College Football

CFB Top 50, #35: 2025 TCU Horned Frogs

by
Bracket Yard
July 19, 2025

College football is five weeks away, so at number 35 on the CFB Top 50 countdown, it’s the 2025 TCU Horned Frogs.

The Horned Frogs, called the “horny toads” by some of the more frisky amongst us, are coming off of a good season (I swear that was not a pun). In all, TCU won nine games in 2024, capped off by a bowl win. The third season for Sonny Dykes was not quite as good as his first, in which TCU made it to the national championship, but sustaining that level of success is not easy.

With that said, TCU is hoping to maintain some consistency by having another winning season, returning to a bowl game, and perhaps contending in the Big 12. Can they do it?

2025 TCU Horned Frogs Basic Facts

Head Coach: Sonny Dykes (4th season)

2025 Conference: Big 12

2024 Record: 9-4 (6-3)

Final Resolution of Last Season: Won New Mexico Bowl

2024 Scoring Offensive Rank: T-23rd (33.5)

2024 Scoring Defensive Rank: T-62nd (24.6)

TCU Key Additions and Subtractions

IN – Elijah Jackson, cornerback. Transferred from Washington.

IN – Terry Shelton, wide receiver. Four-star recruit from Texas.

OUT – Jack Bech, wide receiver. Drafted by Las Vegas in 2nd round of 2025 Draft.

OUT – Savion Williams, wide receiver. Drafted by Green Bay in 3rd round of 2025 Draft.

Best Game on the Schedule in 2025

October 18 vs. Baylor. This will be the 121st Bluebonnet Battle (hey, don’t look at me, I didn’t name it), and things are usually interesting when these teams meet. TCU has won most of the last ten meetings, but Baylor snuck past them in Waco last year. Both teams are probably going to be decent this season, which means we should get a quality product.

2025 TCU Horned Frogs: Outlook

Josh Hoover will be returning as TCU’s quarterback this season, and given that the Horned Frogs were pretty solid in that department last year, this is good news. In 2024, Hoover threw for almost 4,000 passing yards. The issue is that two top targets, Jack Bech and Savion Williams, will be catching balls in the pros this fall. That’s over 1,600 receiving yards between the two of them that’s now gone, but Hoover has other potential targets, like Eric McAlister and Jordan Dwyer, the latter of whom is a transfer.

Last year’s defense for TCU was just okay. Oddly enough, in the SMU game last season when they allowed 66 points, the defense doesn’t bear as much responsibility as you think it does. TCU turned the ball over five times and had more total yards than the Mustangs. They do still give up a fair number of points, and the strategy in some of these big matchups is to win a slugfest. They can probably do it to an extent, but Hoover will need to remain on-point and some receivers will need to step up to fill shoes that have left for the NFL.

TCU has a tough assignment out of the gate: facing Bill Belichick and North Carolina in a primetime Monday night game. SMU, Arizona State, Colorado, and K-State come up not that much thereafter. TCU will have to be firing right away or they could get left behind, but I think this is a solid team capable of putting together wins.