Scenario Sets Up in Similar Fashion to 2011 for TCU, SMU
DALLAS – When SMU takes the field this weekend in Fort Worth against TCU, the Mustangs will find themselves in a position the Horned Frogs have already faced. They just hope the result isn't the same.
Back in 2011, TCU was riding high. Just months away from departing for the Big 12 after an elongated journey from the Southwest Conference back to Power Five status, the Frogs were in the midst of what would soon become an 11-win season. It was an almost perfect ending to their time in the Mountain West that included an upset of No. 5 Boise State to cement their argument they should be taken seriously as they made the jump. However, the final bump in the road was at the hands of an SMU team that raced out to a big lead and never slowed down as TCU played catch-up all day long.
The Frogs were able to claw their way back in it and forced overtime after leading by two touchdowns most of the game, but finally fell, 40-33. TCU may have had the invite, but the Mustangs had the Iron Skillet, proof that they too deserved a second shot at being a Power Five program. It also ended the Frogs' 22-game home winning streak.
"For the third year in a row, we've gotten hit right in the mouth in the first half in all three phases," former TCU head coach Gary Patterson said afterward. "For us, at some point or another, it was all going to come to an end. You didn't want to end right here, but the bottom line is our group downstairs has to do some soul-searching."
It took over a decade, but SMU's time has come. They will join the ACC next season, and while it will be the Power Four instead of the Power Five when it happens, the Mustangs managed to snag a seat at the table. The only thing left to know is whether there will be a skillet permanently placed upon it when the series wraps in 2025.
This time TCU gets the opportunity to play spoiler in what is expected to be one of the final three "Iron Skillet" games. It will be hard for Horned Frogs quarterback Chandler Morris to replicate the explosiveness SMU quarterback JJ McDermott's 350-yard, four touchdown game that included a 71-yard bomb to Terrance Wilkerson to put the Mustangs up 14-0 midway through the first quarter.
Running back Zach Line also put up 121 yards while leading a June Jones team that was headed to an 8-5 season that ended with a win over Pittburgh in the Compass Bowl. That's almost exactly what TCU running back Emani Bailey averages after three games this season.
It could be that this game replicates that season entirely. TCU lost early on to Baylor, 50-48, in a back-and-forth battle that showed the Frogs were going to be a difficult out. Two weeks ago SMU hung tight with Oklahoma in a game that went the full four quarters as the Mustangs held the offensive edge.
After this week, there's not a game on the schedule that isn't winnable for the Ponies. If things are going to play themselves out again, the house may be divided on which side of the fence those associated with the Mustangs might fall. A few fans may want to take the 8-5 path SMU followed last time as long as it means claiming one of few remaining available wins over rival TCU that comes with bragging rights as the Skillet series nears its conclusion. However, for head coach Rhett Lashlee and all the boosters who quickly dropped down $100 million recently to make the move to the ACC go smoother, the idea of 10-2 heading into signing day with a solid bowl win on the horizon is far more valuable than the bounty from a rivalry game that will soon fade into history.
Either way, it all goes down one last time in Forth Worth, a city the Mustangs will soon fly over to go 1,700 miles to play an Atlantic Coast Conference game just across San Francisco Bay. That is unless Stanford and Cal end up having to fly over Fort Worth to play their home games in Dallas in a terribly confusing story that will hopefully make sense sometime in the near future.
The game will air on FS1 and FuboTV at 11 a.m. Saturday.
