TCU has plenty of work to do after getting ‘embarrassed’ by SMU

UNIVERSITY PARK — The walk from TCU's sideline at Ford Stadium in Dallas to the locker room was a long one for coach Sonny Dykes .

For the first time in his career, Dykes was ejected from a football game after receiving two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in quick succession during the third quarter of the Horned Frogs' 66-42 loss to rival SMU Saturday night .

"It felt like a long time, a long walk," Dykes said after the game. "One that you never want to make. It's like anything else, I'm 54 years old and I make mistakes and I learn from them and make sure they never happen again."

The night was filled with mistakes as the Horned Frogs (2-2, 0-1 Big 12) were throttled by the Mustangs (3-1) in the 103rd edition of the Battle for the Iron Skillet .

Putting up 42 points and TCU's 480 yards of offense don't do justice to how much the Horned Frogs struggled against the Mustangs.

Every facet of the game leaned the way of SMU .

Outside of forcing a fumble on the second SMU offensive drive and getting the Mustangs to settle for a few field goals, the TCU defense did little to halt their momentum.

A week removed from letting UCF run over them for 289 yards on the ground, the Horned Frogs gave up 238 to the Mustangs.

"We've gotta stop the run. We played two teams that are going to run the football," Dykes said. "We have to get off blocks, play lower, be better at disrupting...I could sit here and list 50 things that we have to do better."

TCU's offensive woes also revolved around the ground game as the Horned Frogs had trouble competing at the line of scrimmage.

After revamping their offensive line and seeing running back Cam Cook's development over the offseason, it appeared the Horned Frogs would operate a solid run game.

Now TCU is four games into the season and Dykes is "surprised" his team hasn't been able to run effectively.

The side effect of that issue is that quarterback Josh Hoover is being asked to do a lot for the offense.

That hasn't been too much of a problem through the first few games, but SMU exploited it and forced the redshirt sophomore's first two interceptions of the season.

"If you can't run it, it puts a lot of pressure on the quarterback," Dykes said. "That's a hard thing for a quarterback to do, go out there and throw the ball 60 times and make 60 great decisions."

Even special teams was a struggle for TCU as it allowed the Mustangs to score on a punt return in the first quarter and when the Horned Frogs began the second half with a kickoff return touchdown, it was called back for a holding penalty.

That call was what set Dykes off and led to his eventual ejection.

When there's problems at every level of the team in a game, Dykes stated that "it all starts with me."

Following a late-game collapse against UCF, TCU will now reckon with just about a complete blowout.

Dykes remains confident in his players, but there's clearly a lot of work to be done in Fort Worth.

"They're disappointed, they're hurt, I think they're embarrassed. I know I am," Dykes said. "But I think they'll respond."