TCU’s Dykes named Big 12 coach of the year, QB Duggan top offensive player

TCU Coach Sonny Dykes (Madeleine Cook/Star-Telegram via AP)

Sonny Dykes was name Big 12 coach of the year Wednesday by the league’s coaches and Horned Frogs quarterback Max Duggan was named the Big 12’s offensive player of the year.

Kansas State end Felix Anudike-Uzomah was chosen as the conference’s top defensive player. Duggan and Anudike-Uzomah will face each other Saturday when third-ranked TCU (13-0) plays No. 13 Kansas State (9-3) in the Big 12 championship game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

In his first year at the helm after replacing Gary Patterson as head coach, Dykes led the Frogs to a 12-0 regular season as TCU became the first Big 12 team to finish a regular season undefeated since Texas in 2009. Dykes is the first coach to win coach of the year in his first season with a program, and is part of the first father-son duo to win the award — the late Spike Dykes won it in 1996 with Texas Tech.

Duggan, who lost his starting job going into the season, leads the Big 12 with 3,070 yards and 29 touchdowns passing and has thrown only three interceptions since taking over in the second half of the season opener. He has now made 40 career starts.

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Anudike-Uzomah is second in the Big 12 with 7 1/2 sacks, including three against Texas Tech. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound junior has 19 1/2 career sacks along with eight forced fumbles.

In addition to Big 12 honors, Duggan won the 2022 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award presented by the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation and A.O. Smith Corporation to the nation’s top quarterback “who best exemplifies character, scholastic and athletic achievement,” according to a post on the Big 12 website. Candidates for the award are selected by the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Selection Committee of media and former players, the post said.