Can TCU vs. SMU Iron Skillet Rivalry ever return after Saturday's last scheduled meeting?

Back on the morning of Aug. 16, 2023, I broke the news that TCU was indefinitely ‘pausing’ its series with SMU after the 2025 game.

That 2025 game is Saturday. It’s the last scheduled meeting between TCU and SMU, schools located 35 miles apart. The Iron Skillet Rivalry is getting tossed into the extinct pile next to the Bedlam Series and the Dodo bird.

“It wasn’t our decision,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee told On3. “They chose not to play us anymore.”

TCU’s Sonny Dykes, who formerly coached at SMU, told On3 the game was “easier for SMU to play before they were in the ACC. Now, they’re scheduled out (in the non-conference) like we are and it doesn’t make sense to play.”

Doesn’t make sense to play? 

Somehow, the schools need to make it make sense.

The teams first met in 1915. This year’s game at TCU will be the 104th meeting between the two teams.

There have been other rivalries that were casualties of conference realignment (Oklahoma-Oklahoma State) or ended because of pettiness or even spite (Oklahoma-Oklahoma State). 

Some have been resurrected. The 120-year Backyard Brawl ended in 2011, but West Virginia and Pitt resumed the rivalry in 2022 and recently extended the series through 2036. The Border War between Kansas and Missouri had been played annually since 1891 – 1891! – until Missouri left for the SEC. They played this year for the first time since 2011 and will play again next year before resuming the series in 2031-32.

Oregon–Oregon State and Washington–Washington State were once part of one (mostly) happy family in the Pac-12 until Oregon and Washington bolted for the Big Ten. However, all indications are that both rivalries will continue in the future.

Yet, TCU and SMU is indefinitely “pausing” their rivalry. Remember when your high school girlfriend wanted to “pause” the relationship. Yep, you never saw her again.

“Anytime a game has been played 103 times, it’s a rivalry,” Lashlee said. “We’re 35 miles away. It’s a natural, geographic rivalry. It’s a great rivalry. It’s good for the state, the (Dallas-Fort Worth) Metroplex. But they decided they want to go another direction.

“We’re the only school in Dallas. They don’t get to play in Dallas every other year.”

TCU won’t play in Dallas anymore, but the Horned Frogs are the nation’s only program that played 11 games against power conference opponents in both 2024 and 2025. 

The Big 12 is the only league that plays nine conference games and requires another non-conference Power 4 opponent. In 2026, the SEC will have the same scheduling requirements as the Big 12. The Big Ten plays nine league games but doesn’t require a non-conference power opponent.

The ACC only plays eight conference games with one additional power conference opponent. SMU, however, will play two non-conference power conference opponents in 2025 and 2026.

“That’s not good for your ability to be able to get to the playoff and (playing 11 power conference games) doesn’t make sense for either one of us,” Dykes said. “Now I think down the road it makes a lot of sense to try to schedule some games against those guys at some point. But that needs to be a kind of a premium game because both programs have emerged. Instead of the ‘B game’ that it was.”

No matter how it’s classified– an ‘A,’ ‘B’ or ‘C’ game – Saturday’s contest will be especially emotional. Last year, SMU won 66-42. Dykes was ejected for the first time in his 16-year head coaching career after two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

“Being that it’s the final game is a huge deal to the fan bases,” Lashlee said. “It’s been good for 103 years.”

Adding more significance is Saturday’s winner will take ownership of the Iron Skillet trophy for a long, long time. “Since September, it’s been sitting in my office,” Lashlee said.

Although the series is “pausing,” Dykes said TCU would have “no issues” in the future playing SMU in a bowl game.

“Not at all,” Dykes said. “We’d play them anywhere, anytime.”