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It’s Iron Skillet week, as you well know, and the Frogs O’ War staff is here to tell you how this game will go, who will lead TCU Football to victory, and whether or not this game still matters.
Be sure to chime in with your thoughts in the comments!
TCU Football vs SMU: FOW Staff Predictions
| Name | Saturday is the 100th Battle for the Iron Skillet, one of the longest rivalries in the sport. But not all TCU fans feel that it matters. Where do you stand on TCU vs SMU? | SMU was left out of the most recent round of Big 12 expansion. Do you think that was a right choice for the Big 12, and does your association with TCU impact that feeling? | The Horned Frogs open as a 10 point favorite over the 3-0 Mustangs. That line is: | The best wide receiver on the field Saturday will be: | Who will be the game's offensive MVP? | Who will be the game's defensive MVP? | TCU needs to do ___________ to take back the Iron Skillet. | If SMU does ______________, they'll keep the Skillet in Dallas. | The final score will be: | BONUS: Do you have a favorite Iron Skillet game memory? |
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| Name | Saturday is the 100th Battle for the Iron Skillet, one of the longest rivalries in the sport. But not all TCU fans feel that it matters. Where do you stand on TCU vs SMU? | SMU was left out of the most recent round of Big 12 expansion. Do you think that was a right choice for the Big 12, and does your association with TCU impact that feeling? | The Horned Frogs open as a 10 point favorite over the 3-0 Mustangs. That line is: | The best wide receiver on the field Saturday will be: | Who will be the game's offensive MVP? | Who will be the game's defensive MVP? | TCU needs to do ___________ to take back the Iron Skillet. | If SMU does ______________, they'll keep the Skillet in Dallas. | The final score will be: | BONUS: Do you have a favorite Iron Skillet game memory? |
| Russ Hodges | I think SMU has improved a lot over the last few seasons. The Mustangs have been able to score quite a few points and I suspect this year's Iron Skillet will wind up in a shootout. | Memphis was the only school I thought was justified in being upset about the lack of inclusion. But as we should know already, expansion may not be over. | Too Low | Quentin Johnston | Max Duggan. SMU allowed Austin Kendall to light it up with five touchdown passes and I suspect the Mustangs will struggle on defense once again. | Khari Coleman. I think his return will bolster the pass rush | Slow down the SMU passing attack. Former OU QB Tanner Mordecai has been tremendous to open the season. | The Mustangs will win if they can win the turnover margin. Duggan and TCU will need to take care of the football. | TCU 38 SMU 31 | Kenedy Snell totaling 105 yards and two TDs in 2017. Oh what could've been... |
| Christian Tjoa | I am not nearly invested in this game enough to think it should be a yearly thing. I’d like a rotation of several G5 Texas schools over the years to keep it fresh; UTSA is just as exciting an opponent at this moment as SMU. | Easily the right choice, anyone saying otherwise is suffering from hardcore recency bias. SMU wouldn’t even be my next team out (Memphis). I don’t think my TCU bias influences this call, and based on the national conversation, no one seems to offended SMU was left out besides Pony fans. | Just Right | Quentin Johnston | Max Duggan | Tre Hodges-Tomlinson | Keep Tanner Mordecai’s statline below the torrid pace he’s set so far this season | Shuts down the TCU run game | 45-34 | Whiteout game my freshman year (2015). Game was on my birthday and we threw the ball all over them |
| Anthony North | Play the game. If you want to argue for a 2-for-1 or always in Fort Worth, fine, but what’s your preferred alternative? You can play an additional middling P5 like Purdue or Cal or Texas. Or a rotating G5 body bag game like Rice or TX State. In either case, losing is a disaster and winning is met with shrugs, same as with SMU. | Yes & Yes. | Too High | Quentin Johnston | Ulysses Bentley. TCU safeties are forced to support the pass coverage, and Bentley will break some and sneak out for some wheels and screens to compile big stats | La’Kendrick Van Zandt. He’ll be tasked with containing Calcaterra, slowing Bentley, and preventing the deadly posts from Rice. If LVZ wins his assignments, the Frogs win. | Create a disruptive pass rush and prevent explosive plays | Forces FGs and creates turnovers. | 33-24 | The Brock Block or the Reagor Hail Mary. Both came when the Frogs were trailing and needed some fire to kick them into gear. Both games ended as blowout TCU wins as part of 10+ win seasons. What will be The Moment from the 2021 edition that propels TCU to another all-time great season? |
| Garrett Podell | TCU doesn't have much to gain from this rivalry. They've won 17 of the last 20, and this is a game they're supposed to win. This series doesn't prevent much of a schedule boost either as SMU is non-Power 5 team and looks to be on the outside looking in for awhile. The Horned Frogs could use that schedule slot be rotating different Power 5 teams in each year. | Yes because what have the done on the football field in the last decade or two that stands out? From a TV contract perspective, the driver behind all expansion talks, it didn't make sense as TCU has established itself as the better Metroplex time over the last two decades. My association with TCU doesn't impact that feeling. Their isn't much of a case to build as to why SMU should've been part of this round of Big 12 expansion. | Just Right | Quentin Johnston | Zach Evans | Ochaun Mathis | do a good job taking care of the football and using the ground game to control the temp of the game and keep their defense on the sidelines resting. | take advantage of TCU's secondary like Cal did, but throughout the entire game from start to finish | TCU 38-SMU 28 | Jalen Reagor's Hail Mary touchdown catch over four people at the end of the first half in 2017. |
| Melissa Triebwasser | I still enjoy this rivalry, probably because it's the first TCU Football game that I really cared about as a student. I totally understand that this is their Super Bowl, and most years, the Horned Frogs don't care as much about it. But when you have two teams that have played 100 times and for more than a century -- and are located less than an hour apart from each other -- it would suck not to keep that rivalry alive. And now that SMU is a respectable program again? It should get fun. | Screw 'em. Enjoy the dregs of the AAC for a few more years Ponies. Maybe you'll get a life raft when the whole thing blows up in 2025. | Too High | Quentin Johnston | Zach Evans. Let Zach eat. | I really want it to be CJ Ceasar but I think that the biggest difference maker Saturday has to be Ochaun Mathis. TCU has got to get in the backfield early and often and ruin Tanner Mordecai's day. | The Frogs have to find a way to rush the passer, run block well, and keep SMU from getting big chunks of yardage after the catch and over the top. | If they can continue to exploit the TCU secondary for big plays in the passing game, the Frogs will lose in a shootout. | 42-38 Frogs. But I don't feel good about it. | The first Iron Skillet game I remember is the famed 1997 matchup that saw 0-10 TCU defeat 6-4 SMU, a result so surprising that TCU fans tore down the goal posts and got pepper sprayed by campus security. 56-0 in 2014 was a lot of fun, too. |