The Battle for the Iron Skillet is the nickname given to the annual football game pitting the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Mustangs against the Texas Christian University (TCU) Horned Frogs. for its acronym in English). The rivalry for these universities is natural considering that the two campuses are only 40 miles apart in the state of Texas.
Since 1915, SMU and TCU have met in all but six football seasons, despite not being in the same conference for notable parts of that time. Today, Texas Christian University plays in the Mountain West Conference along with stiff competition from schools like the University of Utah and Brigham Young University (BYU), while SMU plays in Conference USA, which features the University Houston and Central Florida among the best soccer schools in the conference. .
Despite being in different football conferences, TCU and SMU have a few things in common. Chief among these similarities is that both schools are located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area and both universities are private Christian schools. Additionally, both universities have similarly sized student bodies with total enrollments around 8,700 and 10,700 for TCU and SMU, respectively.
Interestingly, there is no official record as to why this annual showdown of iron grills is known as the Battle for the Iron Skillet. As is often the case with folklore, in the absence of facts, there is speculation. College football historians date the origin of the name Battle for the Iron Skillet to the 1950s (although these two schools have been playing football against each other since 1915). It is rumored that prior to a face-to-face meeting in the 1950s between Texas Christian University and Southern Methodist University, a fan of the SMU program was frying frog legs as a method of taunting the Horned Frogs team that his school I was playing that day. The story continues that a proud TCU fan approached the SMU supporter with the frying pan of frog legs and the TCU fan said that frying the frog legs was too extreme and the two opposing fans should let the final score go. of the game decide who arrives. go home with the frog legs and the frying pan.
Today, the legendary story of the initial showdown over the frog legs pan has become a full-fledged traveling trophy. Today’s Iron Skillet Trophy looks like a large golden skillet with a short handle. Inside the trophy is a black plaque that reads: “THE SKILLET – SMU vs. TCU – A Tradition Since 1915.”
Even though the Southern Methodist University Mustangs rebounded from a fifteen-game winning streak in head-to-head competition from 1972 to 1986, the Horned Frogs still hold a slim 41-39-7 lead in the series.