TCU Athletics
On the eve of the start of college football we received this piece of news likely related to the web of conference realignment.
TCU and SMU are indefinitely “pausing” their series, which dates to 1915, according to Brett McMurphy, a national college football writer for Action Network, who posted what he knew on Twitter.
He didn’t say who told him that or the reason for the pause.
The Star-Telegram, citing TCU Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati, said the reason for the pause is so that TCU can add more home games. He indicated that a future home game with SMU is certainly a possibility, but playing every year seems to be a thing of the past.
The two will continue to play through 2025, according to McMurphy.
A recent poll on Twitter indicated that TCU fans were split about continuing the series. Meanwhile, SMU’s athletic department appears to be in a state of limbo. Reports suggest that the Mustangs, a member of the American Athletic Conference, might be part of a re-worked PAC-12 Conference, which is down to four teams after the Big Ten and Big 12 offered greener grazing pastures to eight members.
TCU leads the all-time series, better known as the “Battle for the Iron Skillet, 52-42-7.
The Horned Frogs host the 102nd meeting this season at Amon G. Carter Stadium on Sept. 23 at a time yet to be announced. SMU has won two of the past three games. The Frogs ended a two-game skid last year by defeating the Mustangs 42-34.
The schools shared conferences from 1923 to 2000 in the Southwest Conference and then later the Western Athletic Conference. TCU split for Conference USA, the Mountain West, and eventually the Big 12. However, TCU and SMU continued to play each season.
Even though we’re all supposed to be friends now, the game has been an ideal backdrop to the gritty civic war waged between the city “Where the West Begins” and “Them Over There.”
The news was a buzz kill for Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who posted on his Twitter, or, perhaps, X File: "This is the greatest college football rivalry in North Texas, but this is about more than football — this is about Dallas vs FW, Hatfields vs McCoys, good vs evil, the Force vs the Dark Side."
He implored Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker to "put a stop to this!"
TCU won the first game between the two, 43-0, in the season opener in 1915 at TCU. SMU, in its first game in the school's history, was playing at a decided disadvantage.
“The Methodists, with a team composed entirely of freshmen, played a scrappy uphill game against great odds,” the Star-Telegram said.
“The Christians took advantage of every break made by the visitors. When a fumble was made, it was nine chances out of 10 that a TCU man would be on top of the ball when Referee Moore untangled the mess.”
Well, so long SMU. We’ll miss beating you like a drum.