UNIVERSITY PARK — Conference realignment has been responsible for reunions and schisms between some of college football’s greatest rivals over the last few seasons.
One of the state’s most historic rivalries returns this year in the SEC when Texas and Texas A&M meet at Kyle Field on Nov. 30 after a 13-year hiatus.
Meanwhile, the region lost another great rivalry when the final Bedlam game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State took place last season ahead of OU’s move to a new conference.
College football realignment has buried some of the sport’s greatest traditions, which is why TCU deciding to end the Iron Skillet Rivalry has been such a tough pill to swallow for SMU.
It never had to happen.
“It was a nonconference game,” SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said Tuesday. “It could’ve been renewed as long as you wanted.”
TCU informed SMU last season that it would be ending the 100-plus-year rivalry after the 2025 meeting, citing a desire for more home games. TCU, which declined to make athletic director Jeremiah Donati available for an interview, reiterated that reasoning in a statement to The Dallas Morning News, saying, “With the changing environment in collegiate athletics we have paused the series and emphasized playing more home games to provide more TCU Football to our fans and ultimately help drive revenue.”
When the two teams take the field at 4 p.m. Saturday, it’ll be the final time they do so at Ford Stadium for the foreseeable future — and will turn SMU’s attention to the program’s next era.
While making the most of the final two games left in the rivalry, SMU will work to find a new rival, whether that be in the ACC or another Texas team willing to sacrifice one home game every other year.
“It’s disappointing and sad that such a great rivalry and long-standing rivalry is ending,” SMU AD Rick Hart said this week. “But beyond that, we’ve moved on. I’m excited about the teams that have populated our schedule for years to come. I think our fans have a lot to be excited about, not just the ACC opponents, but some of the nonconference opponents we’re bringing to Dallas and Ford Stadium.”
Finally on a level playing field
SMU has fought since the turn of the century to catch up to TCU and return the rivalry to a level playing field.
But just weeks before the Mustangs accepted an invitation to the ACC, TCU nixed the rivalry.
Saturday’s matchup at Ford Stadium will be the first where both teams enter as power conference teams in decades.
“It would’ve added, in my opinion, a layer of additional interest and intrigue had it played forward,” Hart said. “It has been a long time since both schools were conference foes and really equals at the power level.”
SMU and TCU shared a conference from 1923 to 2000 in the Southwest Conference until 1995 and the Western Athletic Conference until 2000. But TCU’s rise to the Big 12 left SMU behind until last year when the Mustangs finally returned to power-conference status.
Nevertheless, the rivalry survived all those years, through conference shifts and SMU’s death penalty. Since 1915, they’ve met 102 times — the fourth-most of any intrastate rivalry in Texas.
“Everybody needs a rival like that,” Hart said. “I think it’s good for college sports. And it’s just a natural rival.”
Lashlee said this week he’d “absolutely” keep playing TCU every year if the Horned Frogs chose to do so. TCU says it has existing nonconference commitments through 2030, but beyond that, leadership from both programs say they are open to discussions about renewing the rivalry.
“SMU has always been an important game to us,” Donati said in a statement. “Everything is on the table for future scheduling, and we would certainly welcome talking about future games versus SMU down the road.”
Finding a new rival
After next season, SMU will be left without a true rival set to appear on its schedule each year. But leadership in the athletic department sees multiple avenues to find one.
Beyond renewing the rivalry with TCU down the line, SMU’s new conference provides an opportunity for new high-stakes games to appear on its schedule each year. While there may not be a clear geographical rival, as SMU is the only ACC team in Texas, the outcomes of certain games could develop a new rivalry over time.
Hart says it’s also a preference for SMU to continue playing Texas teams in the coming years.
Baylor is on SMU’s nonconference schedule for a home-and-home series in 2025 and 2026. Lashlee suggested Houston as another rivalry that could be renewed. And Hart said he’s even having conversations with Texas about a neutral site game in the future.
“All those schools love to have a presence in Dallas, so that helps a lot,” Hart said. “We don’t have any limits in terms of Rhett. Rhett welcomes those challenges and those opportunities in the nonconference.”
But even if SMU fosters a new rivalry in the coming years, it’ll lack the century of history and tradition that the Iron Skillet Rivalry had. It may only be able to get that back after another realignment cycle or major shift in college football unfolds again.
On X/Twitter: @Lassimak
