SMU’s Dykes comes full circle against La. Tech
Sometimes, the past harmonizes. When Sonny Dykes makes his debut
SMU’s new head coach on Wednesday in the Frisco
his past, present and future will collide on the Toyota Stadium grass.
SMU will play Louisiana Tech, where Dykes got his
head coaching job. The significance of this full-circle moment is not lost on him.
“It’s a lot of irony playing those guys the first time,” Dykes said at Tuesday’s joint conference with his
at Tech, Skip Holtz. It’s been five years since Dykes was the head coach at Louisiana Tech. He spent four of those years as the head coach at Cal and the
as an offensive analyst at TCU. He never quite replicated the level of success
in his three seain Ruston. In his first year as the leader of the Bulldogs,
went 5-7. He started 2011 season with one win five games before putting
seven straight wins to take the WAC title, Tech’s
since 2001. Dykes was named the WAC coach of the
for that campaign before going 9-3 in 2012. That team
51.5 points and 478 yards per game in Dykes’ Air Raid system.
Dykes’ tenure at Louisi- ana Tech presents the blue- for what he wants to
at SMU, though with a greater emphasis on defense.
It’ll be a little odd for Dykes to see so many familiar faces on the other side of the field. He says many of his closest friends still live in Ruston.
“You’re mortal enemies the day of the game and you’re best friends afterwards,” Dykes said.
SMU (7-5) has gone through a series of transitions in the last two weeks. Chad Morris and the vast majority of his offensive assistants are in Arkansas now. Graduate assistant G.J. Kinne will fill the offensive coordinator role for the Frisco Bowl, helping quarterback Ben Hicks to script plays before every series.
For that reason, Holtz and Louisiana Tech are approaching this game as essentially a season opener.
“You have an opportunity to evaluate their talent,” Holtz explained. “What makes it hard is you normally also have tendencies or the personality of the coordinator that you’re having the opportunity to go against. You can take all that and throw it out of the window.”
SMU feels like it can beat Louisiana Tech’s secondary. The Bulldogs are adept at forcing turnovers but have not faced an offense with weapons like SMU’s 1,000yard receiver duo of Courtland Sutton and Trey Quinn.
The bigger concern for SMU is the Bulldogs’ defensive line. Junior defensive end Jaylon Ferguson has six sacks this season and 8.5 tackles for loss. He’s complemented by fellow end Matthew Ydarraga and his three sacks.
This will make establishing the run early important for SMU, which is looking to create some momentum.