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Loss of SMU-TCU rivalry magnifies most troubling trend in college football

The battle for the Iron Skillet isn’t the nation’s greatest rivalry, but it’s part of the foundation that made the game great.

I cannot pretend that the average Dallas-Fort Worth sports fan cares deeply about the SMU-TCU football rivalry. So the news Wednesday that the 2025 season will mark the last game between the two schools — at least for the foreseeable future — should not have knocked anyone’s socks off. It’s just another shoe falling in a cascade of lost and abandoned rivalries that built the foundation of college football.

SMU and TCU have played since 1915, and TCU, per a school spokesperson, is going to pause the rivalry after the schools play in Fort Worth in 2025. Again this should surprise no one. The folks who have longed for, pined for, dreamed of an extended College Football Playoff at the end of each season have got what they wanted. There will be a 12-team playoff starting in 2024. And that’s going to have every team in the Power 5 or Power 4 conferences (whatever the case may be) looking to drop competitive games from its non-conference schedules.

So this is different from the news that Oklahoma will no longer play Oklahoma State after this season when they meet for the 118th time. Same with Oregon and Oregon State, who have staged their “civil war” since 1894. Those rivalries — like Missouri-Kansas and Texas-Texas A&M in 2011 — were halted because of teams changing conferences. As we have seen, change is the only constant in college football and now the Aggies and Longhorns are free to renew their battles once the Longhorns settle into the SEC.

With TCU, this is different. This is about a school knowing that in order to seek a spot in the 12-team national playoff, it can’t afford non-conference defeats. In particular, teams can’t stomach losses to schools that are outside the major conferences. For that reason, why does anyone in the Big 12 or ACC or other major leagues want to play SMU or, for that matter, UTSA? There is little to gain and so much to lose.

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Of course, Frogs coach Sonny Dykes saw this rivalry much differently in 2021 when the Mustangs upset TCU, 42-34, in Fort Worth. But he and the Frogs have the right to do what they see as best for their school. I just wonder if administrators anywhere, while counting those temporary dollars coming in, pause to think about the nature of rivalries and what gave birth to the popularity of this game, resulting in so many big payouts along the way.

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Washington and Washington State, 114 years of history. Texas and Baylor, 112 years of conflict including one in which Grant Teaff spat out a worm to fire up his Bears before a 1978 upset of the Longhorns.

I know a younger generation insists that new rivalries will replace the old and the money will keep pouring in. Maybe so for some schools. But I do think the total disregard for geography and history (does anyone remember driving to road games as college students?) leaves a void that won’t be filled simply by collecting greater TV revenues. And that’s without even getting into the absolute trampling of other sports in a world where football decisions are the only decisions.

Catch an Iron Skillet game while it’s still hot. It won’t be around much longer.

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Find more TCU coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

Find more SMU coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.