SMU topped TCU 42-34 on Saturday to win its second straight game over the Horned Frogs, retaining the famed Iron Skillet. The battle between the two in-state rivals didn’t end between the white lines, though. TCU special assistant coach Jerry Kill was knocked to the ground during a postgame skirmish, and head coach Gary Patterson made it clear after the game that he wasn’t happy about it.
“I do need to find out who the player is that hit coach Kill with a helmet is,” he said, via the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. “I will find that out.”
The fracas stemmed from SMU players planting their flag in the middle of TCU’s field in celebration of the victory. Several Horned Frogs players took exception, which ultimately caused the incident. There is video evidence that Kill did get knocked down, but it appears to be due to TCU players accidentally running into him.
Patterson doubled down on his frustration with the incident, however, which he says also included a separate incident in which Kill was knocked to the ground.
“He had about a two-inch knot on his head and scrapes all over it,” Patterson said on Tuesday in his weekly press conference. “I cannot substantiate that it was a SMU or TCU person, but it did happen. And if we didn’t have the flags, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Patterson is especially upset about the incident when he factors in Kill’s epilepsy diagnosis which could be affected by concussions.
“You don’t think it was planned? They had a media person from their office out flipping their flag in the middle of the field? It’s OK, but don’t tell me there wasn’t a plan in there somewhere,” Patterson said, via the Dallas Morning News. “A guy got hurt. That’s why I’m upset about … things like that usually cause seizures.”
If this story wasn’t bizarre enough, SMU athletic director Rick Hart said that he was told by TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati that Patterson would walk back his comments alleging that an SMU player or players were involved in an incident with Kill.
