By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Sports Writer
Share this story

FORT WORTH, Texas — Sonny Dykes needed about five minutes with Joe Gillespie to know that he wanted the defensive coordinator who wields an atypical 3-3-5 base scheme on his staff at TCU.

While utilizing the unorthodox lineup with three linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs, the Horned Frogs have played fast all the way to the national championship game in Dykes’ first season as their head coach.

ADVERTISING

“There’s still six people in the box,” said linebacker Johnny Hodges, who leads TCU with 81 tackles even after missing a game. “I guess it’s a little different. … From the outside eye, it might seem a little tough and hard to understand, but as a player it’s pretty easy to kind of gel into get and get used it.”

Fellow linebacker Dee Winters, a former high school receiver, had three tackles for loss and one of the Horned Frogs’ two interception returns for touchdowns in the College Football Playoff semifinal win over Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl. Dylan Horton, the 275-pound tackle who is the team’s sacks leader with 10 1/2 after four against the Wolverines, was a safety in high school when he was about 70 pounds lighter.

TCU (13-1) gets a chance Monday night to win its first national championship since its 1938 team run by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Davey O’Brien. The Frogs take on defending champ Georgia (14-0) at SoFi Stadium in suburban Los Angeles. Was it Gillespie’s scheme or the coach himself that impressed the offensive-minded Dykes? Actually, it was a little of both after his SMU teams struggled the past three years against Tulsa, which had Gillespie as its defensive coordinator and didn’t run the more typical 4-3-4 scheme.

“Scheme catches your eye,” Dykes said. “When you’re in this business, you see a lot of film and you watch teams and you go, boy, that team looks really well-coached.”

Dykes and the Mustangs were 1-2 against Gillespie, held below their impressive season averages for total offense each time and reaching their season scoring average only once. Iowa State is the only other team with a similar defensive scheme in the Big 12, a league filled with high-powered offenses. The Cyclones were easily the conference’s best defense, allowing 286 yards and 20 points a game this season.

The Frogs have long utilized five defensive backs with success in a 4-2-5 system with Gary Patterson, the former DC who won a school-record 181 games in 21 seasons as head coach. His departure from the school with four games left in the 2021 season came amid struggles on defense. TCU has allowed 395 total yards and 26.4 points per game this season, significant improvements after giving up nearly 462 yards and 35 points a game while going 5-7 in 2021.

“It’s been quite the journey, from the time that we got here and the installation of the new defense,” Gillespie said. “You knew you had some good football players … I think the biggest deal at this point is that they’ve just done a tremendous job of really locking in and embracing the newness of everything.”