90 Greatest Moments in SMU Football History?

[GoRedGoBlue]

SMU defeats Kansas on 09-02-01

Kickoff Temperature = 106 degrees

"The most important win in SMU history" - Mike Cavan

[Rayburn]

I would add the thrilling 1968 Bluebonnet Bowl victory into the mix

The 1950 upset of Ohio State (Viva Fred Benners!)

That 1963 game with Navy was a classic. Navy lost two games that year, both in the Cotton Bowl, leading to the slogan "Undefeated in 49 states."


The 1966 season! So many thrilling wins. Levias' 83-yard TD run to beat the Aggies.

The 146-3 victory over Rice in 1916.

[Stallion]

Unfortunately, we were on the short end of that 146-3 loss.

[ponyte]

Emmanual Tolbert's 4 touchdown catches against Baylor for a come from way behind win in 1978.

SMU's defeat of Ark in 1980 when only 3 individuals rushed for over 100 yards (Dickerson, James, Bennett (on only 3 carries)).

James' go ahead TD run in 1980 against then #2 Texas.

I can't believe that nobody has mentined the great 1951 win over ND in Southbend. It belongs in the top 10.

Louie Kelcher's great game against Tx A$M in 1974. That loss cost the Aggies a Cotton Bowl bid.

[Stallion]

for a lot of us Louie Kelcher leading SMU to a victory over Arkansas for the first time in over a decade circa 1971 in the snow in Fayetteville was kinda nice.

[SoCal_Pony]

To expand on my earlier post…here are the 8 teams with winning records that SMU has defeated over the past 16 years listed by team / year / and year-end ranking.

Arkansas ’95 ranked #40
New Mexico ’96 ranked #55
Rice ’97 ranked #56
Utah ’97 ranked #65
Wyoming ’97 ranked #51
TCU ’98 ranked #45
Fresno St ’99 ranked #46
Rice ’01 ranked #62

So on average, we defeat 1 team with a winning record every other year and that team is ranked #52.5 in the nation.

As for the greatest single play in SMU history, my vote is for the ‘Pitch’...the Official Start of the Pony Express

[EastStang]

That '74 Aggie game was also the day the Thoroughbreds (a school pep squad) screwed up the Aggies halftime show. And by the way that game also cost the Aggies a #1 ranking. They came into that game ranked #1 in the Country.

[Rayburn]

Yes, thank you for setting me straight on the 1916 Rice game. Strike that, please, heh, heh.

The construction of Ford Stadium would have to be on the list.

Louie Kelcher made 24 tackles against the Aggies in that 1974 game. That is incredible.


In 1965 we tied #1 Perdue 14-14 in the Cotton Bowl.

The 1956 win over Paul Hornung and Notre Dame was a great one as well.

[Charleston Pony]

My 1st reaction to this thread was that we really have a lot of youngsters on this site when I start seeing post death penalty moments listed among the top 90 in SMU football history. Considering our complete history, there are very few moments since 1989 that deserve to be among the top 90 all time, despite what Coach Cavan thought.

Now, if we want to narrow this discussion to "post death penalty moments", this would be my list of noteables thru the years:

1989 - UConn win; UNT Homecoming win
1990 - 44-7 opener vs Vandy
1992 - 1st SWC win 21-9 vs TCU; 41-16 Homecoming win vs Houston
1994 - 21-21 tie with Aggie$
1995-6-7 three consecutive wins against Arkansas
2000 - 31-17 win over Kansas to open Ford Stadium

I think the 3 straight against the Hogs has to be the most impressive accomplishment since the death penalty, but I think that win against Houston ranks as my favorite because those 35 seniors were the same bunch of guys who got crushed 95-21 as Freshmen and that was a really special way for them to go out their last homecoming.

Should be interesting to see how many post death penalty moments will be condiered to have been among the top 90 in SMU footbal history. Surely winning a national championship will be the #1 "greatest moment" in SMU's history, and having Doak named the Heisman winner has to rank way up there. If this list was the "most significant events" in SMU football history, then getting the death penalty and even the construction of Ford Stadium have to be way up there on my list.

[MrMustang1965]

UT had a mediocre team in 1965-not even in the Top 30 victories. All other SMU victories over UT since then were bigger victories than that including 1966, 1980, 1982 and 1984. Cotton Bowl victory in 1981 Cotton Bowl over Pitt, 1935 victory over TCU in what Grambling Rice called the Greatest Game ever played, Walker leading SMU over Bobby Layne and UT in undefeated 1947 season 14-13, Fred Benners leading SMU No. 1 at the time over Ohio St. in 1950 32-27, SMu's loss to Notre Dame when Kyle Rote took the place over an injured Doak Walker and almost broke Notre Dame 3+ year winning streak, Smu's greatest upset over Roger Staubach and Navy in 1963.

Stallion: my listing of the 1965 Homecoming victory was purely a selfish one, for obvious reasons.

[MrMustang1965]

Nobody under 35 should be allowed to vote on SMU's Greatest Sports Momments because none of you guys were out of diapers during a GREAT SMU Sports Event.

Wow. Stallion, you're just downright mean.

Dissing folks for their choices ain't exactly a positive way to build a fan base.

And you named several in your list that I'm sure you weren't around to see. Or are you really that old?

Were you around for these moments?

1935 victory over TCU in what Grambling Rice called the Greatest Game ever played

Walker leading SMU over Bobby Layne and UT in undefeated 1947 season 14-13

Fred Benners leading SMU No. 1 at the time over Ohio St. in 1950 32-27

SMU's loss to Notre Dame when Kyle Rote took the place over an injured Doak Walker and almost broke Notre Dame 3+ year winning streak

[Rayburn]

The win over UH was indeed important and very sweet. That three-in-a-row over the Hogs really tied them in knots. Good memories.