Welcome to the solid verbal ull that.

For me, I'm a man, I'm forty.

I've heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy.

You want to be happy for a day?

Ato Steak is that whoo whoo?

And them and tie.

Welcome back to the solid verbal boys and girls.

My name is Ty hildenbra had that fine gentleman over there, back with me once more, Dan Rubinstein?

Is it summer?

Is its spring?

Is it winter?

What season are you currently experiencing in the heart of the Midwest, Chicago, Illinois.

I'm too dumb to know, Ty, I think we're in the middle of spring now.

It's snowed on Monday, though, which was it was hit eighty last week and snowed on Monday.

I guess.

Welcome to the Midwest, everybody.

I'm all right, Ty, I am excited to talk about TCU.

I've been excited to talk about all of these things, you know, in terms of the year one debriefs, all of these teams, just because we now have the ability to say, Okay, here's what happened, here's how I feel, and based on what we've seen, here are my thoughts on what could happen in the short and long term, and they're among these teams.

There was a lot of excitement, there was a lot of disappointment, there was a lot in between.

TCU unprecedented.

I don't know how to describe their year one debrief beyond well.

This escalated quickly and very excited.

Of course, to speak with Parker Fleming our guests from you know, he contributed to Frogs of War college football grafts, you know, a lot of advanced stats on the college and NFL level, but has a big TCU background.

It's going to be interesting to parse out exactly how we all should feel and VIEWTCU.

I've struggled with my TCU feelings for a good long time.

Then that's true.

You know that where I stand on TCU.

I was for them before I was against them.

Then we sort of got back together, then we broke up, and then midway through the year last year, I was afraid to jump onto the bandwagon because I didn't want to and I want Jakes.

I still got that superstitious quality to me and I don't want to Jake some I don't want to Jinxmax stug him.

Because it was a cool story and it was a great year.

Look I mean to get to the playoff, to win a playoff game, to get to the national championship against Georgia.

Obviously that could have gone better, but alas, just making it I think was a huge accomplishment for Sunny Dikes in year one.

No less so, as you said, we've been doing these year one debriefs, this is our final year one debrief.

We've perhaps saved the best for a last we need to unpack some of this Sunny Dike's business a little bit, figure out exactly how he quote unquote rebooted things as quickly as he did.

What is now the new expectation within the program for where things go from here?

Because it's very easy to get out over your skis right after one incredible season like the one they had in twenty two, and let's just talk moving forward, bigger picture recruiting.

Where is this program at after again a really remarkable run?

Yeah, oh I agree?

And what does the future hold for Sunny Dykes's hoodie selection?

Which was right, that's right, Christine last year the hypnotad Look, he was just an a plus.

You know, forget coaching and recruiting and building a staff.

The taste in hoodies I mean chef's kiss from me.

Mah, come on TI.

So now, I don't think we're gonna waste our time asking about hoodies with Parker.

But no, I have my own TCU thoughts.

I'm sure you have yours.

You're you're emotional about TCU over these years, You're you're fraught with all these things.

But should we just get to Parker to discuss all things TCU?

You think?

I would love to.

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Dan shall we dive in And with that, it is my pleasure to welcome onto the show for the first time, Parker Fleming aka stats Oh war Aka.

I just learned this time Banksy the elusive British street artist.

Did you know?

I didn't know this now.

I don't often recommend that people watch our shows instead of listening.

I think it's their choice, however they want to consume the show be a YouTuber podcast.

But you are missing out, friends, if you are not seeing this wonderful beard that Parker is sporting.

Parker, how you doing today?

I'm doing great, y'all.

Thank you, and honestly I told you that Banksy thing and confidence I feel to start off the show.

It's a big thing for us because then it'll drive people to subscribe if they can see.

And I don't know.

I think we're just taking advantage of you, and you know what, I feel okay with it because I also want to take advantage of your TCU Horned Frog knowledge.

Ty.

That's what's called a pro transition.

Yes, very very good.

I wanted to start off this conversation in this same manner as we started off so many the other ones.

All Right, the first question that I've been asking people is a through f grade the coaches for a season.

I think it's pretty obvious that Sunny Dykes was an A.

He was fifty eight points away from the highest possible grade last season, So we can assume an A and we can talk about why that came their fruition.

Where I wanted to start, though, was just lay the groundwork for us a little bit the end of the Gary Patterson era.

Let's start the conversation there.

The guy's got a statue on campus, Parker.

It is really hard to break up with guys who have their own statues, So obviously it to a point of diminishing returns over the span of a couple of seasons with Patterson.

Can you give us a sense for what happened towards the end, what led to that resignation, what led us to this spot where now we got to pick a new coach in Fort Worth.

Yeah, so I started this kind of had this conversation a lot over the last year, obviously with you know how well tc season went, And I start this conversation every time saying I have nothing but the utmost respect for Gary Patterson.

He's one of the all time college football coaches and program builders, and what he did with TCU is perhaps unparalleled in the history of college football.

Just taking them from a random nobody school to you know, multiple times BCS Buster Playoff contender, and that's extremely impressive.

That being said, in his later years, it did appear the focus became more so on a certain win total that was kind of a career horizon and less perhaps optimizing, mostly because that optimizing on a year to year basis would make some hard choices about personnel where he would have to turn over and say, guys that have been loyal to me and been with me for a long time, I think firing you right now it would be a really bad thing for what I want to do.

So it did look like he thought he was going to be able to hit that wind total and kind of transition out out into the sunset.

That timeline didn't work out.

They really couldn't figure out a way to modernize the offense.

The offensive line play and recruitment pipeline especially was really, really, really messed up, and as we know, it's really hard to get out of an offensive line hole, and so they weren't able to do the work to kind of even set the offense up to run a competent offense.

There Over the time optimizing, and so I think that it just became a matter of the day to day running of a program, Gary Patterson just wasn't able to do that at the level he had done in the past, and there needed to be a change.

Obviously, that was there's some bad blood there a little bit.

But you know, he went to Texas.

He's not at Texas anymore.

He's back and forth.

Maybe there's a little bit of reconciliation again, like you said, the guy has a statue, so hopefully he can kind of come back and be that figurehead.

But it did become a clear that in the day to day business of running a highly competitive college football team, parallel with the resources TCU had, he just wasn't able to do that anymore.

What I find interesting is, as soon as the job came open, Parker, it was like Sunny Dyke's to lose.

It was just assumed that he was going to be the guy.

I'm curious how you felt about that at the time, because in retrospect we know it worked out.

But it's not like this guy was Nick Saban, right.

He had a familiarity with Texas, which was important, had a reputation for building good offenses, which TCU was clearly in need of.

But he won one Bowl game in twelve seasons as a head coach.

Maybe some qualifiers there as to why, but it didn't seem like, at least on the surface, this was so sure of a thing, and to.

Be frank, the jury still out.

He took over a team that was super experienced, brought back more returning production than almost anyone in the country, had guys that had played together for a while.

And yes, he brought in some key transfers and did some things to kind of write the ship in terms of vibes, but TBD, like, we don't know if this is a flash in the pan.

I think that a lot of TCU fans kind of had him pegged as a name from when he was at TCU before SMU.

You know, he came and was a special assistant, and he and Gary Patterson got along.

That seemed like a natural kind of passing of the baton.

I don't think we knew the timeline.

But.

I mean we heard Tonny Diyke's wife was looking at houses in November and for Worth, so like it was kind of we kind of knew where this was going.

And I think that at the time there were some concerns about potentially looking at a national search as opposed to just handing it to the guy across the metroplex who kind of seemed next in line.

Certainly with without going all the way down this rabbit hole, there have been concerns about the people that he've brought he's brought on with his staff, and kind of where they've been historically in the landscape of college football in Texas.

But it does seem like he is well suited to use the resources that TCU has to maximize TCU's potential, which is really important because tc is going to be a team that has to punch above their weight, right.

They have to know they're enrollments small, they have to be able to kind of keep up with the big boys.

And at SMU, he really felt like they didn't have the resources that he needed.

He was asking for him, they weren't really providing them.

And at TCU he kind of has everything at his disposal.

So I think that he's demonstrated when circumstances are right, when the team's at the top of the development cycle, he can put his team in the position to take advantage of a few breaks and compete for a national championship, which can't be said, of every college football coach in the nation, what.

Was his specific strength last year?

Obviously, inheriting a roster is nothing he can control necessarily, but his specific strength for a team that returned what they returned.

Was it a cultural thing?

Was it a demeanor thing?

Obviously this is a team who found themselves in a number of precarious situations over the course of the season at halftimes and fourth quarters, in overtime, et cetera.

What was it about his specific.

I guess fingerprints on the program that that was so different from the Gary Patterson earra.

I think there's three key things.

One one the vibes, which I'll explain, two halftime halftime adjustments, and three the transfer portal.

I think he did all three of those things very very well in year one, and in terms of controlling what he can control, those three things are really important.

So first vibes.

He opened a spring practice.

A lot of TCU fans kind of felt beleaguered by the secrecy and kind of the walls around the program, and Sunny Dyke said, it's okay to be a TCU fan.

Come on, let's have fun.

He did an interview with you know, Barstool and all these people stuff that you would have never imagined TCU's head coach doing so opened up media access.

I think absolutely that contributed to getting Max Duggan to the Heisman ceremony, just that you know, all of their memes and embracing Robert Griffin and getting all the airtime because of that, and that that wasn't the case at TCU, and I think nationally that really helped TC's perspective.

Second halftime adjustments.

You look at the leads that they had, the comebacks that they made all season.

He hired guys in Garrett Riley and in Joe Gillespie and said, you know football, you know the vision we want to enact.

I'm going to trust you, and we're also going to hold that with an open hand.

We're going to say if something's not working, let's switch it.

And again, a lot of people felt like kind of in the past that there's a little bit more normative commitment to a certain way of playing football.

The phrase win by one still invokes some kind of flashbacks of terror for TCU fans, and they're saying, no, we're going to do whatever it takes to win.

You look at the difference there are multiple times where TCU had the ball, you know, two minutes, one and a half minute in the first half, and they tried to score the SMU game perfect example.

In the past, the TCU teams would not have had that ruthlessness of let's maximize every moment.

They would have said, no, let's be conservative, let's kind of take what's there.

So that change, along with the halftime adjustments, I think was really really good for them.

Lastly, you look at the transfer portal.

I mean, you can't imagine this team about Mark Perry, kind of the run stopping safety who led the team in tackles last year.

Him and a couple other guys just came in, plugged a hole, Jared Wiley, the tight end who could block and catch.

Alan Alie the center from SMU, who shored up an interior offensive line who had just been terrible.

You know.

He brought in guys at key positions, kind of bottlenecks that were keeping TCU back from success, identified those and then hitting really well on the guys he brought in.

And so those three things I think are really really what he did in year one that kind of maximized TCU's potential and set them up to again.

They got breaks, right, they got breaks all season.

But if you're not set up to take advantage of those breaks, you're not going to have the kind of season the TCU had last year.

Upon further reflection, how do you feel about what the defense did?

Obviously an amount of attention, a huge amount of attention will go to the Max dug and evolution ending up as a Heisman finalist.

Quinn Johnston all the firepower on offense.

I think we saw this TCU defense peak and correct me if I'm wrong, probably with the Texas game with you know, game day in town on the road and just I don't think Texas scored an offensive touchdown in that game.

It was a fumble return at the end.

What was it about the defense when it was clicking?

And is this something that you see as a first step towards a more balanced team or was it as you mentioned, the transfers, the upper classmen and it was, you know, the right defense at the right time.

The defense definitely struggled early on, you know, with the SMU game and giving up a lot of points there and even to Kansas where there was just a lot of stuff they hadn't seen and then later down the road you look at the total points, you know, twenty four to Texas Tech, twenty eight to Baylor.

Both of those teams through the kitchen sync at a defense that was in their first year under the defensive coordinator Baylor.

I'm sure you guys saw they did that crazy like the guards kind of did a pirouette almost.

They did this funky running stuff just trying to confuse and poke holes in a defense under a first time defensive coordinator, which makes a lot of sense.

A couple of things happen on the defense that I think are really really important for how to to use defense kind of solidified one.

Don Williams, the big man fifty two, the nose tackle.

TCU moves from a four two five to a three down kind of alignment.

The nose tackle is the most important player.

They lost out on Jackson, player from Tulsa who many thought would come with Joe gilespie and kind of be the anchor of this defense.

Don Williams was seventeen in spring camp this year, comes in contributes plays in an all you know, an all conference level in the middle there that changes everything.

Tc has not had good interior defensive line play for a while.

Secondly, d Winters and Dylan Horton are both super athletic guys who were kind of playing unnatural positions in the four two five, but they're really smart and so they're able to play well.

This year, Gillespie kind of unlocked that next level by putting d Winters in that rover role right, and he was able to pass covert rush and move back.

And then Dylan Horton, you know, journeyman who's been around and played so hard, really thrived as an edge.

So you had three guys kind of playing positions that really really suited to them and improved.

You also saw a longer athletic leash.

Patterson's defense is I know the play.

I'm going to tell you exactly what to do, and if they if they score on this play, it's because you didn't do what I told you to do right.

And he's great at it.

You know the memes about Gary being sweaty and loud on the sidelines, he's because he's working so hard calling those plays.

Gillespie's a little bit more if then reaction.

I'm going to tell you how to approach this and then you react, and so I think a couple guys.

Bud Clark is a name you'll hear a ton this fall.

I think again, the safety wasn't totally figuring it out in Gary Patterson's offense or defense, but under Gillespie, a little bit more simplified, a little bit more relying on your instincts, and they're able to thrive.

So again, really hard to install a defense such a dramatic change from a four down to a three down like that with the personnel, But by giving some of those guys a chance to get into a position that was a little more natural for them and a little bit more instinctive, they they thrived, and they were timely.

They weren't great, but when you needed to stop, they got to stop.

And that went a long way this year.

And when you look at those close games, so it almost comes to define the TCU season, right, even if it's you know, a score that looks like it wasn't necessarily closing.

With the West Virginia game, you mentioned the Kansas game.

Was it the defense that you were more sure of, the offense that you were more sure of.

We have the slow starts with TCU games.

What was it about Layton games that I guess TCU fans were most worried about and most confident in.

How many players in the nation would you rather have taken a last minute drive than Max Duggan at them?

I mean last year you look at that Kansas State into the game.

He just drove down in sheer force of will, some absurd number of rushing yards on that ninety yard drive and just sacrificing the body.

I think his experience and Sunny Dyke's and Garrett Riley's reliance on him and saying we're going to trust you to make the right throw.

I will say it's a lot easier to make those throws when Quentin Johnston is waiting down downfield and is a big target for you.

So I think absolutely TCU was trusting the offense a lot more and the defense was to win enough to hold on.

Were you shocked by your own confidence in my Max Duggan after just a career marred with like is it good Max dug In week or bad Max dug In week?

Is that wild to think about that?

That was the most confident thing you had in your brain.

Oh, my friends, this is such a deserted victory lap.

I'm absolutely going to take it on your show in front.

Of God and everybody.

From day one, I and my co host Grant mcgalliard over on Purple Theory have been the stanches of Max dug and defenders right, not saying he's the best, not saying that, but saying in twenty nineteen twenty twenty one, they're extenuating circumstances outside his control and that TCU should be able to design an offense that helps them compete at a national level with Max Duggin.

Through thick and then didn't want to bench for Chandler Morris, didn't want to bench him for Stephan Brown, that's a whole other thing, but said you can win with Max Duggin.

And so this year was absolutely delicious to see that come to fruition.

And one I'm happy for him.

Kids stuck around, took took blows, literally had a heart condition, thought he was going to maybe never play football again, and came back and gets the recognition he deserves.

So it is absolutely wild and it is one of the most satisfying football experiences of my life to see him finally reach the potential that he that we thought he could for so long.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news.

But TCU lost in the Championships sixty five to seven.

Has there been in no, they didn't play that, they didn't play that game.

Oh, have another team, totally different situation.

Has there been any fallout to the way that game went down?

I think that the median TCU fan would say that anything that happened in the postseason was just land.

Yeah, Like just for TCU to have a season where they felt good about football for the first time in a couple of years is really really important.

The fallout from that is one I think a lot of people were concerned about, like did TCU actually prep for that game super well?

Because you look at like Garret Riley when off to Clemson, and there were some guys who who set out couldn't like Kendry Miller ended up being heard and not playing, and so there were some questions about that.

But I think that's easily forgotten just because TCU did beat every Big twelve opponent on their on their roster, and I think a lot of TCU fans are pretty grounded about that.

It certainly is not what you want, but I don't think anyone going into that game thought TCU was going to, uh do anything different than get beat sound right, you know the degree, and we hadn't seen Georgia kind of stop.

So I don't think that game specifically did that.

I think that it definitely cast a background for a lot of TCU fans, myself included, to be a little bit skeptical and perhaps frustrated with how TCU replaced Garrett Riley.

And so if you start, you know, one thing on its own is not necessarily bad, but you start adding things up and then it's looking at some guys that left during spring.

There's going to be a returning production.

I think there's a little bit more uncertainty than if they had gone and lost you thirty four to seventeen or something in that.

In that game, well, you know, the risk for Sunny Dykes, of course, is being a victim of his own success now, because it's extremely hard to top what they did in his first season in twenty twenty two.

Do you feel like, as a as a TCU fan, did the success that the horn Frogs had last season almost recalibrate what expectations are moving forward or are fans grounded enough to the extent that they're still viewing last season as potentially a one off, potentially a flash in the pan type year.

Well, I'm yeah, I don't know how grounded fans are generally.

People definitely let their let their expectations run wild, I said, And I think a lot of us in that we're talking about tc at the time kind of agreed eight and four last year would have been an amazing season.

Yeah, and TCU was four and one and one score games those very easily could have gone the other way.

And so those that you know, the narrowness of the margin kind of thet so the season certainly keeps that in check.

I also think that more people are kind of getting in tune to this idea that the development cycles of the Big twelve are pretty unique in college football.

You look at Iowa State, you look at Baylor, you look at Oklahoma State last year, you look at TCU this year.

Somebody's just going to rise to the top every year just because they hit the development cycle at the top of their talent.

It's all coalescing and they get a couple breaks, and so I think you have to understand that when you lose your best players, you get worse.

I don't know if that's a groundbreaking to say.

Again, mostly this is proof concept that Sunny Dykes, when things have all gone right and when the rosters where it needs to be, can manage a team at a high level competing for a national championship, which you can't save every coach.

There are still questions to be answered about whether he can create the conditions for the roster to be where it needs.

To be right.

Well, that's actually a great segue into my next question about recruiting, because if you think about it right, teams like Georgia and Alabama are already sort of at terminal velocity when it comes to you can win a national championship, you can win a playoff game.

It's hard to boost those recruiting efforts more than they're already boosted.

They're already recruiting at such an elite level.

But TCU getting to the championship in the manner that they did first year under a new coach, that's a program changing type of event type of thing.

Are they using that boost to their advantage on the trail?

Are they using it in the manner that they should?

How are they taking advantage of like this newfound success on the recruiting trail.

Well, they certainly have the access to talent that a lot of their teams teams don't, and they've used it well.

They've been you know, the Big Twelve.

You look at team talent composite has been Oklahoma, Texas little gap, TCU big gap everyone else.

And so under Gary Patterson, they were still doing a good job of a massing talent in the Big twelve, especially in the air of the transfer portal that faltered a little bit.

They were out of the top five I think two times in the last four years, which under Gary Patterson was kind of unprecedented.

And so Sunnydecks is riding the ship.

They're going and getting athletic guys.

They are also doing a little bit of roster churn, I think as you saw Jordan Hudson, who was supposed to be I think on three at one point had him as a five star.

Maybe rivals did, receiver didn't really get involved last year, he kind of left.

The fit wasn't necessarily there.

They're doing a little bit of roster churn, but they're certainly able to attract talent.

I think the big difference for Sunny Dyke's and his kind of TCU going forward is with so much talent in Texas, TCU becomes a place where you can say to guys like Jojo Earl, for instance, come home a little closer to things.

Let's let's get a fresh start.

Look what I've done in the transfer portal.

I mean, how many quarterbacks from Texas as Sunny Dyke's turned trash to treasure right and had the ability to do that.

And so I'm interested to see what he can do with the transfer portal as well as maintaining that kind of top twenty, top twenty five consistent year in year, year out class.

I don't know that after you know the Rose Bowl and twenty fourteen that there, you know TCU isn't isn't as weird.

People when I went to school at TCU thought I went to the University of Tennessee Chattanooga or something.

Didn't know what it was at all.

TCU is certainly a national brand, and so it doesn't hurt to get in front of that with that, But in terms of a recruiting bump, I think it's a little bit more of a recruiting ballast.

It just helps you continue that momentum and makes you a little bit more attractive for those all important transfers.

Do you think this is a staff and a program with the infrastructure too, now that you have the Texas and Oklahoma vacuum in the Big twelve?

Like, is this a a staff and program comprised of recruiting killers?

Is it a priority in the way that it's you know, you mentioned Gary Patterson put together a number of very good classes.

But in this you know twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five, do you get the sense that the aggression is there to match or exceed who they're recruiting against.

I am skeptical of that a little bit, just because TC's lost out on a couple quarterbacks.

I think they really would have liked to have this this offseason, in this cycle.

A couple of guys have flipped.

You look at the you know, there's great guys like Anthony Jones, who is at Memphis.

Comes over, a guy that people like great with Texas.

Paul Gonzalez been there forever, has great relationships with the Texas high schools, gets the dbs into the room, and so I think there are guys that are really really good at a kind of isolating talent building relationships, keeping those pipelines open.

Gillespie, you know, had a couple of guys that were just absolute studs at Tulsa, and so has shown that he can find those guys on the rough.

I think it's different to find a three star who you believe is underrated versus finding multiple four stars and winning those kind of higher, higher recruiting battles.

So we'll see.

Also, you look at the you know, the offensive coordinator that they brought in doesn't necessarily hasn't necessarily recruited the guys that he's been successful with.

So again open question.

He's come in and taken other people's pieces and done okay with it.

Can he kind of build from nothing because because right now, with the turnover that TCU's facing in terms of talent and development cycles, they are going to have to kind of build again.

Do you feel for Chandler Morris the way you felt for Max Duggan.

Are you an early believer?

Do you see the talent, do you see the ability to construct a team around him to win on a national level in that same way?

Or are you withholding judgment for now?

I am a little bit more worried about Chandler Morris's development because he was at a oh you moved here, didn't play meaningful snaps.

I'm just worried he hasn't had enough meaningful snaps to progress along the way he should, which is a similar concern as Max Duggan.

Duggan was a higher rate of recruit than Morris.

I think is important to note again, it felt like that was a very easy oh TCU brought on a guy from Oklahoma.

He should compete for the job.

But I mean, it's not like he's a bad quarterback.

I think he looked really bad in his debut at Colorado before he got injured, a little bit deer in the headlights.

Obviously, the Baylor game will live forever an infamy.

If you go talk to our Baylor friends, however few and far between they may be, they'll tell us that there were some extenuating circumstances about preparation and participation that kind of had they learn a bad spot for that game, And we can't forget he played the Oklahoma State game the next week after and got absolutely demolished.

I think there's some limitations with physical size in terms of what he might do going forward.

He's got it between the ears.

I think he's pretty accurate.

He is about fifty pounds lighter than kJ Jefferson and five or six inches shorter, which if you look at what Arkansas's offense was able to do last year, I don't know how well that translates.

So TCU has a lot of speed.

Morris is definitely a spark plug.

I think there's a world where TCU can compete for a Big twelve championship with Morris at the at the helm, the ceiling is there.

We're talking about medium, most like and most likely outcome.

I'm a little bit more worried about Morris just because of that development has been so stunted, with the instability, the movement around, and that he just hasn't gotten those meaningful reps over the course of his career.

So TCU hits the portal, hopefully to surround Chandler Morris.

Whoever starts a quarterback with new talent, with losing a couple of major pieces offensive skill wise, do you see immediate impact?

Do you you know, wait and see?

You know?

Do they go to LSU, they go to Alabama and these are guys that they bring in that were highly rated recruits that didn't necessarily, you know, see the field that often, or saw the field and then saw less a lesser role.

You mentioned, Jojo Earl, what is the state of the roster post at least second portal swing through the through the country.

They are definitely going to have some questions on the offensive line.

Again, you lose Steve Avila, one of the you know, just just an awesome offensive interier offensive line at presence for a while.

And when you lose your best players Quinton Johnson, Darius Davis, tay Barbart, You're gonna get worse.

That's just how it's gonna happen.

I think they'll rely on Jared Wiley a little bit more in the in the intermediate passing game.

As for additions, Jojo Earl thinks ceilings very high.

We don't know what he is.

We don't know if he's healthy.

Tommy Brockmeyer tackle could show up that offensive line.

Is he going to be able to be healthy?

Is he back where he needs to be in terms of game readiness.

One guy that I'm really intrigued by that I think a lot of folks will maybe maybe not seen as sexy on the on the face, John Paul Richardson from Oklahoma State.

I think that he really got pegged as a number one receiver.

He got a lot of pressure, had a lot of gravity, and that's just not the kind of receiver he is.

And TCU's offense, they should be able to spread things out a little bit more, have a little bit more attention otherwise, and and JPR could be very, very very good in that role.

And when you talk about replacing Quentin Johnston, you look to a guy like Savvion Williams had a little bit of trouble with his hands in the past, but has the build and the experience to potentially have a very good receiving season.

So they're going to turn over some of those guys, but I you know, the the other big loss is going to be Kendre Miller, who's going to fill in?

There?

Is that going to be a Monty Bailey Trent battle in the backfield?

There just a lot of question marks.

I think TCU has a very high ceiling this year, but I think their volatility, their uncertainty is a lot higher than was last year.

So a lot of these guys you could talk yourself into, yes, the inside slot, you put Earle on the left, you put Richardson on the right, you run Mesh thirty times a game, you're gonna you're gonna score some points.

Can they do that consistently?

Can they adjust?

Can they counter punch?

Especially with the new offensive coordinator.

I think they've done a decent job kind of addressing some of those issues.

But if the interior offensive line is as bad as it looked in the spring game, and if the quarterback play is not what it what it should be, a lot of that's going to be moved.

All these things are dependent on each other.

Obviously, Whose offense was it last year?

Whose offense is it this year?

Last year it was Max Duggins offense, even though it was really Quinton Johnson's offense just because Max was not running as much.

But I think it really was Max Duggan's offense.

This year things are going well.

I think it's Savvy on Williams offense.

Uh yeah, yeah.

I more meant like, was it Sunny Dikes's offense versus Scare Riley?

Here?

Is it Sonny Dikes's offense or Kendall Briles's offense?

Right?

Who is it?

You know, the Dike's offense with Brile's elements.

Was it?

Last year?

Gart Riley's really like coming to fruition as a play called who who is the Mastermind?

Or who was?

And who is great?

That felt like a very hot takey question.

So I'm glad I.

Came off that way.

No, all good, all good.

Yes.

So last year it was Garret Rally's offense.

I think if you've studied Lincoln Riley, do you study Gary Riley, you know what they you know what they're they're running, the you know, the staying, the drag, the leak, all that stuff like that.

That touchdown the Quintin Johnson scored against Michigan was the most classic Lincoln Riley play I've ever seen in my time.

Like it was the wide receiver drag almost with the line of scrimmage completely open, and then sprints away.

And so I think that what happened is Garrett Riley had the play sheet, and Sunny Dike's advised at times and said maybe we do this, maybe we do this, but but Garret Riley was fully in control.

I expect that to continue, uh to continue this year as well.

I expect the offensive Corninator to kind of take over and Dikes to be more more advisory.

I believe that Sunny Diykes is shaping himself to be kind of one of the modern GM style coaches where he's not going to call plays, He's going to be overseeing things while the offense is talking or running plays, talking whatever.

He's going to be talking to other players and kind of managing all around as well.

So I don't think that Dykes will be any more involved in the offense, which could mean that TC's offense looks dramatically different given you know what Arkansas did last year and what Garrett Riley he was prone to do last year as well.

You're projecting, I think, cautious optimism with regard to the new cycle of offensive skill players.

But you also mentioned playmakers on all three levels.

On defense, and is there a position group?

Is there an area of the field that you have as much concern about on defense as you seem to have with the interior offensive line?

Well, the Linebuckers is going to be hard to lose a guy like de Winters, right Like that's I mean, you just have a guy who's kind of your quote unquot quarterback and a guy who really really kind of inspired the team at times.

There are some guys who play really good roles you look at like Aid Kamara and that kind of safety linebacker role, and then Mark Perry will come back.

How they replaced the linebackers is going to be the biggest issue.

That was a position group that was hurt, that was just extremely hurt last year.

Johnny Hodges went down and guys you'd almost never heard of were playing stepping out, but still not ideal situations.

There are some there are some question marks in that group that have to hit their absolute top ceiling for this game.

This team to roll.

Marcel Brooks haven't heard from him in a little bit.

Shad Banks again a star in that twenty twenty one Baylor game but hasn't really made those plays since, and some other guys who have gotten some experience.

But I think that the linebacker position is just going to be super important for how TCU wants to kind of restore the balance.

Don Williams comes back there, They've got Josh Newton out at corner and so have some anchor points.

And again Perry there as kind of your run stopper in the safety.

But the linebacker position is the biggest worry for me in the defense.

TC's run defense was abysmal in twenty twenty one.

It was just bad in twenty twenty two.

Can they take that step to make it good enough to give the offense a little bit more breathing room so we're not kicking a field goal with zero seconds left on the clock to try and win a team that you should probably handily beat.

Parker.

How does TCU see itself in the remodeled version of the Big Twelve because the conference.

Top dog, top dog, top frog, I mean, look, the top rog.

Sure, the conference is weirdly in a very stable place.

Despite much of the narrative before Brett or Mark got there and the Pac twelve started its METEA orites negotiations and whatnot, it seems like they're in a pretty good spot.

And though it sucks to have Oklahoma and Texas leave the conference, that does create a bit of a vacuum at the top, or at least the perceived top TCU was there this year got to the championship.

Not to ask the same question over and over again about expectations moving forward, but it has to at least reshape how the fan base views the team, how the team itself, the program itself fits in or feels it fits into this.

I don't know broader conversation about the Big Twelve in college football?

Have you given much thought to that?

Yes, I think there's a lot of uncertainty about what the conference is going to look like going forward, and obviously, you know, Chris Climate at Kansas State is building really solid foundations.

I think they have the opportunity to perhaps make the biggest leap in terms of being there at the top of the conference.

I think in the new Big Twelve, given that we have schedule and balance now, and given that there's so many more teams and talent is dispersed, I don't think we'll see a team go to the Big Twelve championships seven years in a row like Oklahoma did, and this year and last year we're kind of the first inklings of what that might look like.

The teams that get to the top are the ones who you know, have the talent there and the schedule breaks in their favor.

They have the five home games instead of four and all that.

But TCU is concerned, I think is the floor.

If TCU's floor is more so that five and four, four and five, you know, absolute worst season is you're four and five and Big Twelve play.

That's that's going to be a market step from kind of where they were.

You're still going to bounce up and down.

I don't expect TCU to be in the Big Twelve championship game every year, but I expect them to be, you know, saying more often than not, darn.

If one or two things had gone differently, I really feel like we could have competed for that and been in that game.

That will be a much higher floor.

So when I say TCU top dog, I think they have facilities that are as good as, if not better than anyone else.

They have, you know, access to the Texas talent, and they have some really good branding things going on that that I think recruits like and are active there.

And with the history of recruiting and the history of performance of TCU, I think they expect to be the, if not the one of the two to three premier teams of the new Big Twelve.

The schedule this year looks backloaded.

They will have I think ample opportunity early to try and figure out what their new rhymes and rhythms are, but to close out the season on the road at case date, on the road at Texas Tech, Texas Baylor, Oklahoma on the road.

That's a really tough stretch.

Parker.

It's hard to envision another Cinderella season like the one we saw last year.

What is a reasonable expectation for you as you project forward into twenty three.

Yeah, so I have not done win totals, but it definitely will be something that is hard for TCU to reconcile with.

I think having a much better record in the first eight games of the season and then they have to buy and then the last four.

I'm going to stick with my with my eight and four being a pretty good season for TCU this year.

That's a reduction of five winn or four wins in the regular season and not ideal, but certainly means hey, even with the turnover, we can beat the teams that were more talented than tc wasn't doing that in passing the Bowl in twenty nineteen, and with the season in twenty twenty one being so abysmal, If they can beat teams that they are more talented than, I think that that establishes their floors pretty high.

Eight and four again a pretty good season.

Maybe maybe sprinkle in there.

Don't get embarrassed by Colorado on Game one.

Just don't just don't make that mistake, and I think there's a lot longer leash.

I am interested to see how they handle kind of the grind.

You look at how much of a factor injuries played in the Big Twelve Last year, TCU has a buye on October twenty eighth.

They normally have like a week four by and then play.

Last year, they played ten straight games, which makes their undefeated season that much crazier because they were able to, you know, sustain that weekend and week out with a later buy I wonder if they get a little bit more of a breather before they go through that gauntlet.

But make no mistake, they absolutely have a gauntlet at the end of the season.

That's going to be really, really hard to sustain any kind of level of performance that they did over the first you know, eight games.

Parker, My final question, our final question is, you know, we live in a chaotic world.

We live in a turbulent time, and so one of the nice things to have is something that we can count on, something we can look forward to, something we can just pencil in as being automatic.

TCU does not have a Texas win on its schedule after this year, and that's just.

One of those things that we could count on.

You just you look at a schedule like, well, tc is going to be Texas.

TCU doesn't have any receivers, they don't have any defensive lineman, still going to beat Texas.

Are you going to miss that sort of automatic element of your fall?

I certainly am, you know, inso much as we're looking at them this fall, I think we saw you know, TCU beat Texas a lot early in the Big Twelve.

They used to do it on Thanksgiving.

Texas got tired of losing on Thanksgiving, they moved that game off of that.

Texas got tired of losing a TCU they you know, get rid of that game.

I think that that is a little bit sad and kind of feel like, all right, the you know, the new era is here, and it is different to have you know, s Houston on your on your schedule and think that's actually a pretty good rivalry.

That's kind of fun.

That's that's something you should get behind.

I think it does make games like Texas Tech Baylor uh more more important as as well.

So going forward, it'll be interesting to see kind of how the new four teams and the rivalries happen.

A lot of people forget TCU and b YU was kind of nasty for a couple of years.

Yeah, I think that's something that potentially TCU fans will be really excited about playing and winning.

Parker Fleming stats A war on Twitter.

Where else can folks find your work?

That is the best place right now.

The bet US College Football Show will be kicking things off again this summer.

You can find that on YouTube and I'll shout out to go follow Sooomer Sports doing some more stuff on the the NFL side of things, but a lot of cool interesting information.

I'm tweeting and posting over there as well for for for those guys.

So those are the best places to find me.

Love it wonderful.

Thank you so much for your time for your wisdom.

We will definitely touch base at some point in the future as things get rolling here.

Tc you with the follow up campaign for Sunny Dykes.

Thanks guys.

There you go, Dan Parker Fleming Stats O war.

Yeah, big stats build in a lot of blanks for me, did he?

Oh?

Absolutely?

Just in terms of where this.

Team is right now, strengths, weaknesses, expectations where things went right and wrong last season.

Who's responsible for pulling those intellectual puppet strings.

So fascinating to me TCU, just because what they did again unprecedented to go from the team they were twenty twenty, twenty twenty one into what they were able to do, especially laden games.

When you look at the Baylor game, you look at the Oklahoma State game, you look at the Texas game, the Kansas game.

Right that.

I'm always crazy impressed by teams who are just prepared to win at the end of game.

And I mean, they don't do it every week, but there's a sense of this is who we are when there's thirty seven seconds left, this is what we are going to turn to, this is why we expect to succeed.

And ninety four percent of teams don't generally have that and TCU immediately did last year, which again crazy impressive to me.

Yeah.

I said this in the throes of it all last year.

Yeah, I'll say it again.

The thing that I found most interesting about TCU season was it was mostly the same guys as the year before.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was a lot of the same guys and portal help, portal help shore.

I mean, it wasn't the exact same cast of characters, but enough returning presence that both I think Sunny Dyke's could find challenging as well as something that could be a bit of the wind at his back right.

This was a core of guys that knew each other really well.

This is a core of guys that played hard despite the fact that there were diminishing returns under Gary Patterson.

It's also really hard if you're a first year guy, because they're not your players, you didn't recruit them.

You have to try and find a way to organize the troops quickly.

And I recall when we did our previews, I read quotes from Sunny Dyke's talking about he sees it as a like a fifteen to eighteen month process to fully install his system, get his guys in place.

So the fact that he was that far ahead of schedule, obviously it says a lot about him, but it also says a lot about the guys who were still on the team to buy in that quickly.

You know, we throw a buy in around here jokingly to some extent, but truly they did buy in, and they did so very quickly.

I think it just speaks a lot to the character of the coach, of the players.

Who made last season possible with respect to the actual on field product, but made TCU so damn watchable was the big plays.

It was lived by the sword, die by the sword.

But they were really consistent at doing it.

They were really consistent at turning in those big plays or generating those big moments when they needed to the most.

There were plenty of instances last year where they were down and somebody needed to step up and make a play, and they just found them.

They got very good at doing it, and that's part of why I think we second guessed our opinions as we got into playoff time just a little bit with TCU.

Now we thought Georgia would beat him.

I don't think we expected Georgia would beat him that soundly, and we did expect that maybe TCU would give him a game for longer than they did, just because TCU harvested those moments throughout the course of the season.

They got so good at doing it.

They always stepped up when they had to.

They couldn't in the biggest game of the year, But so what the fact that they made it there at all.

Again, just a huge, like a huge shout out to the entire staff for getting things off the ground so quickly and even making it to that game remarkable.

Let me tell you this tisn't a fan of a team who did not expect to be brutalized to a crazy extent by Georgia and then were I.

Can tell you can happen to any of us.

Yeah, of course, of course it can happen to any of us.

Oregans recruited crazy well as it was another first year coach.

But certainly, I mean, I think it's more about Georgia than TCU.

And I know that Parker mentioned, oh did Garret Riley have when I foot out the door?

Was he not paying attention?

I don't know if you get a locked in Garrett Riley a you know, a fully healthy Kendre Miller.

I don't know if we're talking about this as a you know, forty four point loss instead.

It's not pretty.

It's not pretty with the way Georgia played, and you know, they were they almost felt like they were on borrowed time because of how that Ohio State game ended.

That they were especially loose.

They you know, there's just so much deeper and so much more season considering how long Kirby Smart has been in Athens that I think Parker was right in that just getting there to anything that you talk about with the postseason, it's all bonus, it's all gravy.

My question now is I suppose the question that we talked about with Parker, but I just want your thoughts just because again you are so emotionally intertwined with all things TCU Ornfrog weirdly am.

Yeah, you asked the question about like, is Sunny Dyke's going to be a victim of the the own bar that he set his own bar.

It's a fascinating question.

I don't think tc is the same kind of program, the same kind of deal.

That like Michigan did that in year one, or Miami did that in year one.

Notre Dame did that with one.

Notre Dame right, Notre Dame right.

So I think TCU fans are by and large, you know, they're used to the up and down, ups and downs of recent college football fandom.

But at the same time, they are going to expect to beat teams that they should beat.

And it's interesting to me the development cycle element to all of this.

TCU needs to put together and they have not really done it yet.

An incredible twenty twenty four class because it's not necessarily the class that signs, you know, two months or in this case before the national championship whatever.

It's not going to be that class that is reflective of the on field success, but it's going to be those relationships that you you know, foster a year before, two years before.

So then you're talking about twenty four to twenty five coming to fruition with a top fifteen, top twelve type class for tc especially if you're going to be able to sell we are the top dog again top frog in the Big twelve.

But I think the twenty four class should absolutely reflect TCU's now place in the college football universe under Sunny Dykes, and so I think they have like two three stars committed at this moment.

So I'm eager to see.

They didn't sign a quarterback I don't think in this last class, and this year's quarterback class just in general is kind of garbage down, not great after the first one or two guys.

So it's going to be a fascinating thing to see what is TCU able to do in the portal, what are they able to do you know, as you know they're in Texas, right, they should be a team that can can find talent and put together a top fifteen type class that is going to go a long ways to me to say, like, Okay, what do I expect from Sunny Dikes and TCU moving moving forward in the new look Big twelve.

If it's like a top twenty five thirty class, I might start selling on the ability of TCU to be that like top tier Big twelve team.

I don't know who fills the vacuum necessarily, but that would be a disappointing reality if TCU is not able to capitalize on their incredible twenty twenty two.

Well, I look forward to the incredible things Sunny Dyke will do with Malik Murphy when he transfers from Texas.

He thinks, I think he's probably gonna transfer closer to home.

Yeah, okay, look, I look forward to what could happen if he decides to stay in the Great State of Texas.

Well, there was like the Hudson card rumors right that, like TCU seemed like they were going to be the landing spot for like three or four different portal quarterbacks because of the success that Max Duggan had so quickly with Sunny Dikes and just didn't happen.

It just didn't happen.

They ended up elsewhere.

And so that's why I asked him the question about the aggression, like why is why is TCU not bringing in whoever that if the health was there, Brennan, Armstrong, Hudson Card, any of these top flight Devin Leary, Why are these guys not more strongly considering such a quarterback friendly place like TCU appears to be and be heading for the near few.

So that to me gave me like huh, I thought, I figured DZ it would be.

Yeah, that's interesting.

The question about being a victim of your own success is, first off, it's impossible, dancer.

He answered that as best he could.

It's impossible dancer.

But this is where I think it actually benefits TCU that they maybe haven't been on the stage before.

Right, you've heard that expression, act like you've been there before.

TCU hasn't really and that's not intended as a knock.

But the fan base, I think, at least in my limited interaction with the TCU fan base, seems relatively grounded.

You know, sure you often use the expression turning around an aircraft carrier.

If you're a fan of Notre Dame, if you're a fan of Michigan, if you're a fan of Georgia, if you're a fan of Alabama, the aircraft carrier has been going in the direction of national championship for fifty plus years.

You can't turn that around.

You can't be nimble, because that's always the expectation, full stop ru tcusing like a speedboat.

You can turn that thing around on a moment's notice, and I think be reasonable with the expectations, understanding the fact that this maybe was a once in a generation type moment that they found themselves caught up in.

They got to the national championship, but they're not going to jump the gun.

And so this is an.

Instance where it feels like just that flexibility of mindset, if you will, could perhaps benefit not only the fans of the team, but Sunny Dikes as well, and as they try to build this thing to a more sustainable place where they can remain atop the conference, the new look Big twelve conference, you know, for a good long time to come, and not just hit or miss.

How often should TCU in a twelve team playoff world in which we're about to live.

How often should TCU under Sunny Dykes make that twelve team field and have it feel realistic or reasonable?

Once every four years every five say, once.

Every four years feels about right?

Yeah, once once per one cycle like cycle generation.

Yeah, yeah, I think I think that feels.

That feels like an honest place to be.

You know, there will be more bites at the Apple in the twelve team setup, and it will be easier to get in.

It won't be as exclusive a club as it is now, and we may find that some teams make it and they don't deserve to be in it.

But that being said, that will be the new bar by which we grade out coaches.

Are they able to get to that big dance?

Yeah?

I still think the Big twelve is going to have a similar problem that the PAC twelve has.

They're like, look, your champ's going to get in, right, Let's be realistic.

The champ's going to get in, especially with the way it's laid out and it's the top.

However, many conferences like.

They're going to get in.

But then when you look at the at large bits, is the Big twelve going to be seen as favorably.

Is the PAC twelve going to be seen as favorably as the Big ten and the SEC?

Where you're like, okay, toss up.

Is it going to be second place TCU or second place LSU right where I think the conference or second place Washington, second place whoever, Utah in the PAC twelve, We're like.

Well, they seem good, but I don't know if I trust that road.

And so that's the issue to me with these conferences that because at the top there's so much confusion, or there's so much that people probably underestimate traditionally, that it's going to be that much more difficult for a Big twelve or PAC twelve, or maybe to a lesser extent ACC team to get in, just because now the Big ten and the SEC are just so top loaded with premier type programs at the top.

Well, look one way or another, it's very interesting that we're having this conversation at all about TCU.

Definitely, we were in the position to save the quote unquote best for last, and TCU is the topic of discussion because it's very rare in this era of college football that we have new teams about saying.

It's a rare condition in this day and age.

Is that what you're saying a little bit?

Yeah, yeah, okay, just making sure a little bit now my fifth decade of life, as you know.

So do you think so?

Are you you're bullish on TC?

I am.

I think Parker took a very reasoned approach to answering our questions, and I don't think he's jumping the gun.

I think he recognizes that there could have been a little bit of a of a boom or bust with the last season, and we just happen to see all the boom, and that regression frequently happens.

So if we're having this conversation a year from now and we're anywhere close to double digit wins, then two in this case is a very very positive trend.

But I remain bullish.

I like what Sunny Dykes did in year one with other players.

I'm curious to see now as he starts to filter more of his own guys in there, how things look different and some staff turnover, right.

I mean, it's sure it will be a challenge in year two, to say the least.

I don't expect the same level of success, but I didn't last year either.

I'm eager to be pleasantly surprised.

Yeah, I'm gonna use my Baker Mayfield voice here.

I'm a bit worried about TCU in the short and medium term because who's my quarterback now?

Most teams who are considered to be top tier in their conferences, You're like, look, we got our guy for at least this year, and it looks like we have our guy of the future in the fold.

TCU is like squarely in the maybe part of the Venn diagram.

They're maybe in an okay place.

You heard some of the skepticism about Chandler Morris.

I have to go back and watch some more Chandler Morris, even though there's not much tape.

I just the quarterback room right now, and it's it's easy to get better quickly with the portal.

But that to me is just like against the teams with the team that TCU measures itself against, which I now think has been bumped up a tier after last year.

They are not in an amazing place.

Matt Baker Mayfeld voice concerns me a little bit.

It does write in let us know what you think about TCU about really all of the teams that we discussed here over the last couple of weeks.

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Dan next week is Draft weeks, so we got to talk about NFL Draft.

We also need to play catch on college football news.

Spring games, of course are in full swing, got a couple weeks of them in the books already.

More to come this weekend as people listen to this on Thursday.

So much more to discuss in the world of college football.

It does not seem like things have eased up.

One iote it maybe a little bit in the offseason, but we're now fully entrenched in the year round news cycle that is college football, and we eagerly await the opportunity to talk about some new things now, look ahead into next season and for the short term next week.

Yeah.

So I have big thanks to Parker Fleming, our guest of honor.

Make sure you follow him stats oh War on Twitter in the meantime, for that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein, for myself, Ty Hildebrand.

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