Getting to know U(niversities): Southern Methodist University

So, we all know a significant amount about the pony folk from across the metroplex- they're generally awful people, play generally awful football and occasionally spoil an otherwise good football season for superior teams. I personally consider them the less awful Baylor to the East, while many Frog fans consider Baylor the less awful SMU to the South. As indisputably factual as all of the horrible things that you may think about SMU are, there's still more factual information that is often glossed over about the easterners and that's where Frogs O' War fills in the gap. Join me after the jump as we review the details of Southern Methodist Univesity, and mock their obvious inferiority.

Tale of the Tape: Southern Methodist University Mustangs

Location: Dallas, Texas

Stadium: Gerald J. Ford Stadium (Named for a billionaire Mustang fan, not the president. That's Gerald R. Ford who was a Michigan man.)

Overall Record: 439-477-54. Below .500, for shame.

Championships: One National Championship (1935, they shared with us), 11 conference titles (all Southwest Conference).

Conference History: Joined the Southwest Confernce in 1918, joined the Western Athletic Conference in 1996, left for Conference USA in 2005 (when they threatened to not play us anymore if we left for the Mountain West), will join the Big East in 2013.

Traditions: Cheating. This isn't just rival hate here either, SMU cheated a lot. They don't give the death penalty to just anyone- in fact, they only gave it to one team: SMU. They're also well known for being pompous and unpleasant to be around. Okay, that might be rivalry talking.

Rivals: Texas Christian University Horned Frogs, Rice Owls, North Texas Mean Green. We're all familiar with the battle for the Iron Skillet, but SMU actually has some decent heat with Rice as well, playing for the Mayor's Cup. Rice is not exactly known for its football prowess, but they're historically head and shoulders above SMU's other listed Texan rival, North Texas. I love the green as much as anyone (probably more than most) but a school that counts North Texas among its rivals is in trouble. Actually, unlike SMU, North Texas actually has an all time winning record. I retract my previous statement, perhaps it's the Mean Green who can do better.

You may remember them from such TCU games as: It's a section I always include, but we all remember SMU games. The Frogs hold a 44-40-7 series lead, (impressive considering SMU had a long winning streak in the series during their glory days of playing fast and loose with the rules). The two teams have met almost every year since 1915, with a few hiccups here and there due to scheduling disagreements or SMU not being allowed to field a team. SMU won the last meeting (ugh) and TCU won the four before that

What else is "need to know" about Southern Methodist University?: Enjoy them while you can. In a world where TCU plays a nine game conference schedule and has their rivalries with Baylor and Tech renewed it may become increasingly difficult to find room on the schedule to play the ponies every year. I recognize that I've been sounding the alarm bells about the rivalry possibly ending for some time now, but situations like the BYU-Utah Holy War Series illustrate what can happen when rivals in different conferences have different priorities, and I think that there are definite parallels to be made between the two series. What else is need to know about SMU? According to the excellent play series "Greater Tuna" it's where rich kids go instead of reform school. What else needs to be said?