Question about 80-83 and Lance

[ender3]

Nope, not that young. I was about 10. My dad co-owned another business with another man whose family was from Kentucky, and (for some reason) they were huge Razorback fans.

My Dad and I had season tickets from about '80 until the DP, and I would have sworn we attended that game with his partner's family. But it's pretty obvious that only my Dad and I went, and I don't remember it at all.

The game I attended with my Razorback friends was obviously the Cotton Bowl, given my memory of the weather.

I do clearly remember the Texas game the following year which broke their winning streak.Hated the Longhorns then, and hate them even more now.

(and yes, I'm even willing to admit he was right about the two point conversion, no matter how much I hated it)

On a side topic, since I opened the media guide to answer the original OP... we did not play in a bowl in 1981 (I assume this was probation-related). Can anyone explain to me by what convoluted logic the media guide claims a "National Championship" for the 1981 (not 1982, that one I understand) season (even the VERY same media guide says our highest rank that season was #6)?

[Oliver]

I thought I read we were ranked 5th by the end of the '81 season...but considering we had one loss, and didn't play in a bowl game (which I still don't understand either), I'm surprised we claim a national title that year. Granted I wasn't even alive yet, so I'd love it if anyone could enlighten us.

[ender3]

May have been ranked 5th after the final game. Media guide lists the ranking for each game, but not the ranking at the end of the season.

[ponyte]

I may be wrong , but the claim is due to a less well know ranking organization that gave us the #1 ranking. This is not without precedent as the Minnesota Gophers claim #1 ranking the same year as SMU claims a National title in 1936.

Since there is no actually tournament for the National title in college football, there is some liberty to claim the title.

[SoCal_Pony]

I posted this early about Lance but can't find it in the Search Option.

When Lance retired he was the 3rd or 4th all-time winningest QB in NCAA history.

#1 at the time was Dan Marino, which makes for a good trivia question given the 1983 Cotton Bowl.

[Stallion]

the 1981 team may have been SMU's best in the last half decade. The 1982 team was always jacking around playing down to its competition but eventually prevailing. The 1981 team simply beat the crap out of everyone on its schedule-only a couple of games within 2 TDs. Consider that SMU's only loss in a two year period was the 1981 team's 2 point loss to Texas 9-7 which was a Craig Curry funbled punt away from a National Championship. The next closest game was an 11 point victory over TCU. In the 1981 loss SMU drove the field-and went for 2 but Jerry Gray made an unbelievable diving knock down of a McIllhenny pass to save the game. It was a Classic Defensive struggle and that Texas team definitely had one of the best defenses in SWC History. It may well be that the National Championship was awarded on some kind of computer ranking because of SMU's dominant performance.I've always thought the 1981 team was more consistently superior than the 1982 and probably could have taken them. The 1982 team was not as good defensively after losing Harvey Armstrong, Eric Ferguson, Byron Hunt and and some other studs. Did I get that correct Ponyte?

[ALEX LIFESON]

I agree that the the 1981 team was better, the 82 team seem to do just enough to win. I think you are talking about the 83 game when SMU went for two, and Mcilhenny had his pass intended for Reggie Dupard knocked away.

[mrydel]

the 1981 team may have been SMU's best in the last half decade. The 1982 team was always jacking around playing down to its competition but eventually prevailing. The 1981 team simply beat the crap out of everyone on its schedule-only a couple of games within 2 TDs. Consider that SMU's only loss in a two year period was the 1981 team's 2 point loss to Texas 9-7 which was a Craig Curry funbled punt away from a National Championship. The next closest game was an 11 point victory over TCU. In the 1981 loss SMU drove the field-and went for 2 but Jerry Gray made an unbelievable diving knock down of a McIllhenny pass to save the game. It was a Classic Defensive struggle and that Texas team definitely had one of the best defenses in SWC History. It may well be that the National Championship was awarded on some kind of computer ranking because of SMU's dominant performance.I've always thought the 1981 team was more consistently superior than the 1982 and probably could have taken them. The 1982 team was not as good defensively after losing Harvey Armstrong, Eric Ferguson, Byron Hunt and and some other studs. Did I get that correct Ponyte?

I remember in the UT game that we missed a FG in the 50 yard range by inches and UT made 3 FGs, one that was made by inches in the 50 yard range. Truly a game of inches.