Battle for the Iron Skillet: TCU vs. SMU Gamethread

SMU week is always an interesting one, because you can feel the changing of the season- things are getting colder, the leaves are beginning to crisp, and SMU fans have their Mustang shirts laid out on their beds, just in case. Like the seven year cicadas, they wait under the ground for their sign to come out and begin to make an ungodly racket that will disturb everyone in the metroplex for a week or so. No matter how badly SMU lost to Baylor, no matter how badly they were humilated against UNT, no matter how many points the Aggies ran up on them those shirts aren't buried so deep that the wrong result today won't see them unleashed on the metroplex. There's only one way to prevent those shirts from coming out into our streets, and that's to win this game and keep a tight hold on the prize- the Iron Skillet.

Today marks the 94th meeting between the TCU Horned Frogs and the SMU mustangs, and the series is only currently booked through to give us 98 meetings. The opinion in the fanbase is very fractured over just how many more times we want to see this rivalry contested, but there is one opinion that all Frogs share- losing our skillet is simply not acceptable. We won the skillet in its first year, we won the skillet last year, and for no matter how many more years we play SMU, I never want to see them holding our skillet again. They know this, and more than any other, they are ready for this game. They always are. Since 2005, seven frog teams have played against the ponies, a few of them absolutely world-destroying teams, and every time the game has been closer than it should have been, given the talent on both sides. So don't let the talk about fourth string quarterbacks, disappearing head coaches or considerations that this SMU team may be the worst in the nation lull you into complacency- against TCU, these mustangs will fight beyond the breaking point, scratching and clawing to try and seize our skillet. Patterson had better have his team ready, because even though Minnesota should be a decent Big Ten team, SMU is going to play better than they did today- and they're going to try and steal our damn skillet.

This is your gamethread for TCU vs. SMU, feel free to let loose with any comments or insight you may have as the game goes on.

Let's keep the SMU shirts with the cicadas they so resemble- buried deep underground.

Go Frogs.