D Magazine: TCU’s Ambitions Are Bigger Than the Iron Skillet, and North Texas is Worse For it

[TopFrog]

TCU’s Ambitions Are Bigger Than the Iron Skillet, and North Texas is Worse For it​

The Horned Frogs abandoned their rivalry with SMU for a better chance of belonging in college football's new landscape. That may not help them, and it definitely won't help anyone else.

By Mike Piellucci

I wrote a piece last week about SMU’s very obvious, very desperate quest to move to a new conference, and why it regrettably made a bunch of sense. In the interest of self-promotion, I’ll say that if you’re a Mustangs fan who hasn’t read it, you should, because it’s pertinent to your interests. (In which case, go here, then mosey on back this way once you’re done.)

But if you have read it and/or you care about a college football team other than SMU, the evergreen takeaways can be found in the first sentence:

College football realignment absolutely sucks, and the suckiest part of all is that there’s no end to it on the horizon.

Read the article at https://www.dmagazine.com/sports/20...iron-skillet-and-north-texas-is-worse-for-it/

 

[TopFrog]

SMU is getting left behind. They just haven't done what it took to stay relevant. Thank Gawd for our leadership and vision the last two decades.

 

[froginmn]

That was a pretty good article but I had to laugh at this:

That lines up neatly with Dykes’ comments ...nonconference scheduling amounts to taking care of season-ticket holders first, “the end goal”—read: College Football Playoff hopes—second"

That is the alpha and omega of this conversation. There is no room for tradition if it carries any chance of damaging upfront profits or the prospect of moonshot outcomes.

Uh, we were in the playoffs this past year...

 

[TemCatFrog71]

Oh my Mike, you write so well! But, you need to remember, when the SWC broke up and SMU, TCU, Rice & Houston were kicked to the curb, TCU was the only program of those four that put together a plan to become relevant in this very changing world of college football. Like you, I too don't like to see the end of that rivalry. I had the good fortune to be a part of that tradition for 4 years playing against the Ponies. But Sir, why do you place SMU's "misfortune" on TCU, when it is SMU that did nothing to move themselves forward. Maybe, at some point down the road SMU will understand that TCU is not SMU's savior in the new "dog eat dog" world of college football. Perhaps your angst needs to be directed at the "Hilltoppers". I would love to see this rivalry continue, but the world of NCAA athletics is changing and the Frogs are peddling as fast as they can to keep up ( small program in pool of state funded semi-pros) as you said. I hope SMU wakes up to the realities of the new world order and do their own lifting instead of expecting someone to do it for them. The maybe that wonderful rivialy can be reborn.

 

[Moose Stuff]

LMAO at people pretending to care about this game. The only people worse off because of this is SMU and they're getting what they deserved IMO. Nobody else actually gives a scheiss.

 

[Froggy Style]

Oh the outrage that TCU is simply playing the game started by ESPN/Disney, Texas, Bama, and Ohio St. The difference is, these same writers are too scared to write the same article about Oklahoma refusing to play OSU, Oregon leaving Oregon St, Washington leaving WSU, etc, etc, etc.

 

[06DallasFrog]

“But nothing short of multiple national titles could ever compel people outside of North Texas to care about TCU football as fervently as those in Dallas and Fort Worth do for that Saturday each fall when two fanbases come together and loathe the hell out of each other and watch their football teams make a memory.”

This is laughable.

 

[frogs9497]

My only takeaway was the author’s bitterness.

 

[Eight]

My only takeaway was the author’s bitterness.

 

[allclearforfrogs]

Do you think it also had to do with TCU's fan experience at the SMU game last year?

 

[Fred Garvin]

The slant on this article is the easy one. The harder one is to admit that SMU Football has been an utter failure over the last 30 years. Failing to win a conference championship in multiple G5 conferences. They downsized their stadium, yet still can't fill it unless TCU comes to town. Their students and alumni would rather party outside the stadium than watch their team play. They are utterly irrelevant on the national stage that whole time. Now desperate donors are trying to buy their way into a conference by groveling at the feet of every P5 conference who might add teams. They didn't do anything to earn their way in. They want in by doing what they are known for - writing checks.

But this is all TCU's fault. - Right.

 

[CryptoMiner]

I guess it was well written even though littered with childish language, guess that is the norm these days.

He seems to overstate the popularity of the rivalry. Most of the major rivalry games are between schools in the same conference and the few that aren't are at least between schools in P5 conferences (or Notre Dame). Army/Navy the big exception.

For most of the history of the Iron Skillet TCU and SMU were conference mates or eventually both discarded to lower level conferences. Now the disparity is becoming wider and the relevance is simply location. You don't see students from each team packing the streets before or after the game, the pregame hype is limited to fan boards and the rivalry basically had to be force fed to the fans.

It never was the Iron Bowl and saying it was the biggest rivalry college game in North Texas is a claim with too many qualifiers to make significant. Baylor and Tech right now are bigger rivals to TCU than SMU.

 

[gohornedfrogs]

This whole episode is emblematic of the distinct cultural differences between SMU and TCU. By and large, TCU's culture is that success comes from gaining a high-quality education, hard work, and then producing results.

SMU's culture is that success is based on privilege and being able to buy your way into or out of anything.

 

[BleedNPurple]

There's no crying in football - well except UT and A$M. Go make new rivalries.

 

[Limp Lizard]

“But nothing short of multiple national titles could ever compel people outside of North Texas to care about TCU football as fervently as those in Dallas and Fort Worth do for that Saturday each fall when two fanbases come together and loathe the hell out of each other and watch their football teams make a memory.”

This is laughable.

Wow. The only people who looked forward to that game were SMU fans, and their team. TCU would sleepwalk into the stadium and get beaten up or even lose a game.

 

[Panther City Frog]

There's no crying in football - well except UT and A$M. Go make new rivalries.

This is an excellent point. I would rather watch TCU-Utah or TCU-BYU than watch them play smew.

 

[Prince of Purpoole II]

LMAO at people pretending to care about this game. The only people worse off because of this is SMU and they're getting what they deserved IMO. Nobody else actually gives a scheiss.

Ah yes, life in North Texas is now diminished.

 

[ShreveFrog]

Oh my Mike, you write so well! But, you need to remember, when the SWC broke up and SMU, TCU, Rice & Houston were kicked to the curb, TCU was the only program of those four that put together a plan to become relevant in this very changing world of college football. Like you, I too don't like to see the end of that rivalry. I had the good fortune to be a part of that tradition for 4 years playing against the Ponies. But Sir, why do you place SMU's "misfortune" on TCU, when it is SMU that did nothing to move themselves forward. Maybe, at some point down the road SMU will understand that TCU is not SMU's savior in the new "dog eat dog" world of college football. Perhaps your angst needs to be directed at the "Hilltoppers". I would love to see this rivalry continue, but the world of NCAA athletics is changing and the Frogs are peddling as fast as they can to keep up ( small program in pool of state funded semi-pros) as you said. I hope SMU wakes up to the realities of the new world order and do their own lifting instead of expecting someone to do it for them. The maybe that wonderful rivialy can be reborn.

 

[Double D]

Last year's edition with the 100° weather and no bottled water in the stadium did not help SMU's case.

 

[HornedFroginAustin]

I guess it was well written even though littered with childish language, guess that is the norm these days.

He seems to overstate the popularity of the rivalry. Most of the major rivalry games are between schools in the same conference and the few that aren't are at least between schools in P5 conferences (or Notre Dame). Army/Navy the big exception.

For most of the history of the Iron Skillet TCU and SMU were conference mates or eventually both discarded to lower level conferences. Now the disparity is becoming wider and the relevance is simply location. You don't see students from each team packing the streets before or after the game, the pregame hype is limited to fan boards and the rivalry basically had to be force fed to the fans.

It never was the Iron Bowl and saying it was the biggest rivalry college game in North Texas is a claim with too many qualifiers to make significant. Baylor and Tech right now are bigger rivals to TCU than SMU.

I'd say TCU and Baylor are bigger rivals now than TCU and SMU.