sports Gloom then boom TCU football shows quick turnarounds possible

ARLINGTON, Texas --

Before the 2022 season began, TCU coach Sonny Dykes didn’t expect much from his team.

Neither did people outside the program.

The Horned Frogs went 5-7 in 2021, and legendary coach Gary Patterson stepped down from the job during the season. Dykes came in with the program on the ropes and in need of a revival.

The preseason Big 12 media poll placed TCU at seventh in the league. Not even Dykes could argue with it.

“I probably would have picked us lower, honestly, than I think the media did,” Dykes said, “just based on what was coming back and the coaching change and all the stuff that transpired.”

TCU disproved those early projections and finished undefeated in the regular season and beat Michigan for a spot in the national championship, proving that things can change quickly, especially in this age of college football.

This year, the Cowboys were picked seventh after a rocky season, just like the Horned Frogs last year. Now, a TCU-like run to the College Football Playoff is a lofty expectation for OSU, but a fast turnaround is doable. The Horned Frogs were the blueprint, and other teams in the conference in recent years have quickly climbed the Big 12 standings within a year.

The Big 12 has shown doom and gloom from one season doesn’t necessarily carry over to the next, and expectations don’t always equate to reality in modern college football.

“The history over this league the last few years is look at it and nobody predicted what would have happened,” said OSU coach Mike Gundy.

Six different teams have appeared in the Big 12 Championship game the past three seasons. Oklahoma and Iowa State in 2020. Baylor and Oklahoma State in 2021. Kansas State and TCU in 2022. Several of those teams were projected to be in the bottom of the league.

Baylor finished 2-7 in 2020 and was projected eighth but ended up beating OSU for the conference crown. Kansas State was tabbed fifth in the preseason before winning the conference over an undefeated TCU. Of course, the Horned Frogs also overachieved their seventh-place pick.

Sometimes, coaches don’t even know what they have until well into the season. The transfer portal brings unknowns into every season.

“When the season started, I felt like we were an average football team, honestly probably slightly below average,” Dykes said. “We won some games, got a little confidence, hit the second part of our schedule and started to win some games and became probably a slightly above-average football team.”

TCU improved its roster rapidly in the portal. It had key pieces on the team already in quarterback Max Duggan, wide receiver Quentin Johnston and running back Kendre Miller, but it added leading tackler and top linebacker Johnny Hodges and safety Josh Newton, who was second on the team in pass deflections and interceptions, and starting tight end Jared Wiley.

Similarly, the Wildcats have increased depth through portal additions of safety Josh Hayes and quarterback Adrian Martinez a season ago, along with first-team All-Big 12 safety Julius Brents in 2021.

The Cowboys lost 18 players to the portal and gained a quarterback in Alan Bowman, several receivers and a potential starting offensive lineman. The ability to pick up heaps of experience in the portal speeds up the rebuild process, which in turn contributes to the parity.

“Recruiting is never ending. The transfer portal is never ending,” said Kansas State coach Chris Klieman. “There’s so many players switching teams, so you’re always going to have increased parity.”

TCU lost a lot after its huge 2022 season. Heisman runner-up Max Duggan is gone, along with seven other Horned Frogs who were selected in the NFL Draft. They have a lot to replace, as do the Cowboys.

Recent history in the

Big 12 suggests that teams can come out of nowhere to the top of the conference. Though OSU ended on a low note in 2022 and had a pile of question marks and unknowns heading into the offseason, it’s hard to count anyone out of conference contention.

“I’m not sure how anybody really comes up with who’s a favorite right now,” Gundy said. “I think one of the fun things about the Big 12 is we don’t really know who’s going to win based on what’s happened in the last few years.” sports.ed@ocolly.com

Gundy wants to revamp run game, avoid 2022 repeat

Wilson missed time with a lower leg injury, forcing additional shuffling on an offensive line that was already missing Cole Birmingham and periodically other starts along the front.

Gundy said although that could have just been a bad hand his team was dealt, the offense still needs to be better. That means revamping the run game.

Gundy’s fiery Bedlam Thoughts

conference realignment is there. It’s probably still going on. Wherever we all end up and whatever schedule they give us to play, we all play it and do the best we can.”

When OSU’s 2022 football season fell apart down the stretch, there were several places to point a finger.

Quarterback Spencer Sanders was less than 100% for much of the season. Freshmen Gunnar Gundy and Garret Rangel had to fill in earlier than Gundy would have liked. The defense was often leaky and allowed 215 rushing yards a game over the final eight games.

But Gundy pinpointed another major factor.

“We could have played better down the stretch if we had the ability to rush the football,” he said. “But we didn’t, so that’s what we get.”

The Cowboys averaged less than 93 rushing yards in their final six games, making the offense virtually onedimensional. At center, Preston

“We need to be as balanced as possible, in my opinion,”

Gundy said.

That begins with getting the offensive line back up and running. In the offseason, the Cowboys added 6-foot-7, 310-pound offensive lineman Dalton Cooper from Texas State to do just that. Cooper started 36 games at left tackle for the Bobcats and was ranked as the fourth-best lineman in the Sun Belt Conference in 2022.

He enters as Eli Russ – one of Wilson’s backups at center, who transferred after playing in nine games last season – left in the spring. After Cooper’s transition to Stillwater in April, left tackle Caleb Etienne, who started all 13 games last year, also departed.

Wilson said he and his team have committed to recovering and keeping their bodies healthy and prepared this offseason.

“My body is feeling great. Ultimately, it’ the best it’s ever been,” Wilson said. “I did a lot of recovery stuff this offseason. Honestly, did some stem cell injections, bone marrow in my hip… did a lot of yoga this offseason, as well. That’s something I became very committed to.”

The recovery efforts revealed great results, and Wilson said his flexibility is back and he’s the most pain-free he’s ever been, which bodes well for a refreshed offensive approach.

Gundy wants to place more emphasis on the run game – something the Cowboys have traditionally relied on – to avoid a repeat of last year. It was tough for him to watch the offense slide. If all else fails, he wants the run game to be there and ready.

A lesson learned from a season ago.

“I learned not to put myself in that situation again,” Gundy said. sports.ed@ocolly.com

Ashton Slaughter Assistant Sports Editor

ARLINGTON, Texas – Well, Mike Gundy made his point abundantly clear again.

During Big 12 Media Days Wednesday afternoon, the OSU coach sounded off on rival Oklahoma heading to the Big 12, which was prompted by talk and questions of the final Bedlam matchup this fall.

“The Bedlam game is over because Oklahoma chose to leave the Big 12, period,” Gundy said. “It’s got nothing to do with Oklahoma State.

“Do I like that? No.

Do I like that conferences have broken up in the past? No, I don’t. But I also know that we have to control what we can control, which is sports.ed@ocolly.com

When the announcement of OU and Texas exiting the Big 12 came out, panic ensued. Now, though, a new TV deal and four new schools has the conference in a prime position to remain relevant despite the two powerhouses departing.

Like the Big 12, Gundy is just going to keep trucking on, with or without OU.

“Oklahoma State is not going to change what we do because Oklahoma chose to go to the SEC. They need to change what they do because they’re the ones that made their mind up to go to the SEC. So with all the talk from administration and people saying that Oklahoma State needs to do this and that, all Oklahoma had to do was not go to the SEC. So it is what it is,” Gundy said.

“As we look forward, we will continue to innovate, create and positively disrupt, living at the intersections of culture, sports and business,” Yormark said. “I am very happy with the progress we have made to date, but not satisfied. There’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Yormark seems to always be thinking about the future, and he said the conference has a plan to expand. He said that he didn’t want to disclose the information on that plan, but said he wants to pursue it sooner rather than later.

Mohajir and other athletic directors said he pushes them to think outside the box and to think differently from other schools. It’s all part of the Big 12’s transition to focus on the entertainment and business side of the conference.

“His (leadership) has been great and I’ll tell you why, because he comes in with a non-traditional athletic background,” said Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor. “He’s made us (ath- letic director’s) think outside the box, which I love, it challenges me as an AD, it challenges us all. It’s been fun learning from him because he comes from such a different background, he knows what he doesn’t know, he understands that he doesn’t understand all the nuances of college athletics, but he pushes us to think differently.”

Name, image and likeness is at the forefront of the landscape change in college athletics, alongside the transfer portal and conference realignment. Sometimes, it’s helpful to think differently from others when making decisions on items not well regulated, like NIL.

When others zig, Yormark zags. That’s what Big 12 officials like about their commissioner.

“During this extreme change in the world of college athletics, he’s the right person at the right time,” said Cincinnati athletic director John Cunningham. “Because he’s thinking outside the box, he’s thinking about revenue, revenue generation, how that will help the students, how it will match up with all the change going on. So, there’s nothing about him that’s the ordinary way of doing things. We can teach him all of that, but what he does is he’s pushing us forward.”