Week 0 of the college football season is officially underway, and things didn't get off on the right foot for TCU. The Horned Frogs and the North Carolina Tar Heels opened the season with a contest in Dublin, Ireland.
TCU fell to the Tar Heels 15-10, and in the process, the offense struggled to score points. Senior quarterback Jaden Craig took over after Jake Hoover transferred to Indiana. After one game, TCU head coach Sonny Dykes has to miss Hoover already.
Sonny Dykes didn't need long to start missing Josh Hoover
In the loss to the Tar Heels, Craig went 20-of-32 for 175 passing yards. The passing game didn't create much of anything and played a role in the loss. The new signal-caller also fumbled once.
After spending four years (three as the starter) with the Horned Frogs, Hoover leaving for the Hoosiers couldn't have left a good taste in the mouths of fans. Back in March, Dykes spoke to the media and took a jab at Hoover in the process.
"Josh started 31 games here as a quarterback, and (HE) turned the ball over 42 times. 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," Dykes said.
While what Dykes said had some truth in it, some of it may have come from frustration, as his former QB decided to leave and join the defending national champions.
Hoover did turn the ball over at an alarming rate with the Horned Frogs. Despite that, he still produced and put points up on the board for TCU. Over 36 games, Hoover completed 65.2 percent of his throws for 9,629 yards and 71 passing touchdowns.
During the 2024 and 2025 campaigns, TCU's offense averaged at least 30 points under Hoover. No matter what Dykes had to say about his former quarterback's turnovers, he still put the offense in advantageous positions to score.
That helped the Horned Frogs win nine games in back-to-back seasons, and that shouldn't be understated. Under Hoover's watch between 2024 and 2025, TCU's offense never scored fewer than 13 points in a game.
That's a testament to the production the offense had, and after one game with Craig leading the charge, there's room to grow for TCU's new-look offense.
Emotions are a big part of this game, and Dykes comments back in March were fueled by them. This loss to North Carolina showed that the offense has a lot of work to do. If they don't make the proper adjustments, it could be a long season ahead for TCU.
There's no reason to overreact just yet, but it's obvious the loss of Hoover is bigger than what Dykes wanted to admit during the offseason. And it was on full display already against North Carolina.
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