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Fried frogs served a la carte

Published: Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Updated: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 17:11

On Friday, the SMU Mustangs will play the TCU Horned Frogs in a matchup unlike any other.

The Battle for the Iron Skillet is a tradition that students look forward to every year, as is the friendly rivalry between the Frogs and the Mustangs.

Most students are of the opinion that SMU cannot win on Friday. Well, they are wrong.

The Mustangs have played the Frogs every season but six since 1915, no matter what conference of which the two teams were a member.

Of the 87 games that SMU has played against TCU, seven games were tied, SMU won 39, and TCU leads with a mere 41 wins.

TCU may have won the most games thus far, but the Mustangs have the longest winning streak to date. SMU proudly kept the Iron Skillet from 1972-1986 as the result of a 15 game winning streak.

The Frogs have only managed to win seven games in a row; a streak that was wiped clean by an SMU victory in 2005. That season, by the way, was a season where TCU was undefeated, that is, until they played the Mustangs.

Mustangs have a history of stopping the Frogs in their tracks. The rumor of how The Battle for the Iron Skillet got its name is a prime example.

 

Before a game between SMU and TCU, a Mustang was frying up Frog legs. A TCU fan scolded the Mustang for the display and said the two should let the football game decide who goes home with the frog legs and the skillet.

I have no doubt that the Mustangs got to keep the Frog legs and the skillet that day.

With the leadership of June Jones our football team has risen to a competitive level that is more than capable of dealing with the TCU Frogs on Friday. Their team has lost some key players and ours has gained more than a few.

 With the support of the student body and a full stadium on Friday, I do not see how the Mustangs can lose. So, this Family Weekend, bring your brothers and sisters, bring your moms and bring your dads, because SMU is going to be dominating all the Horned Frogs out there. Who knows, this Battle of the Iron Skillet could spark another winning streak for the Mustangs.

Katie Perkins is the student body secretary. She can be reached for comments or questions at kperkins@smu.edu

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1 comments Log in to Comment

ConcernedJournalist
Wed Sep 22 2010 23:15
I was reading different previews for this game and saw some concerning things. At the same time, I had to do a class project finding fact errors in articles. I've hit the jackpot. There are so many things wrong with this article.

1. To say SMU "proudly" kept the skillet may not be incorrect, but it is poor journalism not to mention the death penalty that was imposed for the worst recruiting violations in NCAA football history. Violations that took place during... hmmmm... the mid-70's and 1986.
2. If you check every source (ESPN, Fanbase, your own SMU newspaper) TCU is 43-39-7 against SMU. Not 41. Stay away from wikipedia.
3. TCU's longest win streak is six games, before you beat them in 2005, so you make them look better than they are! I'm sure Frog fans will let you keep that one in there, though.
4. You should have doubt about who won the infamous game where the skillet originated. TCU won the game. That's why TCU got to go and keep the skillet. That's why the skillet is relevant.
5. If TCU has more wins, you don't say they have a mere 41 wins (which, again, is incorrect). You don't call something mere if it's better than you. For instance, most articles have 2 or 3 mistakes while this one has a mere 6 does not sound good. They have a mere lead with 41 wins (which, again, is incorrect).
6. To say TCU was undefeated before SMU in 2005 is misleading. They were 1-0, and had just beaten Oklahoma at Norman (something that has only happened 3 times under Bop Stoops.) It's much more impressive if you talked about how TCU's only loss was to SMU, even after beating Oklahoma.

I know this is an opinion article, and it's fun to get everyone hyped up, but not at the expense of poor writing, worse fact-checking, and even worse editing. I understand Ms. Perkins is probably not a journalism student, she's just a student officer ready to excited her school, so I don't blame her. I blame the lack of editing at your newspaper. Clearly SMU's journalism school has work left to do to get the level of Cox.

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