The Horned Frogs head coach and quarterback spoke after losing to Bill Belichick's North Carolina Tar Heels 15-10.
TCU opened the 2026 college football season with a fast start, but offered very little late in its 15-10 loss in Dublin, Ireland, to North Carolina.
For UNC, it's revenge over the Horned Frogs for how Bill Belichick's college coaching career began a year ago, and with as many expectations as the Frogs had going into this season, things couldn't have gone much worse.
"This was a disappointing performance," said TCU coach Sonny Dykes, who pointed to his team snapping the ball over the punter's head for a second-quarter safety, 11 team penalties, and going 1 for 5 on fourth down as "mistakes in critical situations."
"I thought our guys really prepared well coming into this game. I'd like to sit here and say that we didn't prepare well, but we did, and I thought our guys were ready to play. When we got into situations ... for whatever reason, didn't make routine plays. Didn't happen tonight."
Harvard transfer Jaden Craig was 20-of-32 passing for the Horned Frogs, who got their lone touchdown from running back Jon Denman in the high-scoring first quarter that was tied at 10 apiece going into the second.
Craig said he "of course" had regrets on his fourth-down scramble in the red zone with an opportunity to take the lead in the fourth quarter. On fourth-and-2, Craig rolled out left and threw an off-balance incompletion into the end zone from the 10-yard line when many thought the yard-to-gain line was within reach on the ground.
"Should've just trusted my eyes and used my legs," Craig said. "That's a critical mistake that I won't make again."
On the previous drive, running back Jeremy Payne, who had totaled 142 yards in the soggy conditions, was stopped on a fourth-and-1 from the five-yard line.
"Looking back now obviously, I wish we had kicked the two field goals, but at the time, it makes sense to try," Dykes reflected. "When you're not moving the football, you've got to try to get the ball in the end zone."
TCU's new-look offense ended its longest-active FBS streak of scoring at least 30 points in each of the last 10 season openers.
"Look, this is going to be a good football team. We're gonna have a good football team - I have no doubt in my mind," Dykes said. "We did not do a good job of playing [and] coaching tonight. We need to do better, and that falls on me. I've got to get these guys ready better. ... Obviously got a lot of things that we gotta get fixed."
