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| First meeting | October 18, 1915 TCU 43, SMU 0 |
|---|---|
| Latest meeting | September 20, 2025 TCU 35, SMU 24 |
| Trophy | Iron Skillet(See below) |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 104 |
| All-time series | TCU leads, 54–43–7[1] |
| Largest victory | TCU, 56–0 (2014) |
| Longest win streak | SMU, 15 (1972–1986) |
| Current win streak | TCU, 1 (2025–present) |
TheSMU–TCU football rivalry is an Americancollege footballrivalry between theTCU Horned Frogs football team ofTexas Christian University (TCU) and theSMU Mustangs football team ofSouthern Methodist University (SMU). The winner of the game receives aniron skillet as a trophy.
The teams have played all but seven years since their first meeting in 1915. They did not face each other in 1919, 1920, 1925,1987,1988, 2006 or 2020. After a conference change, SMU and TCU agreed to play each season until 2025 on an alternating home-and-away basis.
The 2020 game originally scheduled for September 11 was canceled due to TCU team members testing positive forCOVID-19.[2]
Before the 2025 game, both schools mutually agreed that the rivalry would come to an end, citing prioritization of scheduling for the foreseeable future.[3]
There are two different versions of the story. In recent years SMU's website has claimed the following:
TCU and SMU fans began the tradition back in 1946. During pre-game festivities, an SMU fan was fryingfrog legs as a joke before the game. A TCU fan, seeing this desecration of the "frog", went over and told him that eating the frog legs was going well beyond the rivalry and that they should let the game decide who would get the skillet and the frog legs. SMU won the game, and the skillet and frog legs went to SMU. The tradition eventually spilled over into the actual game and the Iron Skillet is now passed to the winner.[4]
An article from TCU magazine tells the following story:
"The first "Battle for the Iron Skillet" occurred on November 30, 1946, as college football boomed after World War II. Weeks prior to the game, SMU’s Student Council proposed the idea of presenting a trophy to the winning team. TCU accepted the idea, and the two schools' governing bodies met in Dallas to set up the rules of the traveling trophy, which became the Iron Skillet."[5] The TCU magazine article has this to say about the other story "One mystery remains: Why a skillet? History books provide scant details. Some claim that an SMU fan in the 1950s was caught frying frogs legs in a skillet at a tailgate before the game, and a TCU fan wagered that the winner should take the pan home, but that conflicts with a published report of the skillet originating with the councils."[citation needed]
TCU and SMU again met to decide not only the SWC title but the first trip to theRose Bowl for a team from the SWC. Grantland Rice of theNew York Sun called it the "Game of the Century" and reported the following:
In aTCU Stadium that seated 30,000 spectators, over 36,000 wildly excited Texans and visitors from every corner of the map packed, jammed, and fought their way into every square foot of standing and seating space to see one of the greatest football games ever played…this tense, keyed up crowd even leaped the wire fences from the top of automobiles…"[6]
SMU scored the first 14 points. TCU, led byAll-American quarterbackSammy Baugh, tied the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Then, with seven minutes left in the game SMU, on 4th and 4 on the Frogs' 37 yard-line, lined up to punt. QuarterbackBob Finley threw a 50-yard pass to running backBobby Wilson who made what is described as a "jumping, twisting catch that swept him over the line for the touchdown."[6]
| SMU victories | TCU victories | Tie games |
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As of September 20, 2025
| City | Stadium | Games | TCU victories | SMU victories | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ft. Worth | Amon G. Carter Stadium | 44 | 25 | 16 | 3 |
| Panther Park | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| TCU gridiron | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| TCU campus | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 47 | 27 | 16 | 4 | |
| Dallas | Cotton Bowl | 21 | 8 | 12 | 1 |
| Gerald J. Ford Stadium | 12 | 10 | 2 | 0 | |
| Ownby Stadium | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | |
| Clark Field | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Fair Park Stadium | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Armstrong Field | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| State Fair Grounds (Dallas) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 54 | 27 | 24 | 3 | |
| Irving | Texas Stadium | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Total | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Series total | 104 | 54 | 43 | 7 | |
The game against Southern Methodist University, scheduled for Sept. 11, was canceled Friday after some TCU football athletes and support staff tested positive for the virus, said Jeremiah Donati, TCU's director of intercollegiate athletics, in a statement.
