The SMU Mustangs football team is a college football team representing Southern Methodist University (SMU) in University Park, Dallas County, Texas. The Mustangs compete in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). SMU joined the ACC in July 2024 after eleven years as a member of the American Athletic Conference (AAC).
History
Early history (1915–1917) In June 1915, Ray Morrison took on multiple roles at SMU as the coach for football, baseball, basketball, and track, while also serving as a math instructor. The football team was initially a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA) and played at Armstrong Field. Due to TIAA rules prohibiting graduate and transfer students from playing, the first season consisted solely of freshmen. During this time, the football team was known as "the Parsons" due to the large number of theology students on the team.
SMU's first game was a 43–0 loss against future rival Texas Christian University (TCU) on October 9, 1915. SMU won their first game on October 14, 1915, with a 13–2 victory over Hendrix College. SMU finished its inaugural season with a 2–5 record. After winning two games in two seasons, Morrison left SMU for service in the United States Army upon the United States’ entry into World War I.
On October 17, 1917, the school mascot, the "Mustangs", was selected. For the 1917 season, Morrison was replaced by J. Burton Rix, who led the Mustangs to a 3–2–3 record in their final season in the TIAA.
Joining the Southwest Conference (1918–1921) In 1918, the Mustangs joined the Southwest Conference alongside Baylor University, Rice University, the University of Texas, Texas A&M University, the University of Arkansas, and Oklahoma A&M University. The Mustangs’ first season in the conference ended with a 4–2 record. Rix continued to coach the team in the 1921 season, but after two games, Rix resigned, and E. William Cunningham took over as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. The team went on to finish with a 1–6–1 record.
The return of Morrison (1922–1934) In 1922, Morrison returned to SMU in 1920 to work in the physical education department before co-coaching the team starting in 1922 with former Vanderbilt teammate Ewing Y. Freeland. For the 1922 and 1923 seasons, Morrison focused on the backfield and ends while Freeland focused on the linemen. The team became known as the "Aerial Circus" by sportswriters due to the team's use of passing on first and second downs, instead of as a last resort play. At the time, most teams utilized the forward pass five to six times in one game, while SMU did so between 30 and 40 times.
In the 1922 season, the Mustangs compiled a 6–3–1 record. End Gene Bedford and back Logan Stollenwerck were named first-team All-Southwest Conference, becoming the first SMU football players to receive that honor. Bedford was the first player to play in the National Football League, for the Rochester Jeffersons. In the 1923 season, the SMU Mustangs achieved a perfect 9–0 record, winning its first conference football title in school history. After this season, Freeland left the SMU football team, later becoming head coach for the Texas Technological College football team, leaving Morrison as the sole head coach for SMU. SMU played in its first bowl game in the 1924 season at the Dixie Classic against West Virginia Wesleyan College but lost that game 7–9.
By 1926, the team began playing its home games at Ownby Stadium. In its first game at Ownby Stadium, the Mustangs defeated North Texas State Teachers College 42–0, led by quarterback Gerald Mann. The first Homecoming game was also played in 1926, resulting in a 14–13 victory over TCU.
The team continued to have winning seasons until the 1932 season. The Mustangs won their second conference title in 1926, compiling an 8–0–1 record, and a third conference title in 1931, compiling a 9–0–1 record. In 1928, guard Choc Sanders became SMU's first All-American, as well as the first All-American from the Southwest Conference. After a winning 1934 season, Morrison left SMU to take over at his alma mater, Vanderbilt, after the retirement of Dan McGugin.
Morrison had an 82–31–20 (.692) record during his second stint at SMU.
National Champions (1935–1941) Morrison was replaced by Matty Bell in 1935. In his first season, Bell led the Mustangs to a 12–1 record. During this season, the Mustangs were crowned national champions by Frank Dickinson and Deke Houlgate, the namesakes for two of seven different systems used to choose a national champion at the time. For a chance to play in the Rose Bowl against the Stanford Indians football team for the unofficial national championship, SMU faced off against TCU, who featured two time All-American quarterback Sammy Baugh.
The Mustangs had three more winning seasons from 1936 to 1939. SMU failed to win the Southwest Conference title in 1940, losing out to the Texas A&M Aggies who beat the Mustangs head to head. After a 5–5 season in 1941, Bell left SMU to serve in the United States Navy during World War II.
World War 2 (1942–1944) With Bell in the Navy, Jimmy Stewart took his place as head coach. In his three seasons as head coach, Stewart compiled an overall record of 10–18–2. Bell returned as head coach for the 1945 season.
Doak Walker era (1945–1949)
Upon Bell's return as SMU's head coach, the team also gained halfback and placekicker Doak Walker. Walker won All-Southwest Conference honors his freshman year in 1945 and played in the East-West Shrine Game in San Francisco. Walker did not play in the 1946 season due to serving in the United States Army, yet re-enrolled at SMU and rejoined the football team for the 1947 season.
The Mustangs posted a 9–0–2 record in 1947, winning their sixth Southwest Conference title. In the same season, the team played against the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Cotton Bowl Classic, resulting in a 13–13 tie. Walker threw a 53-yard touchdown pass and scored on a two-yard run in this game. Walker earned the Maxwell Award during this season.
During the 1948 season, the Mustangs won their seventh conference title, posting a 9–1–1 record. The team played in the Cotton Bowl Classic once more, defeating the Oregon Ducks, who were led by quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, 21–13, making it their first victory in a bowl game in school history. Doak Walker, winning All-American honors, also won the Heisman Trophy, the only Mustang ever to do so. Additionally, the Mustangs permanently moved their home games to the Cotton Bowl after this season. They had only played a limited number of games at Ownby Stadium since the 1930s. In their final game at Ownby, the Mustangs defeated Texas Tech 41–6. Due to Doak Walker's popularity and gate draw—also as an allusion to 1923 Yankee Stadium's "House that Ruth Built″ moniker—the Cotton Bowl became colloquially known as "The House that Doak Built".
The 1949 season was both Doak Walker's and coach Matty Bell's last as part of SMU's football team. The team posted a 5–4–1 record. Walker won All-American honors a third time, the most for any football player in SMU's history. Bell continued to serve SMU as the athletic director; Walker played in the NFL for the Detroit Lions. Over the course of his career at SMU, Walker rushed for 1,954 yards, passed for 1,638 yards, scored 288 points, punted for a 39.4 average and kicked field goals and extra points. He is also the Mustangs' all-time leader in punt return yards with 750—that was during an "era" of NCAA single-platoon substitution rules. Bell left the head coaching position at SMU with a 79–40–8 record, including three Southwest Conference titles, a bowl game victory, and a national championship.
Russell, Woodard, and Meek eras (1950–1961) Bell was replaced by Rusty Russell in 1950. Russell previously served as quarterbacks and running backs coach from 1945 to 1949, and is credited with luring Walker away from the University of Texas. In three seasons as head coach, Russell compiled a 13–15–2 record. After a strong first season, in which the Mustangs were ranked number one in the nation, the team suffered two losing seasons. Facing increasing scrutiny, Russell resigned as head coach after the 1952 season.
Kyle Rote, who filled Walker's place on the team, led the Southwest Conference with 777 yards rushing in 1949, and was named an All-American following the 1950 season. Quarterback Fred Benners led the Mustangs to perhaps their greatest win of the decade when he completed 22 of 42 passes for 336 yards to beat Notre Dame, 27–20, in Notre Dame, Indiana on October 13, 1951. Benners connected on TD passes of 57, 37, 31 and four yards to four different receivers as the Mustangs beat the Fighting Irish in what was one of the highlights in a 3–6–1 season. Furthermore, Forrest Gregg became part of the team in 1952, and became a two-time All-Southwest Conference player by 1955, later moving on to the NFL. Moreover, in 1952, David Powell became SMU's first Academic All-American winner.
Woody Woodard took Russell's place as head coach in 1953. Woodard compiled a 19–20–1 record in his four seasons as head coach for SMU, resigning after two consecutive losing seasons. During the 1954 season, wide receiver Raymond Berry was elected as a co-captain, despite only catching 11 passes for 144 yards, winning All-Southwest Conference and Academic All-American honors, and later played in the NFL for the Baltimore Colts.
Woodard was replaced by Bill Meek in 1957, who was coming off a Missouri Valley Conference title-winning season with the Houston Cougars. In five seasons with SMU, Meek compiled a 17–29–4 record. During Meek's time as head coach, quarterback Don Meredith earned All-American honors in 1958 and 1959, his .610 career completion percentage the best in SMU history, along with a tremendous running ability that increased the pressure on opposing defenses. The 1960 season, though, proved particularly bad for the Mustangs, as they went 0–9–1, losing every game by more than 10 points with the exception of a game against Texas A&M in which neither team scored.
Hayden Fry era (1962–1972) In 1962, Hayden Fry became SMU's eighth head coach. The Mustangs hosted the fourth-ranked Navy Midshipmen (including quarterback Roger Staubach) on October 11, 1963, at the Cotton Bowl. SMU, en route to a 4–7 season, was considered an underdog against the Midshipmen. Little-known sophomore John Roderick rushed for 146 yards on 11 carries and scored on touchdown runs of 45 yards and two yards for the Mustangs. The SMU defense, led by Bob Oyler, Martin Cude, Bill Harlan, Harold Magers, and Doug January, sent Staubach to the bench twice with a dislocated left shoulder. Trailing 28–26 with 2:52 remaining in the game, SMU had a chance to pull off an upset. Quarterback Danny Thomas threw to Billy Gannon, who ran to the Navy 46. On the next play, Roderick took a pitchout 23 yards to the 23. After a pass interference penalty against Navy put the ball on the one-yard line, Gannon plowed over the right tackle for the winning touchdown with 2:05 left. The SMU defense held off Staubach's effort to rally his team for one last score, as the Mustangs pulled off the 32–28 upset. Despite a losing record in 1963, the Mustangs played in their first Sun Bowl since 1948 against the Oregon Ducks, losing 14–21.
When Fry took the job at SMU, he was promised that he would be allowed to recruit Black athletes. Jerry LeVias became the first Black player signed to a football scholarship in the Southwest Conference, and played his first game for SMU in 1966, one week after John Hill Westbrook of Baylor became the first Black player to play for a conference team. Fry faced backlash for recruiting a Black player, receiving hate mail and threatening phone calls. However, he stated that his treatment was minor compared to the more severe harassment LeVias faced.