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Being an alum that came to SMU at the tail end of the SWC, I was interested to see the series history against our rivals:

Opponent: W-L-T
Arkansas: 31-37-5
Baylor: 36-35-7
Houston: 9-13-1
Rice: 45-39-1
UT: 22-47-4
A&M: 29-41-7
TCU: 39-41-7
Tech: 16-30-0

Others:
Florida 2-2-0
Kansas 4-2-0
Miami (Fla): 1-0-0
Michigan: 0-1-0
Navy: 7-6-0
ND: 3-10-0
Ohio St: 1-7-1
OU: 1-5-1
Okie St: 6-4-2
USC: 0-2-0
Tenn: 0-1-0
UTEP: 9-6-0
Tulsa: 10-5-0
UCLA: 4-1-0
Virginia Tech: 2-1-0

We won 11 SWC Championships and it says we've won 3 National Championships (35, 81 and 82)? I thought Penn St won in 82 and we were #2? And we won in 81??

Also, interesting that our highest attendance was in 1950 when we averaged 61,959 per home game. And more recent we averaged 55,758 in 1979 when we went 5-6...what was the reason for the spike in attendance that year?

1979 - Mustang Mania

LA_Mustang wrote:We won 11 SWC Championships and it says we've won 3 National Championships (35, 81 and 82)? I thought Penn St won in 82 and we were #2? And we won in 81??

There are many organizations that choose a national champion, and at least 1 chose us in each of those years. We have never been AP national champs.

SMU with Chuck Benners and Kyle Rote was No. 1 in the Nation in the early part of the 1950 season. I think that's the year Benners had his great game in Columbus beating Ohio St.

I assume you meant the great Fred Benners.

He also beat Notre Dame in 1951.

must have had a Chuck Hixson moment-who also had a big game at Ohio State

Between the two SMU had a couple of greats. Is Benners still in Dallas?

Our Bowl History:
Rose Bowl: (36) 0-1
Cotton Bowl: 4 times (48,49,66,83) 2-1-1
Sun Bowl: (63,83) 0-2
Bluebonnet Bowl: (68 ) 1-0
Holiday Bowl: (80) 0-1
Aloha Bowl: (84) 1-0 (thanks, Treadway)

Why didn't we go to a bowl game in the 1981 season when we were 10-1?

Probation. That's the Year we went to the Polyester Bowl because "its the next best thing to Cotton".

You missed the Aloha Bowl of 1984 - our last which was a win over ND.

Stallion wrote:Probation. That's the Year we went to the Polyester Bowl because "its the next best thing to Cotton".

What were we ranked going into the bowl games?

Our only loss was 9-7 to Texas. SMU finished ranked 5th.

LA_Mustang wrote:We won 11 SWC Championships and it says we've won 3 National Championships (35, 81 and 82)? I thought Penn St won in 82 and we were #2? And we won in 81??

In 1981, SMU finished the season ranked number one by the National Championship Foundation. In 1982, SMU was recognized as the number one team at the end of the season by the Helms Athletic Foundation.

We were National Champions in 1935. The AP did not start naming a national champion until 1936.