the game at his cousin’s house in Monroe. Wide receiver Taye Barber said he watched with friends at The Star, the Dallas Cowboys’ practice complex that includes bars with giant TV screens. This year, his friends can watch him on those same screens.

“We just had to come together and believe in one another and just do our job like Coach Dykes said and it can happen,” Barber said. “No matter what, anything can happen.”

The TCU contingent is not just celebrating the journey to this point. This is a chance to finish one of the most unlikely runs in sports history, as the Frogs faced 200-1 odds to win the title before the season. They’re also the largest underdogs in the national title game era (since 1998), with Caesars Sportsbook listing Georgia as a 13-point favorite.

“Look, you don’t go through all the stuff we’ve gone through this season and work as hard as these guys have worked and make all the sacrifices these guys have made to say we’re just happy to be here,” Dykes said. “I think if anything, it gives you extra motivation to finish the job because we haven’t been here before. And if you haven’t been there before, then it’s hard to say, well, we’ll be back next year.”

Across the board, TCU players say they knew from the first meetings last December with Dykes and strength coach Kaz Kazadi that things would be different. TCU safety Abe Camara said they were “all business” from the jump.

“Everybody has told us from day one that this is a national championship team. ‘You guys can make it there, you guys can win it,'” Camara said. “We’re here. Obviously, the job’s not finished. So you get the job done. That’s all. We really want to do this. It’s not just for us, though. It’s for the city of Fort Worth. Our fans have been dedicated all year. We have so many people that have been there for us. Without them, we wouldn’t be here. It’s for everybody.”

TCU, the little private school that just made it to the Power 5 in 2012, is taking aim at Georgia, the defending national champions, the new SEC Death Star fashioned by Kirby Smart in the same pressure-cooked structure that Nick Saban used to turn Alabama back into a dynasty.

Now, after all the talk, analysis and hype, the Horned Frogs just have one more game to go.

“None of us will feel good about this year if we don’t win this game,” Dykes said. “I think we’ll feel like we’ve squandered an opportunity. And nobody wants to do that.”

Harris, the bearded Texan with the thick accent, said he knows just how to finish things off.

“I tell you what,” he said. “If there’s one thing we’re gonna do, it’s gonna be our job.”

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U.S. opens worlds slate with shutout of Denmark

Published

36 mins ago

May 9, 2025

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U.S. opens worlds slate with shutout of Denmark

Associated Press

May 9, 2025, 06:24 PM ET

HERNING, Denmark — The United States blanked Denmark 5-0 on the opening day of the ice hockey world championship on Friday.

Matty Beniers led the Americans with two goals, Cutter Gauthier and Mason Lohrei had a goal and an assist each, and Logan Cooley also scored in a Group B game.

Michael Kesselring had two assists and goaltender Joey Daccord recorded 26 saves in the shutout.

“Any time a goalie gets a shutout is a team result,” Daccord said after his debut at the worlds.

Gauthier opened the scoring from the slot with 2:08 left in the opening period. Cooley doubled the advantage on a power play, Beniers added on a rebound in the middle period and Lohrei made it 4-0 from the point midway through the final period. Beniers one-timed a slap shot for his second with 3:44 remaining.

Sweden delights home crowd

Sweden shut out Slovakia 5-0 to delight the home crowd in Stockholm in Group A.

Mikael Backlund, Leo Carlsson and Jonas Brodin scored 8:37 apart in the second part of the opening period to give Sweden a commanding 3-0 lead.

Elias Lindholm stretched it to 4-0 in the second and Mika Zibanejad finished it off in the final period.

Backlund and Lindholm added an assist each.

Sweden won the championship when it took place in Stockholm last time in 2013.

Czechs prevail in OT

Defending champion Czech Republic earlier prevailed in overtime to beat Switzerland 5-4 in a rematch of last year’s final.

Roman Cervenka scored the winner 2:30 into overtime from the left circle after David Pastrnak fed him with his second assist in Herning.

Czech Lukas Sedlak tied the game at 4 on a rebound on a power play with 3:47 left to force overtime.

Matej Stransky, Filip Zadina and Filip Pyrochta also scored for the Czechs, who beat the Swiss 2-0 in the final last year in Prague.

Christian Marti, Damien Riat, Sandro Schmid and Sven Andrighetto scored for Switzerland.

In Stockholm, Finland topped Austria 2-1.

The tournament is the final men’s international test before the 2026 Winter Games in Italy, where NHL players will return to the Olympics after 12 years.

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Vegas laments missed call in G2 loss to Oilers

Published

9 hours ago

May 9, 2025

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Vegas laments missed call in G2 loss to Oilers

Ryan S. ClarkMay 9, 2025, 05:56 AM ET
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LAS VEGAS — Just when it appeared that the Vegas Golden Knights finally found an opening in overtime, their chances of winning Game 2 were quickly shut down in controversial fashion.

It wasn’t that the Golden Knights were overlooking what it means to be in a 2-0 series hole following a 5-4 overtime loss Thursday to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals at T-Mobile Arena.

They were more concerned with what they saw, and what they didn’t see from referee Gord Dwyer just 17 seconds before Leon Draisaitl‘s game-winning goal gave the Oilers their first 2-0 series lead since 2017.

Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb was going toward for the puck when Edmonton winger Viktor Arvidsson‘s stick got between McNabb’s legs, which sent McNabb into the boards. The play wasn’t ruled a penalty, and it led to the Oilers eventually going into transition before Draisaitl converted a 2-on-1 chance for the winner.

“It’s pretty clear it’s a penalty,” Golden Knights captain Mark Stone said. “His stick is between McNabb’s legs, and he sends him headfirst into the boards. It’s a pretty clear-cut penalty in my eyes and I think everybody’s eyes, right? But that’s hockey. You don’t always get the calls.”

Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy was a bit more direct about what he saw on the McNabb play.

“Listen, Gord’s looking at it. He blew it. He missed the call,” Cassidy said. “I don’t know what else to say. It’s a can-opener trip, it’s a dangerous play, it’s all those things. But it didn’t get called, so you’ve got to keep playing.”

Cassidy said he didn’t have an immediate update on McNabb’s status for Game 3 on Saturday in Edmonton. If he were to miss Game 3, it would leave the Golden Knights without one of their most important players.

McNabb, who was part of their Stanley Cup-winning team in 2023, is one of their top-pairing options and also a crucial piece of a penalty kill that had a significant role in how the Golden Knights survived so late in overtime.

An urgently aggressive Golden Knights team kept pushing to start the first period before forward Victor Olofsson opened with his first-ever playoff goal on the power play in the first period. Three consecutive goals from Oilers trio Jake Walman, Vasily Podkolzin and Darnell Nurse gave them a 3-1 lead. Golden Knights forward William Karlsson scored late in the second to cut it to 3-2.

Oilers forward Evander Kane doubled the lead to 4-2 within the first two minutes of the third before Olofsson’s second, also on the power play, less than three minutes later again cut the lead to a single goal. The Golden Knights forced overtime when alternate captain and star defenseman Alex Pietrangelo fired a shot from distance with 8:02 remaining in regulation.

Vegas had two chances in the final 30 seconds, only to have them both stopped by Edmonton goaltender Calvin Pickard, who finished with 28 saves, before heading to overtime.

Olofsson had a chance at a game-winning hat trick with a point-blank chance with 18:45 remaining before Nurse’s stick stopped him from having a clean shot.

“Definitely had a lot of good looks, and I think we could have had a couple more goals,” Olofsson said of a Golden Knights team that finished with 19 high-danger scoring chances.

Natural Stat Trick’s metrics show that Vegas’ shot-share in overtime was 66.7%. But even in a period in which they controlled possession, there was a moment when they nearly lost their grip.

Golden Knights forward Nicolas Roy received a five-minute major for cross-checking after his stick connected with Trent Frederic’s face. Roy appeared as if he was trying to play a puck in midair, only to then strike Frederic, which sent the Oilers on the power play.

The NHL’s No. 12 power-play unit in the regular season, the Oilers had a few chances on net but were either stopped by Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill or had their chances broken up by an aggressive forecheck that allowed them to go through unscathed.

With a pair of power-play goals already, the Golden Knights believed they could have added a third once McNabb went into the boards.

Instead? They watched the Oilers regroup, Draisaitl get on a 2-on-1 and beat Hill for the win.

“This one will sting,” Cassidy said. “But the positives tomorrow will be good. I felt that we outplayed the Oilers for the most part and deserved a better fate. How the guys look at that? If they take it as, ‘We just gotta carry that over’ — we both said we wanted to get better as the series went on and we were certainly better than Game 1. So, we’ll improve on today if we want to get back into it.”

Going back to their first campaign in the 2017-18 season, the Golden Knights have made the playoffs in all but one year. Throughout that time, they’ve been in a 2-0 series hole once, against the Colorado Avalanche in a second-round series back in 2021.

The Golden Knights would come back to win that series with four consecutive victories.

“I liked our game today; we had a lot of good chances,” said Stone, who is one of nine players who remain from that team in 2021. “We put up four goals, and usually when you score four goals, you’re going to win a playoff game. Unfortunately, we didn’t. You can’t get down, you got to go to Edmonton tomorrow, get ready for Saturday night’s game and put your best foot forward and get a win.”

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Stanley Cup playoffs daily: Can the Panthers dig out of an 0-2 hole?

Published

11 hours ago

May 9, 2025

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Stanley Cup playoffs daily: Can the Panthers dig out of an 0-2 hole?

With two games in the books for three of four second-round series, trends have begun to emerge — some not so good for the teams that many picked to make long runs this postseason.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are in a 2-0 hole, returning home to host the Toronto Maple Leafs for Game 3 (7 p.m. ET, TNT). In Friday’s nightcap, the Dallas Stars will look for another road victory over the Winnipeg Jets (9:30 p.m. ET, TNT).

Read on for game previews with statistical insights from ESPN Research, a recap of what went down in Thursday’s games and the three stars of Thursday from Arda Öcal.

Matchup notes

Toronto Maple Leafs at Florida Panthers
Game 3 | 7 p.m. ET | TNT

In their franchise history, the Maple Leafs have won 84% of their best-of-seven series when going up 2-0. The Panthers are 0-5 in best-of-seven series when trailing 0-2.

This series features the two highest-scoring lines at 5-on-5 this postseason: Eetu Luostarinen–Anton Lundell–Brad Marchand (eight) and Matthew Knies–Auston Matthews–Mitch Marner (seven, including the game-winning goal in Game 2).

William Nylander scored a goal for the third straight game, and he has six goals and 13 points this postseason. He is the second Maple Leaf of the past 30 years to score five goals in a three-game span — joining Alexander Mogilny from 2003 — and the first Maple Leaf since Doug Gilmour in 1993 to have 13 or more points in the first eight games of a postseason.

With a goal in Game 2, Marchand now has 32 postseason points against the Leafs in his career, which is fourth most all time. He trails Gordie Howe (53), Alex Delvecchio (35) and Henri Richard (33).

Stepping in for injured Anthony Stolarz, Joseph Woll saved 25 of 28 shots for Toronto. His counterpart, Sergei Bobrovsky, allowed four goals on 20 shots and has allowed nine total goals through Games 1 and 2. That is tied for the second most he has allowed in a two-game span in his playoff career.

Dallas Stars at Winnipeg Jets
Game 2 | 9:30 p.m. ET | TNT

After a win in Game 1, the Stars are now -360 favorites to win the series, while the Jets are +280, according to ESPN BET. The win for Dallas snapped an eight-game losing streak in Game 1s.

Mikko Rantanen provided all the offense that Dallas needed in the 3-2 win, scoring his second single-period hat trick in as many games. He set a record for the most consecutive team goal contributions (goal or assist) in Stanley Cup playoff history, with 12; the previous mark was nine by Mario Lemieux in 1992.

Game 1 was Jason Robertson‘s first game back after sustaining an injury in the final game of the regular season. He played 13:44, including 1:00 on the power play, and registered one shot.

The opening clash was also Mark Scheifele‘s return to the ice, though his absence was just since April 30 and Game 5 against the Blues in Round 1. Scheifele scored a goal and registered seven shots in 22:36 of ice time.

Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck and Dallas’ Jake Oettinger are considered the two leading candidates to be Team USA’s goaltender at the 2026 Olympics. Oettinger took the first round of the head-to-head battle, saving 29 of 31 shots and getting the W; Hellebuyck saved 21 of 24 shots in defeat.

Öcal’s three stars from Thursday

Wilson was key in the Capitals tying up their series against the Canes. It was the first time he had a playoff game with at least two points, two hits, two blocked shots and three shots on goal.

Draisaitl scored the game winner in overtime as Edmonton takes a 2-0 series lead on Vegas. He joins Esa Tikkanen (from 1991) as the only players in franchise history with multiple OT goals in a single postseason.

Eichel registered three assists in the OT loss to Edmonton, and he now has eight points in his past five games (one goal, seven assists). That ties his own mark for most points in a five-game span in his postseason career.

Thursday’s recaps

Washington Capitals 3, Carolina Hurricanes 1
Series tied 1-1 | Game 3 Saturday

After a loss to the Canes in Game 1, the Capitals looked like a different team as veteran winger Tom Wilson “set the tone,” according to Alex Ovechkin. Connor McMichael started the scoring at 2:16 of the second period, and John Carlson put the Caps up 2-0 with a power-play goal near the start of the third on an assist by Wilson and Dylan Strome. Shayne Gostisbehere pulled Carolina within one with a power-play goal of his own, but Wilson finished them off with an empty-netter with a minute left. Full recap.

John Carlson buries Caps’ second goal of the night

John Carlson sends the Capitals fans into a frenzy after a beautiful goal early in the third period.

Edmonton Oilers 5, Vegas Golden Knights 4 (OT)
EDM leads 2-0 | Game 3 Saturday

Seeking a win to tie up the series, Vegas was on the board first with a goal from Victor Olofsson at 8:42 of the first period. Edmonton, however, charged back with three straight goals in the second period (from Jake Walman, Vasily Podkolzin and Darnell Nurse), before William Karlsson drew the Knights within one at 18:10. Evander Kane put the Oilers back up by two at 1:52 of the third, before Vegas rallied with goals by Olofsson and Alex Pietrangelo to send the game to OT. Leon Draisaitl tallied the game winner, giving the Oilers a 5-4 win and a 2-0 series lead heading home to Alberta. Full recap.