Sorry I didn't respond to this question sooner...I've been busy the past couple of days with wedding plans.
In a match-up between Sam Houston State (yes, my alma mater) and Southern Methodist University (my 'adopted' university and the alma mater of my parents and my future wife), I'd have to say that if the game had been played this year, SMU would have been the victor in a very close game.
And I think the game would have been played in Dallas, not Huntsville or Houston. There are quite a few Bearkat alumni in the D-FW area although we're the 'silent majority'.
I base my conclusion on two factors: First, SMU would have had 'home field' advantage in an early season OOC game. Sam Houston - for the most part - does not do well playing Div. 1-A teams away from Huntsville. Look at what happened to them in 2003 in Waco against Baylor. In 2005, Sam Houston State will travel to Lubbock to meet the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Second, while I do believe that Sam Houston State had the better QB this year in Texas A$M transfer Dustin Long (first runner-up to the 2004 Walter Payton Award), he was not 'in the groove' early in the season and I believe that SMU's larger defensive line would have rattled the 'Kat offensive line most of the game. However, Long would have scrambled and found open receivers in the SMU defensive secondary enough times to score at least 3 TDs.
Final score: SMU Mustangs 27, Sam Houston State Bearkats 21.
And I'd have been the happiest fan in Ford Stadium because I saw BOTH of my teams play each other and, either way, I'm a winner!