TCU AD addresses whether SMU joining ACC impacts future of Iron Skillet rivalry

SMU was part of a major realignment move on the eve of Saturday of Week 1, joining Stanford and Cal in joining the ACC. And SMU’s local rival, TCU, has already been pressed about the annual football game for the Iron Skillet.

TCU AD Jeremiah Donati demurred on Friday when asked about potentially re-upping the series. As of now, it’s poised to cease after 2025 because TCU is indefinitely “pausing” scheduling the Mustangs.

“Possibly. … When the dust settles, we’ll have a discussion with them,” Donati said of resuming the rivalry further down the line, according to the The Athletic’s David Ubben.

The last time SMU and TCU did not play each other is relatively recent, as Covid-19 nixed the 2020 matchup, a game scheduled to be played at SMU. TCU wound up not playing a nonconference game that season and just faced nine Big 12 opponents.

One has to go back to the late 1980s in order to find the last multi-year stretch where the Dallas-Fort Worth rivals did not play for the Iron Skillet. There have been 101 matchups between the two in total in the history of the rivalry.

And for it to continue, it would be come and Big 12 vs. ACC clash — not a new rivalry, but perhaps a new out-of-conference rivalry as the college football landscape shifts.

The ACC announced SMU, Cal and Stanford joined after news leaked on Friday morning

The league announced the additions Friday morning, just a couple of hours after news leaked that the ACC had voted to bring in the three schools.

All three schools will join the ACC in 2024, with SMU coming on board July 1, 2024 and Stanford and Cal joining Aug. 2, 2024.

They will be full members with full voting participation.

“We are thrilled to welcome three world-class institutions to the ACC, and we look forward to having them compete as part of our amazing league,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement. “Throughout the evaluation process, the ACC Board of Directors, led by President [James] Ryan, was deliberate in prioritizing the best possible athletic and academic experience for our student-athletes and in ensuring that the three universities would strengthen the league in all possible ways. Cal, SMU and Stanford will be terrific members of the ACC and we are proud to welcome their student-athletes, coaches, staff and entire campus community, alumni and fans.”

The ACC needed 12 “yes” votes in order to expand. On Friday morning, it got them.

Clemson, Florida State, NC State and North Carolina had been against expanding. However, NC State flipped and voted “yes” on Friday, which led to the three schools being added.