DALLAS (AP) — TCU coach Sonny Dykes was ejected Saturday after drawing two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties at the start of the second half in the Horned Frogs’ 66-42 loss against SMU, his former team.
The Frogs already trailed 41-21 when a kickoff return for an apparent touchdown to start the second half was negated by a holding penalty and drew the ire of the coach.
With TCU (2-2) starting instead from its 10, a 22-yard pass play followed, but Dykes was still chirping at the officials and another flag was thrown. The second unsportsmanlike penalty meant an automatic ejection.
“Two penalties from two different officials. I understood why I got the first one, I thought I deserved it,” Dykes said. “The second one, I really don’t know where it came from. The first one I deserved.”
It was the first career ejection for Dykes, who is in his 15th season as a college head coach and was in his 165th game.
“Certainly uncharted territory for me,” he said. “Apologized to our players, our fans. It should never happen. I was disappointed it happened. I thought it was maybe unwarranted, but it happened. And that’s my responsibility to make sure that never happens. So 100% my fault.”
Asked why he didn’t feel the second penalty was warranted, Dykes said he’d “kind of like to go into it, but I think it’s probably not good for me to do that. Probably not in my best interest to do that.”
There was a lengthy discussion on the sideline between Dykes and referee Kevin Boitmann before the coach left the field. On his way to the tunnel, Dykes pumped both of his arms into the air toward TCU fans at that end of the field.
Dykes had been the winning coach each of the past four times the Dallas-Fort Worth rivals played. He is in his third season at TCU, which won the last two games in the series after he had led SMU to back-to-back wins in the series for the first time since 1992-93.
TCU did drive 90 yards on seven plays immediately after Dykes was tossed, getting within 41-28 on Josh Hoover’s 46-yard touchdown pass to Jack Bech. SMU then scored 17 points in a row before Bech had another scoring catch in the fourth quarter.
“Obviously we wanted to finish it out for coach. But it didn’t happen,” Hoover said. “Tough circumstances, just hate it for our guys.”
The 41 points by halftime were the most points SMU had ever scored in a half against TCU in the series that was played for the 103rd time, but has no more games scheduled after next season. The 66 points were the most scored by either team in the Iron Skillet rivalry.
Offensive coordinator Kendal Briles was the acting head coach after Dykes exited the game.
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