SMU tried to salvage rivalry game with TCU. But TCU says it wasn’t a ‘possibility’
SMU tried to salvage this year’s football game against TCU, SMU athletic director Rick Hart told The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday morning.
Hart said he spent a day and a half trying ensure the game would be played this season, going as far as offering to play it in Fort Worth for a second consecutive season, but those attempts were unsuccessful.
In an email to the Star-Telegram, Hart said there wasn’t much discussion beyond this year’s game. It’s unclear if the expectation would have been for TCU to play at SMU in 2021 because it became fairly evident the 2020 game would not be played even if SMU traveled to Fort Worth this year.
“We didn’t talk much about the location of the 2021 game since it was determined fairly quickly that the 2020 game would not be played,” Hart said. “We agreed that this is a one-year disruption in our series and that we will talk through our plans for 2021 and beyond at a later date. We’re very disappointed for our student-athletes and fans — it’s an important rivalry and we were looking forward to defending the Iron Skillet in front of our home crowd.”
TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati told the Star-Telegram it wasn’t possible for the Horned Frogs to play the game this season once the Big 12 issued its updated scheduling format on Monday.
“We had a game contract already in place to play a non-conference opponent before the Big 12 scheduling mandate came down on Monday night,” Donati said. “Unfortunately moving the SMU game is not a possibility this year. We look forward to continuing the rivalry series in 2021 and beyond.”
The Big 12 opted for a “plus-one” model in which schools would play nine conference games and one home non-conference game.
Although TCU has yet to formally announce its schedule, a source said the school has a contract in place to host Tennessee Tech for the season opener with a hefty buyout clause. That game has been in the works for weeks to replace the Prairie View A&M game that was canceled when the SWAC postponed its fall sports seasons.
TCU has played Tennessee Tech once in its history, defeating it 62-7 in 2010. One of TCU coach Gary Patterson’s first coaching stops was at Tennessee Tech in 1983-84.
This would have marked the 100th anniversary of the TCU-SMU rivalry that dates back to 1915.
TCU leads the all-time series 51-41-7. The two schools have met every season this century except for 2006. The programs also didn’t play in 1987-88, 1925 and 1919-20.
SMU upset TCU last season 41-38 in Fort Worth. It was just the third time Patterson fell to the Mustangs in his career.
The 2021 game is scheduled to be played at TCU’s Amon G. Carter Stadium next season. However, the schools could look into a neutral-site venue with this year’s game canceled.
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 12:25 PM.
