The Battle for the Iron Skillet is the moniker given to the annual football game that pits the Southern Methodist University (SMU for short) Mustangs against the Texas Christian University (TCU for short) Horned Frogs. The rivalry for these colleges is a natural one considering that the two campuses are a mere 40 miles apart in the state of Texas.
Since 1915 SMU and TCU have played each other in all but six football seasons despite not being in the same conference for noticeable portions of that time. Today Texas Christian University plays in the Mountain West Conference alongside tough competition in schools like the University of Utah and Brigham Young University (BYU) while SMU plays in Conference USA which boasts the University of Houston and Central Florida amongst the top football schools in the conference.
Despite being in different football conferences TCU and SMU are have a few things in common. Chief among these similarities is that both scr888 casino schools are located in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area and both colleges are private Christian schools. Furthermore both universities have similar sized student bodies with total enrollments of about 8,700 and 10,700 for TCU and SMU respectively.
Interestingly, there is no official record of exactly why this annual grid iron matchup is referred to as the Battle for the Iron Skillet. As is often the case with folklore in the absence of fact there is speculation. College football historians date the origin of the Battle for the Iron Skillet name to the 1950s (even though these two schools have been playing each other in football since 1915). Rumor has it that before a 1950s head to head meeting between Texas Christian University and Southern Methodist University a fan of the SMU program was frying up frog legs as a method of mocking the Horned Frogs team that his school was playing that day. The story continues that a proud TCU fan approached the SMU supporter with the skillet of frog legs and the TCU fan stated that frying up the frog legs was too extreme and that the two opposing fans should let the final score of the game decide who gets to go home with the frog legs and the skillet.
Today the legendary story of the initial confrontation over the skillet of frog legs has evolved into a full-fledged traveling trophy. The modern day Iron Skillet Trophy looks like a large golden frying pan with a short handle. On the inside of the trophy is a black plaque that reads, "THE SKILLET - SMU vs. TCU - A Tradition Since 1915."
Even though the Southern Methodist University Mustangs rallied off a fifteen game winning streak in the head to head competition from 1972 through 1986 the Horned Frogs still hold a narrow 41-39-7 series lead.
The Dallas area rivalry between Texas Christian University and Southern Methodist University is a friendly one. It is not uncommon for alumni of the two schools to go golfing together in the area. Many times one fellow will have a TCU golf bag [http://www.universitygolfbags.com/2010/01/tcu-golf-bag.html] while the second golfer has a SMU golf bag
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