Frogs Hit the Road for Big 12 Opener at UCF
TCU to play in the state of Florida for the first time since 2003
9/24/2026
In its first Big 12 game of 2026, TCU is hitting the road to face UCF on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Acrisure Bounce House.
GAME DAY DETAILS
TCU (2-1) at UCF (2-1)
Saturday, September 26 - 2:30 p.m.
Acrisure Bounce House - Orlando, Florida
Tracking the Game:
Television » FS1 (Dan Hellie and Robert Smith)
Radio Tuning » KZPS 92.5 FM and Sirius XM 271 / Spanish KAMV-FM 107.1-2 and KLNO-FM 94.1-2
Radio Streaming » The Varsity Network App
Live Stats » StatBroadcast
NOTING THE GAME
- In its opening Big 12 contest of the 2026 season, TCU heads to the Acrisure Bounce House to face UCF in the first trip to the Sunshine State for the Horned Frogs since 2003.
- Entering Saturday's game, TCU has won five of its last six Big 12 road openers with three of the last four being double-digit victories for the Frogs.
- This will be the Frogs' first ever trip to UCF and just the second meeting between the two teams all time. With the trip to Orlando, TCU has now played on the road against every member of the current Big 12.
- UCF has just six players on its roster from the state of Texas, with three coming from the DFW Metroplex.
Jaden Craig is at the top of the Big 12 in three stats this season, including pass yards, 300-yard performances and yards per game.
NOTING THE HORNED FROGS
- TCU is in its fifth season under the direction of head coach Sonny Dykes in 2026. The 2022 National Coach of the Year led TCU to 36 wins in his first four seasons, the most by a TCU head coach since Francis Schmidt won 37 from 1929-32.
- Dykes has also led programs at SMU (2018-21), Cal (2013-16), and Louisiana Tech (2010-12). In all four stops, Dykes has guided the program to the postseason, making him one of four active head coaches to take four different schools to a bowl game, joining Butch Jones, Lane Kiffin, and Rich Rodriguez.
- Dykes is also one of eight active head coaches to have appeared in the CFP National Championship game, along with Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, Ryan Day, Marcus Freeman, Kalen DeBoer, Mario Cristobal, and Curt Cignetti. Dykes and Cignetti are the only two coaches in CFP history to take over a losing program and direct them to the CFP in their first season.
- For the first time in three seasons, TCU has a new starting quarterback directing the offense as Harvard transfer Jaden Craig takes the reins. With the Crimson, he became the most accomplished quarterback in program history and left Cambridge with multiple school records. Through three games, Craig has posted numbers that are not only at the top of the conference, but the country. He leads the Big 12 in passing yards (903), 300-yard passing performances (2) and passing average per game (301.0). He has also been successful in passes over 20-yards, leading P4 quarterbacks in passing grade (97.9), completions (11) and passing yards (392).
- The Horned Frogs also have a new offensive play caller in Gordon Sammis. For the past two seasons, Sammis ran the offense at UConn, helping the Huskies post consecutive nine-win seasons for the first time in program history while producing one of the nation's most efficient and explosive offenses. During that span, UConn achieved the program's first-ever 3,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard receiver and 1,000-yard rusher in the same season.
- Conversely, the defense returns a host of familiar names. Along with defensive coordinator Andy Avalos, now in year three, Jamel Johnson enjoyed a breakout campaign as a junior, totaling 96 tackles (second on the team) while posting five interceptions. The interception figure for Johnson ranked first the Big 12 and seventh in the country, while his near triple-digit tackle number was the ninth most in the conference. Up front, Markis Deal, Ansel Din-Mbuh and Paul Oyewale bring a combined 89 games played and 43 starts into the year.
WATCH LIST FROGS
Home to 10 national awards since 2009, the Horned Frogs are no strangers to taking home hardware including the Ted Hendricks Award (Jerry Hughes, 2009), the Rimington Trophy (Jake Kirkpatrick, 2010), the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award (Trevone Boykin, 2014; Max Duggan, 2022), the Jim Thorpe Award (Tre'von Moehrig, 2020; Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson, 2022), the Davey O'Brien and Unitas Golden Army Award (Max Duggan, 2022), and of course, the Heisman Trophy (Davey O'Brien, 1938).
Prior to the 2026 season, eight Frogs earned preseason recognition (listed below).
- Sports Info Solutions Preseason All-Big 12 First Team
- Sports Info Solutions All-America Team
- Sports Info Solutions All-Big 12 First Team
- Senior Bowl Top 300 List
- Allstate AFCA Good Works Team Nominee
- Outland Trophy Watch List
- Wuerffel Trophy Watch List
- Jason Witten Man of the Year Award Watch List
- Sports Info Solutions All-Big 12 Second Team
- Biletnikoff Award Watch List
- Preseason All-Big 12 Team
- Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List
- Paycom Jim Thorpe Award Watch List
- Chuck Bednarik Award Watch List
- Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Watch List
- Outland Trophy Watch List
- Senior Bowl Top 300 List
- Sports Info Solutions All-America Team
- Sports Info Solutions All-Big 12 First Team
