TCU racked up multiple penalties in a disappointing 15-10 loss to North Carolina, but Sonny Dykes felt that part of that was due to the crew officiating the matchup.
TCU had its high hopes of another statement win over Bill Belichick and North Carolina to open the season dashed in an abysmal 15-10 defeat in Ireland.
The Horned Frogs looked dazed and confused to begin their latest campaign, with miscues, penalties and a general lack of tenacity all playing a role in the upset loss to the Tar Heels.
However, head coach Sonny Dykes took issue with another area in the debut from Dublin.
Following the loss, Dykes was asked how he felt TCU could improve on their abundance of uncharacteristic penalties and he was quick to single out the officiating crew.
"Well, I think not have ACC officials for one," remarked Dykes sharply.
There were a few cases of questionable calls against TCU, most notably an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called on running back Jeremy Payne for apparently signaling a first down.
That cost TCU 15 yards after the pickup by Payne, but it was hardly a game-changing decision from the referees.
Outside of that head scratching example, TCU still committed a crushing 11 offenses for a total of 89 yards lost as a result of its blunders.
Although there were some concerns to be raised about the validity of some calls on the field in Dublin, there appears to be a bigger problem on Dykes' hands than just the officials like he initially pointed to.
Granted, Dykes almost immediately provided an answer that addressed more of what the team can do to fix these errors on their own accord.
"We've got to be more disciplined ... I think it was one point in the game where we had lost three consecutive drives to holding penalties, that killed us," said Dykes.
He continued, "Every time we got momentum, we had some kind of penalty."
These observations from Dykes were pretty spot-on, as based on those previously mentioned numbers TCU could not get out of its own way when the Horned Frogs seemed to have the knockout blow ready to swing.
Even on the final true play of the game, the Horned Frogs could not avoid a penalty pitfall after jumping offside on a 4th-and-1 for UNC with 30 seconds to go to hand Belichick and company the victory.
Outside of penalties, Dykes opted twice to go for it on critical fourth downs in the red zone and failed on both, which could have won the game for TCU had it chosen to pick up the two field goals instead.
All of these mistakes combined to produce a measly 10 point performance and one of the most disappointing losses in recent memory for TCU.
While there were talks to be had over the quality of officiating from the ACC crew, it cannot be simply explained away as the sole reason for Dykes and TCU's failures.
