‘We got some dudes, man’: Facing more doubts, new-look TCU is ready to write its own chapter
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Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff Writer
TCU coach Sonny Dykes isn’t big on playing the disrespect card or any other chip-on-your-shoulder motivation. If his players want to use it, that’s their prerogative.
He prefers a more straightforward approach.
“We lost two of our last three games last year,” Dykes said this week. “So I think [the players] are hungry and ready to get back out and win some football games.”
Nevermind that those two games — a 31-28 Big 12 title heartbreaker to Kansas State in overtime, and a 65-7 humbling by Georgia in the College Football Playoff National Championship — just happened to be in huge games that the Frogs were never expected to reach (and were sandwiched on either end of a thrilling 51-45 semifinal win over Michigan in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl).
The bigger issue facing this year’s team is that much of the heart and soul of that 13-2 Cinderella season is gone:
Starting quarterback and Heisman Trophy finalist Max Duggan. First-round draft pick Quentin Johnston at receiver. Linebacker Dee Winters, the defensive MVP of the Fiesta Bowl. First-team All-Big 12 running back Kendre Miller. Thorpe Award winner Tre’vius Hodges-Tomlinson at corner. Consensus All-American Steve Avila at guard. Not to mention that last year’s offensive coordinator, Garrett Riley, is busy installing his offense at Clemson, where he was introduced four days after the Georgia game. His replacement, Kendal Briles, inherits a group that only returns 33% of its offensive production from Riley’s crew.
So it’s fair that TCU begins this season as it did last year, with a healthy amount of skepticism. Can a program that patched together a historic run maintain that standard despite the losses? The questions led the Frogs to a fifth-place prediction in this year’s Big 12 media poll.
For Dykes, though, there’s a quiet confidence he has, all based on the way his team is moving on after the ride stopped.
“The ‘want to’ is really there,” Dykes said. “It’s a mature group. We lost a lot of older guys off the team last year, a lot of leadership. But this team seems, so far, even more focused and more dedicated and even more mature.”
There are reasons for his optimism. It’s clear that Dykes’ relationships in Texas, combined with his early success at TCU, garnered plenty of attention from other Power 5 players looking for a new home.
Last year’s transfer group was filled with under-the-radar types that proved to be hidden gems. That includes linebacker Johnny Hodges, the Frogs’ leading tackler, who arrived from Navy after TCU was the only Power 5 school to extend an offer, Josh Newton, a first-team all-Big 12-corner from Louisiana-Monroe, key defensive line rotation members from Stephen F. Austin (Caleb Fox) and UConn (Lwal Uguak) and Louisiana running back Emani Bailey, who led the Big 12 in yards per carry (8.1) in a backup role.
“For us, a good player is a good player, a productive player is a productive player and a lot of times it doesn’t matter if they’re from Southwest Assemblies of God or from Alabama,” Dykes said, mentioning defensive linemen Tico Brown, who transferred from Missouri State last year and Rick D’Abreu, who came from East Carolina this year. “I don’t know that it means that much to us.”
Still, there were several former star recruits at big programs who fit with this year’s mission. Dykes brought in three players from Alabama (running back Trey Sanders, wide receiver JoJo Earle and offensive tackle Tommy Brockermeyer), along with several other receivers to restock after the departures of three Frogs, including first-round pick Johnston, to the NFL. They, too, came from big programs: Jaylon Robinson from Ole Miss, JP Richardson from Oklahoma State, Jack Bech from LSU and Dylan Wright from Minnesota. They also added corner Avery Helm from Florida.
Richardson, who caught five passes for 50 yards and a touchdown against TCU last year, described what he saw from them that appealed to him.
“There’s so much to learn [from last year],” Richardson said. “All the adversity they had to face. They had to fight back and win a lot of games and every week, with people just thinking, ‘They’re gonna go down. It’s got to end soon, right?’ And they just kept on winning.”
Dykes said his staff had connections to several of the players from recruiting them in the past, including Earle and Brockermeyer who both played high school football in the Fort Worth vicinity, as did Robinson and Wright. Richardson, the son of former Texas A&M quarterback Bucky Richardson, also had a previous relationship with Dykes.
“I’ve known Sonny for a little bit,” JP Richardson said. “How crazy is this? He was my uncle’s roommate at Texas Tech.”
Richardson, who coaches say has been a standout in practice since arriving, said he’s been impressed by the talent on hand at receiver, including returners like Savion Williams, four-star freshman recruit Cordale Russell and tight end Jared Wiley.
“We got some dudes, man,” he said. “We should be pretty explosive. We definitely have the guys in the room to make it happen. We’re going to be really fast. Really, really, really high tempo.”
Along with those transfers, Dykes said he’s excited about the newfound depth provided by the freshman class, which was the highest-rated group the Frogs have ever signed (19th nationally in ESPN’s rankings and third in the Big 12 behind Texas and Oklahoma).
“The freshman class is very talented and deep and better than advertised, I think,” he said. “I mean, we have eight young defensive linemen that we’re very excited about. Typically you might have two or three or four, maybe, you know, if you’re lucky. We have eight, so that part’s exciting.”
Hodges, a former nuclear engineering major at the Naval Academy, also isn’t much for hyperbole. Since arriving a year ago to help plug a hole for a team coming off a 5-7 season, he’s now an elder statesman of a team coming off a College Football Playoff appearance, but says it doesn’t feel that way.
“There’s really, really not much of a difference,” Hodges, who was the Big 12 defensive newcomer of the year, said. “I know we made it where we made it last year but [strength coach] Kaz [Kazadi] and our strength staff have just done a great job: one, humbling us; two, being honest — we lost the championship game by 60; three, we’re projected just as low as we were last year to finish in the Big 12 and in the national media. So the feelings aren’t different. We’ve got a chip on our shoulder. I really like the vibes we’re going through. I really like our vibes.”
But unlike last year, their season opener won’t be a sleepy nonconference game on a Friday night. This year’s rematch with Colorado is a preview of a future Big 12 matchup as the Buffs prepare to enter the league next year, with the star power of Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders, along with an almost completely new roster after 71 players entered the transfer portal as Sanders embarked on an extreme makeover.
“Wherever Deion goes, people are interested,” Dykes said. “There will be a lot of eyes on the game.”
Frogs quarterback Chandler Morris started against the Buffaloes last season before suffering an MCL sprain in the third quarter and giving way to Duggan, who rode his hot hand all the way to the national title game. This year, he’s the entrenched starter after watching and waiting a year longer than he expected.
“Dude has what it takes,” offensive lineman Steven Coleman said. “He was already the starter. He’s been doing a great job working, has been a great job of being a leader, even if we’re just doing offseason conditioning. He’s gonna do a good job this year.”
Along with Morris, the newcomers like Richardson are excited to see where this year’s team can go, starting Sept. 2.
“We’re gonna have to come out there and earn it,” he said. “Everybody’s bought into what [the coaches] are trying to push to what we’re trying to accomplish. And that’s ultimately to win a Big 12 championship and win a national championship. I think we’ve got all the talent in the world to do it. And I’m just so excited to show everybody what we got.”
Dykes and TCU hope to keep the momentum going as the Big 12 morphs into a sprawling 16-team conference next year, an opportunity to sell an exciting future with a path to a 12-team playoff. The Horned Frogs are eager to shake off a humbling end to an otherwise remarkable season and keep climbing.
“It feels like we have a strong future in our program,” Dykes said. “This team has an opportunity to be pretty good. We’ll see how it all works out and how it comes together. But I think we’re in a pretty, pretty good place to start with.”
And he’s just as curious how it all will start unfolding in that first September weekend in Fort Worth against Sanders and the Buffaloes.
“If I didn’t have a game on Sept. 2, I’d watch it,” Dykes said. “It’ll be interesting to see who’s playing for them — and for us.”
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Ryan S. Clark
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.”
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.
0:52
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.
3:32
Oilers prevail in OT to take 2-0 series lead
Scott Van Pelt recaps the Oilers’ thrilling 5-4 overtime win over the Golden Knights to take a 2-0 series lead.
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