SMU students wearing red "TCU Sucks" shirts cheered loudly as the Mustang band marched down "The Boulevard," SMU's traditional tailgate spot, minutes before kickoff in the battle for the Iron Skillet on Saturday night in Dallas.From the looks of it, one would have thought the SMU-TCU rivalry was as fierce as ever, but instead, SMU alumni, students and administrators said the rivalry has lost some steam over the years and now provides simply an excuse for students to let loose.

On Monday, the confirmation hearings for John Roberts began. With the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, President Bush nominated Roberts to fill Rehnquist's position, after Roberts had already been nominated to fill Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's position.This came as a bit of a surprise to some. Roberts is relatively young and has far less experience compared to the team of well-seasoned justices that he would be leading.

O'Connor, has put off her retirement due to the recent events.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth - and years later, football.This new creation gave birth to rivalries, which released the competitive spirits among avid football lovers around the country.

The TCU-SMU rivalry dates back to 1915, and the 86th meeting in the series took place Saturday in Dallas.

The SMU Mustangs saddled up against the TCU Horned Frogs in a fierce competition known as the Battle for the Iron Skillet. The original Iron Skillet, created after World War II, has since been lost, but the trophy was revived in 1993.

TCU officials say they hope students will participate in the new student tailgate party, which begins Thursday, rather than parking lot tailgates, said Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Don Mills.Mills said students will not be prohibited from participating in parking lot tailgate parties around the stadium, but said he still encourages students to attend the new student tailgate party.

"We want to start the tradition of TCU students partying together before the game and then attending the game together," Mills said.

Froggie-Five-O is hiring a new class of drivers to ensure safe escorts across campus.Sara Kinney, a freshman advertising/public relations major, said she is excited to be one of the newest additions to the force.

"I really like being the only girl driver for Froggie-Five-O," Kinney said. "Everyone is really nice. But my favorite part is definitely driving in the golf cart."

This weekend proved to be a weekend of fun-filled sports and rivalry. I found this out the hard way when I walked out to the Quad Lot on Saturday morning to find that my car had been tagged. presumably by SMU students.

My back window now proclaimed that "I 'heart' SMU Mustangs" and my side windows had been filled in completely with red shoe paint. A majority of the other cars in the lot had similar markings.

I soon found out that several rows of cars in the Stadium Lot had the same messages spelled out on them.

As many as 40 cars parked overnight Friday in the heart of campus bore shoe polish graffiti Saturday morning that suggests an SMU prank, and TCU Police officers said they saw no one suspicious entering the parking lot.The vehicles, which were parked in the Quad Lotadjacent to Frog Fountain, had messages saying, "I 'heart' SMU." Windows at the University Recreation Center were also vandalized, TCU Police said.

On Saturday, TCU played SMU in the Iron Skillet rivalry match.

Senior marketing major Matt Looloian said he saw the vandalized cars at 8:15 a.m. Saturday.

The offense sputtered, the defense gave ground and the kicking game failed the Frogs in their 21-10 loss to Metroplex rival SMU on Saturday night in Dallas, giving the Iron Skillet back to the Mustangs for the first time since 1998. Quarterback Tye Gunn faced pressure, missed targets and threw three interceptions on his way to a 16 for 36, 134-yard performance that characterized a futile Frog offense that managed only three points.

Head coach Gary Patterson had trouble explaining the ineffectiveness of Gunn and the Frog offense.