How TCU beat rival SMU to again claim the Iron Skillet
Things are changing across the college football landscape, but one thing that has remained the same: TCU’s recent dominance over SMU.
After falling behind 3-0 in the first quarter, the Horned Frogs (3-1) dominated the Mustangs 34-17 in the 102nd edition of the Battle for the Iron Skillet. TCU is 19-4 against the Mustangs dating back to 1999. The Horned Frogs announced in the off-season it would pause the rivalry after the 2025 season.
The story of the day was TCU’s defense as the Mustangs were held scoreless in the second half until a garbage-time touchdown with under two minutes remaining. TCU forced two turnovers and kept SMU star quarterback Preston Stone’s completion percentage under 50%.
“It was a good win, our guys played hard,” Dykes said. “I thought we grinded through it and our players played with a lot of enthusiasm. (SMU) is a good football team, that’s why our guys were excited to win. We have a ton of respect for them. I don’t know if they’ll have a game in the next eight or nine weeks where they’re not a double digit favorite.
Emani Bailey’s 27-yard touchdown run with 1:54 remaining in the third quarter gave the Horned Frogs a comfortable 27-10 lead, Chandler Morris’ 36-yard touchdown pass to Chase Curtis iced the game with 1:18 left.
While Dykes had nothing but good things to say about how his former school performed on the field, Dykes was also asked about how he felt about the game coming closer to its end.
“Hooray,” Dykes said dryly in the postgame press conference the victory.
Defense delivers again
What a difference three weeks make. After the bad showing against Colorado, TCU’s defense has begun to look like the unit coach Sonny Dykes expected. The Horned Frogs bottled up the high-flying SMU offense with a disciplined effort from the defensive line all the way to the secondary.
The Horned Frogs held SMU without a touchdown until just before halftime and were even better in the second half. TCU held SMU to just 68 yards in the third quarter as the lead grew to 27-10. Josh Newton capped the quarter with a terrific interception after the ball was batted into the air and nearly returned it for a touchdown.
“We’re staying loyal to each other, especially when the game is down or it’s close,” Newton said of the defensive improvement. “Don’t flinch, don’t blink. We’ve made a lot of adjustments at practice, Coach Dykes has done a great job of pushing us.”
After the offense failed to score any points despite starting at the SMU 10, the defense came up big again as Bud Clark came up with an interception in the end zone at the start of the fourth quarter to stop a SMU scoring drive.
Morris outduels Stone
Chandler Morris played his best game since he led TCU to an upset over Baylor at the end of the 2021 season. Morris was poised, willing to make plays with his legs and most importantly didn’t turn the ball over. He was clearly the better quarterback compared to Dykes’ former star recruit Preston Stone.
“I thought Chandler really played well and he continues to get better and better,” Dykes said. “He threw some balls in some really tight windows. I was impressed by the way he played today and he didn’t turn the ball over, that was the biggest difference in the game.”
Morris’ accuracy stood out, at one point Morris was 14-of-19 with three of those incompletions being dropped passes by his receivers. He threw darts to receivers like Jaylon Robinson and Major Everhart and helped spark the ground game by being decisive when he broke the pocket. Meanwhile Stone struggled against TCU’s 3-3-5 defense as the number of defenders had him confused most of the game.
Stone threw two costly interceptions including one in the endzone when SMU could’ve cut it to 27-17 in the fourth quarter.
Morris finished 23 of 32 for 261 yards and three touchdown passes, including two to Jared Wiley. He completed passes to 11 different receivers. Morris also rushed five times for 36 yards. Stone was 16 of 35 for 258 yards.
“Coming into the season, the one thing you can’t coach is experience and reps. So I was lacking on that,” Morris said. “I knew it was going to be a process, I just couldn’t frustrated with it and my goal is to get better each week and that’s how I’ve attacked practice.”
Run game strikes back
The only team that has found a way to slow down TCU’s rushing attack since Sonny Dykes took over is the Georgia Bulldogs as the Horned Frogs managed just 36 yards in the national title game. For awhile it looked like you could’ve added SMU to that list as the Mustangs were surprisingly able to shut down TCU’s potent rushing attack in the first half.
The Mustangs were fully committed to selling out against the run as they stacked as many defenders as possible in the box despite TCU remaining in its spread formations. SMU also had a quarterback spy dedicated to watching Morris on every dropback, but TCU wouldn’t abandon the run.
On TCU’s first drive of the second half, the Horned Frogs doubled their rushing total with 57 yards thanks to a few key runs by Morris. The Horned Frogs added a field goal to go up 17-10 after the physical opening drive. Late in the third quarter, TCU once again relied on the ground as Emani Bailey broke through the SMU defense, shook a defender and then glided in the endzone for a 27-yard touchdown. In the third quarter TCU rushed for 122 yards to take control of the game.
Bailey finished with 126 yards as he rushed for more than 100 yards for the third time this season and appears to be the next star running back molded by running backs coach Anthony Jones.
“He’s been going crazy huh?” Jared Wiley said. “That’s what we needed, we needed some people in some rooms to step up. For him to step up like he has it’s been really impressive to watch.”
Wiley’s half
Tight end Jared Wiley continues to prove that he’s one of the nation’s best redzone targets by making a big impact in the first half against the Mustangs. Wiley gave TCU its first lead of the game on a crafty play design. As Morris faked a screen to running back, Wiley crossed over the middle of the defense and caught an easy nine-yard touchdown to put TCU ahead 7-3.
Wiley added another in the second half as he caught a short pass and barreled through multiple defenders for a two-yard touchdown that made it 14-3 with just under seven minutes remaining before halftime. Wiley served as an extension of the run game, converting in short-yardage scenarios when SMU sold out against the run.
Wiley added another 17-yard reception in the second half and finished the game leading TCU in catches. It was the first multi-touchdown game of his career.
“It feels really good, I was able to help my team out today,” Wiley said.
This story was originally published September 23, 2023 at 2:14 PM.
