DFW college football teams battle for the Iron Skillet

by Todd E. Jones of of College Football Top Ten

This Saturday night, September 20, 2008, the TCU Horned Frogs and the Southern Methodist University Mustangs will play each other for the eighty-eighth time since 1915 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas. The match-up has been dubbed the DFW Duel: The Battle for the Iron Skillet. TCU comes in to the game with a 3-0 record while SMU shows up at 1-2. In spite of the fact that this is SMU Head Coach June Jones' first time to be a part of the DFW Duel, it is not the first time Jones has squared off against TCU Head Coach Gary Patterson. When Patterson was Defensive Coordinator for the Frogs, TCU played Jones' Hawaii Warriors team as members of the Western Athletic Conference in 1999 and 2000 with TCU winning both games. The Horned Frogs have won three out of the last four games with the Ponies. SMU upset TCU during the 2005 season for the Frogs' only loss of the year.

Thurs far, TCU has been dominant in its three wins. The Frogs average 398 total yards per game while only giving up 174 total yards per game. TCU has outscored its opponents 124 to 24 holding their opponents to a single rushing and passing touchdown. For SMU, the Mustangs have scored a total of 84 points on the season, but they have given up 135 points. SMU has held its own in the passing game averaging 303 yards per game to their opponents' 334.3 yards. However, the Ponies have yielded an average of 207 rushing yards per game while only gaining an average of 44.3 yards per game.

For SMU to have a chance, they will have to limit TCU's rushing yardage which averages 241.3 yards per game forcing Frog quarterback Andy Dalton to beat them in the passing game. Further, the Ponies will have to be able to take the pressure off of Freshman quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell by getting some yards on the ground. SMU's "run and shoot" offense is not really designed to have a strong running game, but the use of screens and short passes to the running backs could help slow down the front four of TCU.

The DFW Duel will be broadcast locally on 103.3 FM, ESPN Radio, KTCU 88.7 FM and on 1310 AM, The Ticket. Game starts at 7:00 p.m. The game will also be broadcast live video stream on the internet through CBS College Sports Network. Fans can sign up to watch the game through either GoFrogs.com or SMUMustangs.com.