TCU and SMU will meet for the 100th time. Here’s why they play for the Iron Skillet
Last year’s early season match-up had just been called off due to a COVID-19 outbreak within TCU’s program, delaying — and ultimately postponing — what was to be the 100th meeting with SMU’s football team. So the Mustangs coach playfully trolled the Frogs.
SMU produced a video with coach Sonny Dykes cooking up some frog legs in the famed “Iron Skillet” his program had taken possession of with a 41-38 victory over TCU in 2019.
Folklore suggests that video may have touched on the origins of what has become an iconic trophy that will be up for grabs once again Saturday in Fort Worth. TCU hosts SMU in the centennial meeting of what is now called “The Battle for the Iron Skillet.”
The story goes that an SMU fan was frying frog legs as a joke before a game in the 1940s and a TCU fan suggested the skillet go to the winning team.
That’s a good story, if true. Unfortunately it’s not.
As SMU archivist Joan Gosnell told the Star-Telegram recently, the true story is that the “Iron Skillet” was born shortly after World War II by the TCU and SMU student bodies at the time.
Citing a story in The Dallas Morning News published Nov. 30, 1946, Gosnell said, the skillet was “a substitute for mutilation of school property.” Similar trophies had been created for other rivalries across the country such as the “Little Brown Jug” for the Minnesota-Michigan rivalry.
“The year before there must’ve been some rowdy fans,” Gosnell said.
The DMN’s story said both TCU and SMU sustained more than $1,000 in property damage when students painted and defaced school buildings following the 1945 game — a 34-0 victory by SMU.
The original skillet was aluminum, not iron, with TCU and SMU student bodies sharing the expense. The meeting took place at the Italian Village, which was a popular restaurant in Dallas at the time.
One of the great mysteries that may never be solved is the name of the rivalry. Shouldn’t it be “Aluminum Skillet?”
“I have no idea,” Gosnell said. “I don’t know how they got iron from aluminum.”
Regardless, the tradition didn’t last long. The “Iron Skillet” made of aluminum was eventually lost. For decades, the schools played without a trophy.
Former TCU player and radio analyst John Denton was with the program for five years and played in four games against SMU in the early 1980s.
“I never played for a skillet,” Denton said. “We didn’t know anything about it until the early ’90s when supposedly the remnants of it or memories of it were brought forth and it was resurrected.”
In 1993, the programs revived the “Iron Skillet” trophy. It’s become a staple in the years since with players from the winning team routinely taking pictures with it afterward.
“It’s a big deal now for the kids,” Denton said. “Obviously it’s something the winning team loves holding up and showing off in their trophy case for the 364 days between games.”
TCU has a similar prize for its game against Texas Tech as the winning team receives the “Saddle Trophy,” which was revived in 2017.
But the TCU-SMU rivalry is more than just about the “Iron Skillet” as both cities and fan bases get fired up for the game.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker have a friendly wager on it. The losing mayor will wear the winning team’s jersey to the next city council meeting and provide dessert to the winning city’s council.
And SMU receiver Rashee Rice, a former Richland High graduate, added some spice to the contest by trash talking TCU and Fort Worth earlier this week.
Quite simply, it’s a classic college football rivalry that makes the sport great. The series dates back to 1915 when SMU played its first football game against TCU. The Frogs won 43-0.
TCU owns the all-time series record 51-41-7, but SMU had a stretch of winning 15 straight from 1972-86. However, TCU has dominated the rivalry as of late, going 15-3 since Gary Patterson took over the program in 2001.
Over the years, some of the sport’s biggest names have been a part of it. From TCU’s side, Sammy Baugh, Davey O’Brien, Jim Swink, Bob Lilly and LaDainian Tomlinson all played in it. From SMU’s side, you’ve got Doak Walker, Don Meredith, Jerry LeVias and Eric Dickerson.
“This is the 100th game. Just a lot of history, a lot of back and forth,” Denton said. “For a long time, SMU pretty much owned it. TCU lost a lot of games in a row. Then in the ‘80s, it started to heat up a little bit with ‘Mustang Mania’ with Dickerson and Craig James and Lance McIlhenny.
“That’s who I played against in ‘81, ‘82, ‘83, ‘84. The biggest margin of victory was maybe 11 points. A lot of three- and four-point games. There’s a lot of history.”
This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
