‘I don’t care’: Some TCU players shrug at end of Iron Skillet rivalry with SMU
When long-running things come to end, they usually invoke emotions and moments of reflection.
But that apparently doesn’t apply to TCU football on the eve of the final Battle for the Iron Skillet with rival SMU.
The Horned Frogs opted to indefinitely postpone the series last year, and even with a new athletic director, there doesn’t seem to be an appetite to renew the rivalry anytime soon. While it has added weight to the game for fans on both sides, for TCU players it’s just another game.
“It doesn’t add anything honestly,” senior safety Bud Clark said Tuesday. “I just look at it as another game, and we’re just trying to go 1-0 this week.”
What about junior quarterback Josh Hoover? The Rockwall native grew up watching the Iron Skillet, and he was recruited by TCU and SMU in high school. Surely he feels something about DFW’s biggest rivalry going away after this season?
Nope.
“I don’t care,” Hoover said. “I’m just ready for the Saturday. It’s not up to me. It’s up to our athletic director and our admin. I mean, they make those decisions, not me. So I’m focused on this Saturday, and that’s all I really care about.
“I feel juice every week, and we’re just excited playing this Saturday. They’re another team on schedule, and they’re a good team. We know we’re gonna have to play our best to win, and it’s exciting.”
While it’s been an all-business approach for TCU, there’s at least one player who doesn’t want to see the rivalry go away.
“I played them every year so far, and I’m not really sure why it’s stopping,” senior linebacker Namdi Obiazor said. “I feel like it’s one of the best rivalries we’ve got with this being about DFW. This one definitely means a lot being the last game, especially after last year [a 66-42 SMU win].”
There are surely more players who feel the same as Obiazor, but there’s a reason TCU has been so intentional this week in not adding extra stakes to the game.
It doesn’t mean the Horned Frogs aren’t fired up to play, it’s more about establishing a mindset that every game is important regardless of the noise around it.
Sonny Dykes’ thoughts on Skillet rivalry
There’s another angle to consider, head coach Sonny Dykes said. Before he took over at SMU, the Iron Skillet was less of a rivalry and more of a constant reminder by TCU of how big the gap was between the two programs.
“I was a little surprised it didn’t mean more to the players when I got over to SMU, probably because the rivalry had been a little bit one-sided,” Dykes said. “There just didn’t seem to be a lot of juice from the players for it. And so we tried to play it up to a degree, and, you know, and then we had some success, and then it kind of took on a little bit more of, became more of a rivalry.”
Some took that as Dykes taking a jab at his former school and its reputation of not being invested in football until recently.
Maybe it was, but it’s still true: The rivalry lacked juice until Dykes left the Mustangs to come to Fort Worth and never generated the same passion as TCU-Baylor.
Though there is an irony that the rivalry is ending just as the two programs are ascending at the same time.
Dykes led TCU to the national championship game in 2022 and has won 69% of his games. SMU coach Rhett Lashlee led SMU to the ACC championship game and the College Football Playoff last year in the Mustangs’ first season in a power conference.
TCU remembers last year’s blowout loss to SMU
SMU’s surprising run to the playoff was sparked by its blowout win over TCU in Dallas last season. The Mustangs scored 66 points, more than Georgia’s 65 in the 2022 title game win over TCU, and Dykes was ejected in one of the most embarrassing losses of his tenure.
While the ending of the rivalry may not add any extra motivation for TCU, last season’s result is still on the mind of the Horned Frogs.
“You kind of always [bring it up] a little bit just whoever, whatever opponent it is, and whatever the outcome was,” Dykes said. “I think you always bring it up to a degree, but I mean, there’s enough guys that were here last year to know kind of the way that thing went down.”
The calm and steady Hoover has revisited the game tape against the Mustangs repeatedly.
It’s not for emotional reasons or a desire to find more motivation. It’s for cerebral purposes, as Hoover has spent time studying the mistakes he made, like the two interceptions he threw and his first-quarter fumble that helped SMU take a 10-0 lead.
“I go back and watch it, start seeing kind of what they did, and kind of get a feel for what they did to us,” Hoover said. “It’s been a whole year since we played them. So I’ll freshen up my mind on it. But now I’m focused on this year. I’m focused on their group. They don’t have the same team as they did last year. Neither do we.”
Hoover’s processing speed and decision-making have grown exponentially since that moment, and him playing mistake-free football will be one key for TCU to taking the skillet back from SMU for the final time.
