Sonny Dykes stresses importance of ball security after Josh Hoover turnovers, goes viral for perceived jab

TCU coach Sunny Dykes knows ball security is very important in order to maintain a high level of play. After a year where the Horned Frogs turned the ball over ad nauseam, especially with Josh Hoover at quarterback, Dykes stressed the importance of fixing that issue.

However, Dykes’ comments went viral on social media, out of context anyway, when referring to Hoover, who transferred to Indiana this offseason. The head coach wanted to make sure that the turnover issues do not plague his football team in 2026.

With a new offensive coordinator in Gordon Sammis, TCU might have a better shot at taking care of the football. That also includes new quarterback Jaden Craig from Harvard.

“I mean, I think you know that — look, numbers are numbers, and stats are stats. And I think you know, you look for us, and I think Josh started 31 games here as a quarterback, and we turned the ball over 40 – he turned the ball over 42 times in those 31 starts,” Dykes said. “And you go, and you go, and you look at Gordy was the offensive coordinator last year at Connecticut, and their quarterback turned it over twice. And so, you know, I think that’s where we want to get to, you know, you look at the teams that played for a national championship.

“You look at Indiana this year, you know, they were number one in the nation in turnover margin, and they were plus-22 in turnovers, and then number two in fewest penalties. And so that’s what we need to become. You know, we need to be a team that doesn’t turn the ball over.” 

Over the last three seasons, TCU went 5-7, 9-4 and 9-4. Those are the three seasons under Dykes following a run to the national championship game in 2022, finishing as the No. 2 team in the country.

“I felt like the last, you know, three years we’ve turned it over way too much, so we took some steps to address that,” Dykes said. “And, you know, hopefully we can be a team that doesn’t beat ourselves. And I think in college football now, the game has changed, much like it has in the NFL. 

“And rule number one is, don’t beat yourself. And I think that we have to get to that point where we don’t turn the ball over, we don’t have those disastrous games like we have six turnovers against SMU two years ago, or four against Kansas State or Iowa State, things like that. Those bad games need to disappear from us, and if we’ll take better care of the football, hopefully they will.”