Lincoln Riley joins coaches facing major pressure in 2026
Mike Norvell, Luke Fickell and Lincoln Riley lead the list of coaches facing pressure entering the 2026 college football season.
TCU football’s start to the 2026 season hasn’t gone quite to plan.
First, it was safety Jacob Fields being kicked off the team for allegedly assaulting his teammate in the locker room during fall camp. The program then revoked credentials from a Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter for reporting on the situation just a few days before the Horned Frogs’ disappointing showing in a 15-10 loss to North Carolina on Saturday, Aug. 29 in Dublin.
TCU was also quite undisciplined on the field, committing 11 penalties for 89 yards in the loss. The Tar Heels sealed their win on an offsides penalty by the Horned Frogs on fourth-and-1, encapsulating the full-of-mistake game for TCU.
Frustrations are clearly mounting for TCU and coach Sonny Dykes, too. Dykes even called out ACC officiating after the game.
“Not having ACC officials, for one,” Dykes said when asked how TCU plans to fix the penalty issues. “And then I think we have to do a better job of being more disciplined. We’ve got to be more disciplined, we’ve got to be more — just gotta do a better job.”
New starting quarterback Jaden Craig also struggled in his first start since transferring from Harvard, completing 20-of-32 passes for 178 yards in the game. TCU gained 281 total yards, was stopped on multiple fourth-down tries and overall looked sloppy under first-year offensive coordinator Gordon Sammons, who was hired away from UConn in the offseason.
The loss broke a streak of 10 consecutive season openers in which TCU scored at least 30 points, having scored 48 points in its romp of the Tar Heels last year. The Horned Frogs didn’t score after the first quarer, either.
TCU didn’t bring its A-game to Dublin, Ireland. And while North Carolina may be improved from its form in 2025 under first-year coach Bill Belichick, the Horned Frogs showed Aug. 29 they have some work to do moving forward.