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Gotta get my mind off the bball search for a bit. In my SMU bowl history below I've got them listed in order of bowl relevancy/importance IMO. Would anyone have them ordered differently?

Btw, the Dixie Bowl is last based on the fact that I've never heard of it or the school we played.

LA_Mustang wrote:Gotta get my mind off the bball search for a bit. In my SMU bowl history below I've got them listed in order of bowl relevancy/importance IMO. Would anyone have them ordered differently?

Btw, the Dixie Bowl is last based on the fact that I've never heard of it or the school we played.

There actually was a "Dixie Classic" which we played in and a "Dixie Bowl" in Birmingham (which Arkansas and Baylor played in). They weren't at the same times.

Here's some history on the Dixie Classic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Classic_(bowl_game)
Interesting that the Texas A&M "12th Man" tradition started there

Interesting. So it was basically an early version of the Cotton Bowl. Does that mean we can claim five appearances in the Cotton Bowl?

The Hawaii Bowl was very relevant/major historical moment for the program relative to the others. The Compass Bowl was an important one bc we looked like a trainwreck prior to and that game was really important to take into the offseason during this delicate time in our history (on the cusp of relevance again). Unfortunately the 1980 Holiday Bowl is historical but not for the reasons we like. The Armed Forces Bowl was historical because we played it in our home stadium (very very rare that happens) but since we lost I don't care (if we had won, and won big, I would have put it much higher).

Rose-'35
Cotton-'82
Holiday-'80
Aloha-'84
Hawaii-'09
Cotton-''47,'48,'66,
Sun-'63,'83
Compass-'11
Armed Forces-'10
Bluebonnet-'68
Dixie-'24

I am a little prejudice, but the 1968 Bluebonnet Bowl was against a ranked Oklahoma team who had a Heisman Trophy running back. Steve Owens had not been tackled for a loss the entire season. Not only did Rufus Cormier tackle him for a loss 3 or more times, the Mustangs won the game, holding off a fast closing OU who missed what would have been a game winning field goal on their final play. Great game and etched very well in my memory. Has to be higher on the list.

I would move armed forces bowl down.

LA_Mustang wrote:Gotta get my mind off the bball search for a bit. In my SMU bowl history below I've got them listed in order of bowl relevancy/importance IMO. Would anyone have them ordered differently?

Btw, the Dixie Bowl is last based on the fact that I've never heard of it or the school we played.

The game was named the Dixie Classic and was the forerunner to the Cotton Bowl.

we have to put 5 more up there in the next five yrs - its waaaay too short.

cotton bowl - 82 (i think it was 83 though) - has to be number one. Rose bowl great but pretty ancient

The Bluebonnet bowl was a fantastic game. And beating OU when OU was a powerhouse was huge.

The Dixie Classic was played at Fair Park Stadium previously the Cotton Bowl. The Dixie Classic was made famous a couple of years earlier in 1922 when Texas A&M beat Centre College in the game which was originated the 12th Man Tradition- E. King Gill. My great Uncle scored the TD that ended up being the margin of victory on a 45 yard Interception return for TD. His brother played Football at SMU and also graduated in 1922 and was one of the original incorporators of the SMU Lettermen's Association

I guess someone could argue that the Cotton Bowl deserves top spot, even though I would agree that it should be the Rose Bowl, but don't see how anyone could argue that the Armed Forces Bowl doesn't deserve to be at the very bottom. This is the easiest bowl to slot; 70 bowl teams, meaningless game, sub-par opponent and terrible performance = Last Place.

Worse Performance - '83 Sun. Runner-Up is '10 Armed Forces.

Best Performance - '82 Cotton. Runner-Up is '09 Hawaii. Honorable Mention - '68 Bluebonnet.

Most Frustrating - do I even need to type it.....OK I will, '80 Holiday. Runner-Up is '35 Rose as in hindsight a victory there would have made us undisputed NCs. Special Mention goes to '10 Armed Forces, it does not deserve Honorable Mention status as it was not that meaningful a bowl game.

I think the Holiday Bowl was definitely the most entertaining although I agree with the frustrating part.

SoCal_Pony wrote:I guess someone could argue that the Cotton Bowl deserves top spot, even though I would agree that it should be the Rose Bowl, but don't see how anyone could argue that the Armed Forces Bowl doesn't deserve to be at the very bottom. This is the easiest bowl to slot; 70 bowl teams, meaningless game, sub-par opponent and terrible performance = Last Place.

Worse Performance - '83 Sun. Runner-Up is '10 Armed Forces.

Best Performance - '82 Cotton. Runner-Up is '09 Hawaii. Honorable Mention - '68 Bluebonnet.

Most Frustrating - do I even need to type it.....OK I will, '80 Holiday. Runner-Up is '35 Rose as in hindsight a victory there would have made us undisputed NCs. Special Mention goes to '10 Armed Forces, it does not deserve Honorable Mention status as it was not that meaningful a bowl game.

A victory in the 35 Rose would not have made us undisputed national champions as nearly every organization chose their national champion before the bowl games took place. Back then, the polling organizations (and college football fans in general) saw bowl games as postseason exhibitions. This method of thinking contrasts with the idea of using bowl games to name a national champion: why should a game after the season is over determine the season's champion?

EDIT: I did some looking just to verify my own facts, and here's what I found:

Dickinson System named SMU national champs on December 10, 1935
United Press Sports Writers named Minnesota national champs on December 12, 1935

mrydel wrote:I think the Holiday Bowl was definitely the most entertaining although I agree with the frustrating part.

Don't know about the most entertaining. Definitely it was the absolutely, positively most frustrating game (as well as bowl) of all time for this fan.

ponyte wrote:The Bluebonnet bowl was a fantastic game. And beating OU when OU was a powerhouse was huge.

As far as the game goes - no better SMU bowl game. Some as good (maybe) - NONE better. Maybe you just had to be there to know.