Was SMU’s successful recruitment of two TCU players the reason the Skillet is toast?

When two TCU players transferred to SMU this offseason, the consensus was they left not for playing time, or that they were unhappy, but rather cash.

SMU’s successful “recruitment” of TCU wide receiver Jordan Hudson this spring did not make TCU administrators happy, even if his former teammates understood.

Quiet charges of “tampering” were tossed about, which the NCAA, NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, Big 10, Big 12 and probably the FBI have zero power to stop.

According to TCU staffers and players, Hudson was offered a lot of money — think six figures to sign — along with a nice place to live in downtown Dallas as well as a (very expensive) car that he would not have to cover the note. There were some other toys thrown in there, too.

The departure of defensive back Kyron Chambers from TCU to SMU didn’t upset people quite as much as Hudson. Chambers probably was not going to play much yet for TCU, whereas Hudson was expected to start as TCU looked to replace L.A. Chargers first round pick, Quentin Johnston.

This bit of recruiting news is not the reason TCU hit the pause button on its series against SMU. It didn’t help.

TCU was tiring of “helping” out SMU over the last decade, and last month coach Sonny Dykes all but said TCU no longer wants to play its long-time Metroplex rival.

During the Texas High School Coaches Convention in San Antonio last month, Dykes was sitting at a podium when he was asked by a reporter about TCU maintaining its series with SMU.

“Yeah,” Dykes said, “that’s gonna’ be interesting to see how that plays out.”

Translation: This is over.

A few days later, I asked SMU coach Rhett Lashlee about the future of this series.

“He and I haven’t talked about it but I know when he was the head coach at SMU, and I worked for him, he always thought we should play. I feel the same way,” Lashlee said. “It doesn’t matter what leagues were in. I understand realignment, the regional rivalries are leaving a lot of places, but, I mean, you have two schools in a major metropolitan area, over 100 years together.

“In the last four or five years, it’s gotten good again. I mean, I don’t know why we wouldn’t play it.”

Because TCU doesn’t want to, which is sad. TCU will “pause” its series with SMU after the 2025 season because The Iron Skillet isn’t hot enough to fry an egg.

If this game packed either stadium, and generated above-the-norm revenue for a non-conference game, TCU might play it. If a TV exec’ forced the issue, TCU would relent.

The Iron Skillet being placed in the cabinet is part of the evolution of college football, which increasingly is becoming a national TV property, similar to the NFL.

Regionalization may (should) come back, but until it does the Skillet is dead in favor of Rutgers at Oregon, Purdue vs. UCLA, and Central Florida at TCU.

For the record, this isn’t interesting. It stinks.

TCU should play SMU. The game is for the fans, and the fans of these two small, private schools in Dallas-Fort Worth should enjoy their annual member-guest.

SMU athletic director Rick Hart issued a statement where he expressed disappointment.

“It’s the game Grantland Rice, the famous sportswriter, called ‘The Game of the Century,’ in 1935,” Hart’s statement said.

There is a problem: “In 1935.”

Former TCU coach Gary Patterson for years groused about this game, mostly because in the last 15 years of his tenure he could only lose by playing SMU.

But Gary also understood the tradition between the two universities, and their respective fan bases; he wasn’t always happy about it, but he honored both.

Few people in this era scheduled better than Patterson; he was wonderfully clever in finding the non-conference opponent from the major conference that had the name, but not really the team.

He also managed to sell TCU v. SMU as a some version of Alabama v. Auburn; a game where statistics and records meant nothing. When TCU won, he had cleared Everest while holding his breath.

TCU hitting “pause” on this series, according to their coach, is due to college football’s move from a four-team to a 12-team playoff.

“That changes your scheduling dynamic,” Dykes said that day in San Antonio. “We have to decide, what is our objective? We’re going to be a team that tries to play a large number of home games. You have to look at the dynamic of it all, and our objective is to get into the 12-team college football playoff.

“It’s really, really important to be smart about scheduling. You have to take care of your season ticket holders, obviously, also to your situation (so it) makes sense for you when it comes to your end goal.”

Season ticket holders want compelling matchups. They also want wins more than they do Big v Big. That detail is something former Kansas State coach Bill Snyder knew better than any human being alive, or dead.

“That rivalry is one of those things we’ll have to see how it plays out, and how it fits into the whole thing,” Dykes said. “There is a lot of complicated things when it comes to scheduling.”

What’s not complicated is that if Dykes wanted to play SMU the contract would be done this week.

He doesn’t, so the Iron Skillet is just another pan in a cabinet.