TCU had its first scrimmage of preseason camp and Sonny Dykes revealed some key insights about the Horned Frogs, as their attention shifts to North Carolina in Ireland.
The college football season is drawing closer and for TCU that countdown is one week shorter than most.
The Horned Frogs kick off the slate for the Big 12 and most of the rest of the sport with a rematch date against North Carolina in Dublin, Ireland.
While last year's season-opening meeting between the two brought high levels of anticipation and awareness, mostly due in part to the head coach of the Tar Heels, Bill Belichick, TCU spoiled the festivities with a 42-14 thrashing.
Instead of getting a chance to repeat the outcome in front of their faithful fans in Fort Worth, the Horned Frogs will head out to Aer Lingus Stadium in the so-called Week 0.
Although TCU was undoubtedly the better program a year ago, there are notable differences for both programs. Add on the early deadline and international travel, and there is still a lot that could go wrong for the Horned Frogs.
But head coach Sonny Dykes said the team is not appearing to take things lightly ahead of the opener. The sixth-year leader had encouraging words following the squad's first scrimmage of preseason camp.
"It's been a good camp. It's been really productive...I think it's been the most physical camp we've had around here in a long time," remarked Dykes. "I've been really pleased with those things."
Without the benefit of an extra week of preparations like many of its conference counterparts, the mindset for TCU is quickly shifting to North Carolina.
"We get to really focus on the finer tuning of things, starting to put a game plan together middle of next week and get ready to go to Ireland and play football."
These aforementioned differences for this year's TCU team bring some level of uncertainty, but Dykes explained that it also brings a new identity.
"I think we're a more physical football team. There just seems to be more of a physical mentality and mindset. And that's got to continue."
That goes for the Tar Heels, as well, which throws a slight curve into the Horned Frogs preparations.
"You kind of make assumptions based on this guy played here...there's a lot of guessing is what there is," answered Dykes after being asked how to account for the amount of changes Belichick has made this year.
Despite Dykes and his staff having to guess about what version of the Tar Heels awaits them across the pond, there appear to be no doubts about what this latest group from TCU can accomplish.
