‘Five out of six ain’t bad’: TCU’s Sonny Dykes channels Meatloaf on SMU rivalry
Much was made ahead of the final Battle for the Iron Skillet, with some decrying the end of the historic rivalry.
TCU beat SMU 35-24 on Saturday, and Horned Frogs coach Sonny Dykes explained that the ending of the rivalry is simply business in the new landscape of college football.
“It’s college football, it’s business, and people have to make business decisions, and sometimes nobody likes them, you know?” Dykes said.
Some have suggested the head coach might be scared of playing SMU as a reason for not renewing the game. However, Dykes shot back with a fact, aided by the song lyrics of Grammy-winning artist Meatloaf.
“I think the idea is, ‘So Coach Dykes is scared of the Iron Skillet game,’” Dykes said. “I think five out of the last six is what we won. I think that’s a Meatloaf song, right? Five out of six ain’t bad. He’s a DFW guy. So I think, yeah, I ain’t too scared.”
Dykes previously coached SMU for five seasons and won his final two matchups with Horned Frogs, and he is now 3-1 against his old team at TCU. He explained how learning from last year’s mistakes in a 66-42 blowout loss in Dallas helped the team get back to its winning ways.
“Show up for the game, play hard, don’t get caught up in the hype,” Dykes said. “And I did last year, I mean, I’m the reason we lost the game last year, because I got caught up in the hype. Our teams have never done that. And none of us did it this year, learned our lesson from last year and improved.”
“Because we try to approach it as another football game,” Dykes added. “That’s been our approach. That was our approach at SMU. That was our approach here, was build a good football program so that when you get in these rivalry games, you let the other people self-destruct, and that’s kind of been our approach.”
Dykes and TCU are ready to move on from the Iron Skillet and SMU, and the coach joked postgame about destroying the trophy with a sledgehammer.
The Horned Frogs now sit at 3-0 to start the season and open Big 12 play at defending champion Arizona State at 8 p.m. Friday.
This story was originally published September 20, 2025 at 4:28 PM.
