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ESPN Classic just ran a show about the best rivalries in sports, a list of 20 that is meaningless since Oklahoma/Texas football is listed below Tennessee/UConn in women's basketball (although I'm OK with the top selections: Red Sox/Yankees, UNC/Duke hoops, Ali/Frazier, Magic/Bird, etc.)

Times have changed, of course since the old SWC days .... but who is our biggest rival now?

I know they're not a conference foe, but TCU still is the team I have circled on the calendar in every season in which we play them. Win or lose, that's the game I will not miss, ever. In fact, the loss to the 0-10 Frog team in the mid-90s hurt (me) more than the huge beating they handed down at Ford a few years ago .... and NOTHING felt better than 21-10 last year.

What do the rest of you think?

TCU. Hands down.

according to the TCU Coach Patterson SMU just couldn't make space in its Southland Conference schedule to play its "rival".

Good god, Stallion, the question wasn't about Patterson's assessment of our schedule. It was about who we - as PonyFans - think is SMU's biggest rival. Can you answer anything without a direct or indirect slap to SMU's collective face?

Hilltopper wrote:Good god, Stallion, the question wasn't about Patterson's assessment of our schedule. It was about who we - as PonyFans - think is SMU's biggest rival. Can you answer anything without a direct or indirect slap to SMU's collective face?

I think Stallion's point is that rivalries are a two-way street.

I'm sure Stallion is glad to have you speak on his behalf, because he is rather bashful. But the original question, at the risk of speaking for Hilltopper, sounded like who we - as PONYfans - consider our biggest rival. Whether they consider us a rival or not doesn't seem relevant here.

With that said, it's got to be TCU.

Although honestly, Tulsa is a natural rival, too. Damn, I'd like to see the Ponies whip those guys this year.

TCU is our definite rival - a cross town rival, in fact - which in iself is special in CFB, but also inescapable whether or not either of the teams likes it...its part of our long CFB history together

within our conf, i'd say we need to focus on Rice and Tulane

making a big deal out of Rice would enhance our academic image nationally and Tulane is also a well known school with footprint as SMU

If nature had been allowed to run its course from the early 80s on, and SMU had played the hand dealt it with a little more humility, and had Texas not been so terrified of being one-upped by the Ponies regularly, the Longhorns would have been long-time rivals of ours.

If If IF...oh well.

That being said, the reason TCU is such rival is the crap that comes with them. Ever sat within earshot of the TCU bunch at Moody? Or walked by 'em at AGC? Or seen 'em at Ford?

TCU is our biggest rival -- there's no question about it.

However, since we don't play them (guess we'll have to hang on to that Skillet for another year), I'll take a page out of the Gospel According to Coach Bennett: Texas Tech is our biggest rival, because that's our next opponent.

TCU and the Battle for the Iron Skillet (which we have til 2008?) for out of conference

I think Rice is our true in conference rival

Right now TCU is, but I think long term we might develop a rivalry with Tulane. A team in a metro area with a long history that included major conference opponents, a scandel or two and an academic overreaction to the scandels and similar student body demographics. TCU has for whatever reason decided that SMU/TCU are not joined at the hip anymore and have twice moved on to greener pastures without SMU. As a result, I think as time wears on, each school's coaching staff and AD will view the game as less and less of a rivalry and more and more of a headache. What happens when TCU comes back down to earth and plays like TCU and SMU someday gets better and we run another long string of wins against them. I suspect at that point, TCU and SMU will part company.

I don't think SMU and TCU will ever part ways in terms of scheduling each other in football. With the economics of today's college football world, playing this game makes too much sense - when you are the away team, its still a non-travel away game. This is also why I think it makes sense for us to schedule UNT as well.

We have no rivalry at this time. In order to have a rivalry, you must have someone who HAS to beat you. No one has HAD to beat SMU for some time. The opposition expects to win and for the past several years, has. Arkansas always lists Texas as their biggest rival. Texas does not even acknowledge Arkansas as competitive. Needless to say, in that case Texas has been embarassed lately, but if you asked UT their rival, first it is OU and second first it is A&M. I do not think Arkansas even gets the next billing, probably Tech. But the Arkies run around talking up how Texas is their big rivalry. It is kind of sad in a humorous way. We can claim TCU as our rival, but unless they claim us, their is no rivalry. Right now each game we play is a game that can begin the establishment of a rivalry. Although non-competive at times, I would view TTech as our biggest rival right now, not because it is the next game, but because of the way the last one ended. We are certainly not first on Tech's list but you know they will remember our "bully" of a coach trying to beat up their coach. That's how rivalries get started. Now we need to become competitive.

North Texas. They seem to think we kept them out of CUSA and love to talk smack. Could become a fun series.

You don't develop a rivalry with the help.