'Bragging rights for all eternity': An ode to the Iron Skillet rivalry

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If you needed a metaphor for what has become of the TCU-SMU rivalry, once one of the best in college football, consider the trophy that's on the line Saturday. The Iron Skillet itself is not what we think it is.

The two schools, 40 miles apart, were once football royalty, Southwest Conference enemies playing with national championships on the line. Now, after multiple rounds of realignment, after NIL and revenue sharing and a path to the playoff became a priority, a rivalry is playing its final scheduled game. Disdain is not a business model anymore, unfortunately, for fans who long to feel it in their hearts.

The Horned Frogs and Mustangs first met in 1915, and within 20…