Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 94. SMU
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There’s 2 things people know about SMU football: The Pony Express, and a really strange inside joke on Reddit’s r/CFB. After enjoying a 41-5-1 record from 1981-84, in 1987 SMU became the first and only football program to receive the “death penalty” for repeated violation of NCAA rules. You can watch the ESPN 30 for 30 “Pony Excess” for a full summary, but most of the violations were in player recruitment: Boosters offered money to players to come to SMU. The team was forced to shut down for 2 years from 1987-88, and when they returned, had just 1 winning season over the next 20 years.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+--------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+--------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 7 | Southern Methodist | 1984 | 27.732 | 10-2 |
| 15 | Southern Methodist | 1983 | 20.558 | 10-2 |
| 29 | Southern Methodist | 2019 | 12.982 | 10-3 |
| 47 | Southern Methodist | 2021 | 2.33 | 8-4 |
| 36 | Southern Methodist | 1985 | 2.109 | 6-5 |
| 37 | Southern Methodist | 1986 | 0.466 | 6-5 |
| 50 | Southern Methodist | 2020 | -0.043 | 7-3 |
| 57 | Southern Methodist | 2009 | -3.051 | 8-5 |
| 51 | Southern Methodist | 2011 | -3.239 | 8-5 |
| 62 | Southern Methodist | 2022 | -7.891 | 7-6 |
| 53 | Southern Methodist | 1997 | -8.438 | 6-5 |
| 66 | Southern Methodist | 2012 | -9.135 | 7-6 |
| 78 | Southern Methodist | 2017 | -13.907 | 7-6 |
| 70 | Southern Methodist | 2005 | -14.427 | 5-6 |
| 76 | Southern Methodist | 2010 | -16.013 | 7-7 |
| 70 | Southern Methodist | 2006 | -17.049 | 6-6 |
| 65 | Southern Methodist | 1996 | -17.23 | 5-6 |
| 76 | Southern Methodist | 1992 | -20.791 | 5-6 |
| 72 | Southern Methodist | 1998 | -21.366 | 5-7 |
| 96 | Southern Methodist | 2018 | -22.017 | 5-7 |
| 80 | Southern Methodist | 1999 | -24.6 | 4-6 |
| 94 | Southern Methodist | 2016 | -27.421 | 5-7 |
| 92 | Southern Methodist | 2013 | -27.444 | 5-7 |
| 81 | Southern Methodist | 1993 | -28.107 | 2-7-2 |
| 88 | Southern Methodist | 2001 | -28.94 | 4-7 |
| 107 | Southern Methodist | 2004 | -45.326 | 3-8 |
| 98 | Southern Methodist | 1994 | -46.257 | 1-9-1 |
| 104 | Southern Methodist | 2002 | -46.778 | 3-9 |
| 105 | Southern Methodist | 2000 | -47.839 | 3-9 |
| 120 | Southern Methodist | 2015 | -51.5 | 2-10 |
| 103 | Southern Methodist | 1995 | -52.348 | 1-10 |
| 96 | Southern Methodist | 1989 | -53.365 | 2-9 |
| 103 | Southern Methodist | 1991 | -56.018 | 1-10 |
| 117 | Southern Methodist | 2007 | -59.209 | 1-11 |
| 103 | Southern Methodist | 1990 | -60.385 | 1-10 |
| 116 | Southern Methodist | 2008 | -61.364 | 1-11 |
| 127 | Southern Methodist | 2014 | -65.583 | 1-11 |
| 116 | Southern Methodist | 2003 | -68.492 | 0-12 |
+------+--------------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: 5981 (94th)178-265-3 record
1 conference title
4-5 bowl record
2 consensus All-Americans
40 NFL players drafted
SMU’s an interesting one. They played in the SWC from 1983-1995, so they have a good amount of seasons in a “Power” conference. Since then they’ve bounced around the WAC, Conference USA, and American, with 2 of those seasons being top 5 years for them. While they’ve had some great years, they’ve produced a lot of futility (8 seasons with 1 win or less), mostly due to the effects of the death penalty. With 40 NFL players drafted, they’ve produced a lot of quality, and they’ve really been a WR factory since 2010, with 7 WRs drafted. SMU’s produced Emmanuel Sanders, Courtland Sutton, and Cole Beasley (undrafted), as well as recent 2nd/3rd round selections Rashee Rice and Danny Gray.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2003 (0-12 overall, 0-8 WAC)
SMU had some real bad years immediately following the death penalty, but the worst came 15 years later in 2003. The entire gameplan was to hand the ball off to RB Keylon Kincade, which wasn’t very effective. Full credit to Kincade, who did all he could, running the ball 317 times for 1280 yards and 4 TD. He also had 18 catches for 271 yards and 1 receiving TD. They had to give it to Kincade, as the QBs combined for 46.6% completions for 1576 yards 7 TD 15 INT. Kincade’s 317 carries ranked 5th in the nation, and this was following a 2002 year where he ran it 327 times (for 1279 yards and 7 TD). SMU’s pitiful offense ranked last in the nation with just 11.2 PPG, while the defense did their best, giving up 32.2 PPG. Because their defense kept them in games, they had a 7-10 loss to Baylor, 9-12 to Nevada, 19-21 to UTEP, and 13-20 to #19 TCU. Kincade went on to sit on the Dallas Cowboys roster from 2004-06, and was the Whataburger Coach of the Week in November 2019 while at Winona High in Texas. This SMU team is my 36th worst team since 1983.
5. 1985 (6-5 overall, 5-3 SWC)
Despite going 7-3 in 2020, 1985 gets the nod as the 5th best season due to playing in a tougher conference, the SWC. Way back in the 80’s, the SWC had 9 teams—8 which were from Texas, and then Arkansas. Having gone 41-5-1 from 1981-84, SMU entered 1985 as the preseason #3 team. In week 3, 2-0 #3 SMU travelled to Arizona to play the Wildcats, and while SMU came in as the big bad guys, it was a 5’6 168 lb RB from Arizona that ran for 136 yards and a TD—David Adams. Arizona dominated 28-6, and SMU fell to #16. The season continued to slip after a 14-21 loss to #19 Baylor, and when 4-2 #20 SMU travelled to Texas A&M a few weeks later and lost 17-19, they never returned to the Top 25. With 2 weeks to go, SMU was still in the SWC title hunt with a 5-1 conference record, but lost to #18 Arkansas and #4 Oklahoma to finish off the year. RB Reggie Dupard was SMU’s last Consensus All-American, rushing for 1278 yards and 14 TD on 5.6 YPC, and was drafted in the 1st round by the New England Patriots after the season.
4. 2021 (8-4 overall, 4-4 American)
Now back to the present day, in the American. Long since the days of the Pony Express, SMU was becoming a premier G5 team under Sonny Dykes with top offenses year in and year out. It was more of the same in 2021, ranking 10th in the nation with 38.4 PPG. SMU jumped out to a 7-0 start and #19 ranking, blowing out mostly weak competition, setting up a matchup with 6-1 Houston. SMU tied the game 37-37 with 30 seconds left, but made the mistake of kicking to arguably the greatest return man in college football history, Marcus Jones, who subsequently returned the kickoff for the winning TD. SMU fell off after that, winning just 1 of their last 5 on the season, but did get a nice 55-28 win over eventual 9-4 UCF. The bowl game against Virginia was cancelled, but SMU would’ve had a good shot at winning. 5 players on offense were 1st/2nd Team All-AAC. QB Tanner Mordecai threw for 3628 yards 39 TD 12 INT, WR Danny Gray had 4.33 speed with 49 catches for 803 yards and 9 TD, and former Oklahoma TE Grant Calcaterra had 450+ receiving yards and was drafted in the 3rd round after the season. Mordecai would go on to throw 9 TD against Houston in 2022, revenge for the last second loss.
3. 2019 (10-3 overall, 6-2 American)
As good as the 2021 offense was, 2019 was even better, averaging 41.8 PPG. They were led by former Texas QB Shane Buechele, who was in his first year with SMU after losing the Longhorns QB battle to Sam Ehlinger. SMU got off to an 8-0 start, with wins over #25 TCU and Houston. That set up an ESPN College GameDay matchup between #15 SMU and #24 Memphis. In an exciting game filled with NFL talent on both sides, Memphis held on for a 54-48 win, and I highly recommend you watch the highlights, as there was a lot of action. SMU alternated wins/losses for the rest of the year, losing 28-52 in the bowl to C-USA champion FAU and Lane Kiffin. Buechele threw for 3929 yards with 34 TD to 10 INT, RB Xavier Jones had 1276 rushing yards and a whopping 23 TD, and James Proche had 111 catches for 1225 yards and 15 TD. Patrick Nelson, just a 6’0 216 lb LB/S, had a monster 1st Team All-AAC year with 81 tackles, 12.5 sacks, and 5 TFL, ranking #2 in the American in sacks.
2. 1983 (10-2 overall, 7-1 SWC)
And here we have the glory years. Where did it all go wrong? Rhetorical question, there’s entire documentaries on the subject. The 1983 SMU team was a sight to behold. They ran the ball down your throat, and you couldn’t do anything to their defense. While QB Lance McIlhenny didn’t have gaudy stats, just 11 TD to 7 INT, he earned his 3rd straight 1st Team All-SWC selection and is considered one of the greatest option quarterbacks in NCAA history. As RC Slocum put it, McIlhenny “understood option football. ... He had two great running backs at SMU, but he’s the one who made it all go”. Those 2 RBs were Reggie Dupard (mentioned in the 1985 entry) and Jeff Atkins, who combined for 2186 rushing yards and 16 TD on 6.2 YPC. DB Russell Carter earned Consensus All-American honors with 7 interceptions, which surprisingly was only 6th in the nation that year. For the regular season, SMU started #19 and finished #6, going 10-1 against a soft schedule. They played 7-4 Alabama, the first year without Bear Bryant, and the Tide pulled off a 28-7 upset. SMU finished the year #12, their lowest ranking of 1981-84.
1. 1984 (10-2 overall, 6-2 SWC)
By 1984, people were accustomed to seeing SMU do well, and they started the year #14 in the AP Poll. A 4-2 start saw hard-fought 20-29 and 7-13 losses to Houston and #2 Texas, respectively, and SMU fell to #19. They were favored in most, if not all games the rest of the way, and won out, beating 4-3 Texas A&M 28-20, 4-5 Texas Tech 31-0, and 7-2-1 Arkansas 31-28. Arguably the most impressive win of the season came in the final week against UNLV of all teams, who entered at 10-1 with All-American QB Randall Cunningham. #10 SMU handled them 38-21. SMU finished the year beating #17 Notre Dame 27-20 for a #8 finish in the AP Top 25 and a #7 finish in my rankings. The defense gave up 5 more PPG than 1983 (16.5), but the offense also scored 5 more (27.3 PPG). It seems weird for newer fans to think about, but SMU was legitimately on top of the college football world in the early 80’s, their .839 win percentage from 1980-84 ranking #1 among D1 teams in that period.
5th Quarter
Will SMU return to their glory days in the NIL era? Was the death penalty justified at the time? What have you thought about SMU’s high-powered offenses in the last decade and how they look going forward?
Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years - Main Hub
