The Battle for the Iron Skillet

The Mustangs (1-2) will take on the Horned Frogs (1-2) at 11 a.m. Saturday in Amon Carter Stadium on the TCU campus in a rivalry dating to 1915.

The annual Battle for the Iron Skillet drew special attention this year from CNN's Rivalry Express series, which broadcasted live Friday morning on the HLN network. See the promotional segments aired during the week:

  SMU Mustangs at TCU Horned Frogs   
  The Strangest Trophy in College Football?  

Click the images below for more information:

SMU Game Day site	HLN's Rivalry Express on SMU vs TCU
Mustangs look at The Game

The Mustangs and the Horned Frogs first met on Oct. 18, 1915, when the Frogs won 43-0. When SMU last played in Fort Worth in 2011, SMU won 40-33. TCU currently holds a slight 45-40-7 edge for the series.

The two teams have played all but six years since that first game. They did not face each other in 1919, 1920, 1925, 1987, 1988, or 2006. Although no longer in the same conference, SMU and TCU agreed to play each season through at least 2017 on an alternating home-and-away basis.

The Battle of the Iron Skillet tradition began in 1946 when an SMU fan was frying frog legs as a joke before the game. An offended TCU fan told him that eating the frog legs was beyond rivalry and suggested the game decide who would get the skillet and the frog legs. The skillet exchange eventually evolved into a tradition and the Iron Skillet is now passed to the winner after each game.