TCU opens its 2026 home schedule against 2-0 Grambling State as Sonny Dykes looks for a cleaner offensive performance under the new lights at The Carter.
FORT WORTH - TCU football gets its first home game of the 2026 season Saturday night, and the Horned Frogs badly need it to feel like a reset.
After opening the year 0-1, TCU returns to Amon G. Carter Stadium to face Grambling State, which enters at 2-0. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT, and the matchup will also debut the stadium’s new full-spectrum LED lighting system as part of the “Light Up The Carter” promotion.
The game gives head coach Sonny Dykes and his offense a chance to settle in after a rough season opener.
One of the biggest storylines is new quarterback Jaden Craig, the Harvard transfer who took over the TCU offense this season.
Craig left Harvard as the program’s all-time leader with 6,074 passing yards and 52 touchdown passes, while also setting single-season school records in completions, passing yards and touchdown passes in 2025.
Craig is working with new offensive play caller Gordon Sammis, who arrived after two seasons at UConn.
Sammis helped build one of the more productive offenses in the country there, including a season in which the Huskies produced a 3,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard receiver and 1,000-yard rusher.
That offensive background is a major reason TCU expects more consistency moving forward.
The Horned Frogs also have history on their side in home openers. TCU has scored at least 30 points in each of its last 18 home openers, and the program’s only previous meeting with Grambling State ended in a 56-0 victory.
Defensively, TCU brings back a more experienced core.
Safety Jamel Johnson is coming off a breakout 2025 season in which he recorded 96 tackles and five interceptions.
His interception total led the Big 12 and ranked seventh nationally. Up front, Markis Deal, Ansel Din-Mbuh and Paul Oyewale give the Horned Frogs a veteran group with a combined 89 games played.
Grambling State should provide a different kind of test than TCU faced in its opener, but the Horned Frogs can’t afford to treat this as a simple get-right game.
For Dykes, the priority is obvious ... establish control early, get Craig comfortable, and show that the offense can operate with more rhythm and confidence.
Saturday night is about more than lighting up The Carter.
TCU needs to light up the scoreboard, too.
