For the 2018 season, Dykes replaced Chad Morris, who at the end of the 2017 regular season resigned as the Mustangs' head coach to become head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Morris had become SMU's head coach in December of 2014. When Morrris left Highland Park/University Park, SMU had a 7-5 record and was headed to the inaugural Frisco Bowl in Frisco, Texas. Dykes was hired and coached the Mustangs in their 51-10 bowl loss to Louisiana Tech on December 20, 2017.
Things didn't get much “sonnyer” for the Ponies during the 2018 season. SMU lost its season-opener to North Texas, 46-23, and its rivalry game to TCU, 42-12. The Mustangs ended the 2018 season with a 5-7 overall record (4-4 in the American Athletic Conference).
Armed with Texas junior graduate transfer quarterback Shane Buechele, plenty of returning talent, lots of experience, and another year in both the defensive and offensive systems, expectations ran high as SMU's 2019 season got underway.
SMU has been meeting expectations, through its first three games.
The Ponies are 3-0. They opened the season by beating Arkansas State, 37-30, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. They beat North Texas, 49-27, and Texas State, 47-17, at home.
Offensively, SMU is averaging nearly 45 points a game. Through three games, the Mustangs have amassed 1,650 total yards (550 yards per game), through a fairly balanced attack.
Through the air, SMU has 901 yards (300 yards per game). The Mustangs have completed 66 of 99 passes, with five of the completions going for touchdowns. SMU is averaging 9.1 yards per reception.
On the ground, SMU has 749 yards (250 yards per game) on 140 carries. The Mustangs have 12 rushing touchdowns and are averaging 5.4 yards per run.
Buechele (#7), 6-1, 207 pounds, adeptly is running the SMU offense. He has completed 65 of 98 passes for 871 yards (290 yards per game), with a long completion of 58 yards. He has thrown five touchdown passes and three interceptions.
True freshman quarterback Terrance Gipson (#10), 6-0, 193 pounds, has seen limited action, in one game. He has completed one pass for 30 yards.
Senior running back Xavier Jones (#5), 5-11, 208 pounds, has carried the ball 54 times for 291 yards (97 yards per game). He has scored seven touchdowns and has a long run of 51 yards.
Senior running back Ke’Mon Freeman (#2), 5-11, 220 pounds, has run 48 times for 187 yards (62 yards per game). He has a long run of 20 yards.
True freshman running back TJ McDaniel (#25), 5-11, 194 pounds, has rushed eight times for 159 yards. He has scored three touchdowns and has a long run of 48 yards.
Buechele has run 10 times for 33 yards. He has a long run of 28 yards.
Junior wide receiver Reggie Roberson, Jr (#8), 6-0, 200 pounds, has 21 catches for 342 yards (114 yards per game). He is averaging 16.29 yards per catch. He has two touchdown receptions and a long catch of 51 yards.
Senior wide receiver James Proche (#3), 6-0, 193 pounds, has caught 17 passes for 214 yards (71.33 yards per game, 12.59 yards per catch). He has two touchdown receptions and a long catch of 33 yards.
Junior transfer tight end Kylen Granson (#83), 6-3, 235 pounds, has caught eight passes for 137 yards (45.67 yards per game, 17.13 yards per catch). He has one touchdown reception and a long catch of 58 yards.
Senior wide receiver Myron Gailliard (#22), 5-9, 181 pounds, has nine receptions for 93 yards (31 yards per game, 10.33 yards per catch). He has a long reception of 43 yards.
SMU’s offense has 14 scores out of 19 trips inside the red zone, with 11 of the scores being touchdowns. The Mustangs have allowed three sacks, for a loss of 17 yards. They have fumbled the ball five times, losing two of them.
Defensively, SMU is allowing 25 points per game and 365 yards per game (248 yards through the air, 108 yards on the ground).
Opponents have completed 19 of 128 passes, with eight aerial touchdowns. SMU defenders have three interceptions.
On the ground, opponents have rushed 95 times for 323 yards (108 yards per game) and one touchdown.
The Mustangs have forced three fumbles, two of which they recovered. They have sacked opposing quarterbacks 12 times, for a loss of 100 yards.
Senior safety Patrick Nelson (#2), 6-0, 216 pounds, leads SMU’s defense. He has 20 tackles, five tackles for loss, five sacks and one interception.
Senior linebacker Richard Moore (#14), 6-0, 226 pounds, has 15 tackles.
Senior defensive end Delontae Scott (#35), 6-5, 250 pounds, has 14 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks.
Sophomore cornerback Ar’mani Johnson (#5), 5-11, 177 pounds, has 14 tackles and one tackle for loss.
Senior safety Rodney Clemons (#23), 6-0, 205 pounds, has 13 tackles and one interception.
Senior kicker Kevin Robledo (#89) has converted three -of-five field goal attempts. Freshman transfer Russell Roberts, (#97), missed his only field goal attempt. Roberts also kicks off for SMU.
Redshirt freshman punter Scott Warren (#99), has punted six times for an average of 41.5 yards per punt. He has a long punt of 59 yards.
SMU football guide: here
2019 SMU Football Video: here
2018 SMU Football Results: SMU had an overall 5-7 record in 2018, with a 4-4 record in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). SMU's 2018 results: lost to North Texas, 46-23; lost to TCU, 42-12; lost to Michigan, 45-20; beat Navy, 31-30 (OT); beat Houston Baptist, 63-27; lost to Central Florida, 48-20; beat Tulane, 27-23; lost to Cincinnati, 26-20 (OT); beat Houston, 45-21; beat Connecticut, 62-50; lost to Memphis, 28-18; lost to Tulsa, 27-24.
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| Doak Walker |
The Doak Walker Award is an annual collegiate award given to the nation's "most outstanding college running back" for his accomplishments on the field, achievement in the classroom and citizenship in the community. It was established in 1989 and is named after SMU Heisman Trophy winner Doak Walker. In 1998, the PwC Doak Walker Legends Award was created, recognizing an individual whose extraordinary collegiate football career has been bolstered by an exemplary record of leadership in the community.
From 1918 to 1996, the Ponies were a member of the Southwest Conference, until it disbanded. The Shetlands subsequently joined the Western Athletic Conference. In 2005, SMU accepted an invitation to the Western Division of Conference USA (C-USA).
In December 2011, the Big East Conference (since renamed The American) extended an invitation to SMU to join the conference for all sports beginning in the 2013–14 season. The school made the move alongside current Conference USA rivals Houston, Central Florida and Memphis. Three other C-USA rivals, East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa, joined SMU in The American a year later.
The American Athletic Conference has 12 member universities and three associate member universities. In addition to SMU, the member universities are Central Florida, Cincinnati, Connecticut, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, South Florida, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa and Wichita State. Associate members are: California State University in Sacramento, and San Diego State, for women's rowing, the United States Naval Academy (Navy) for football, and the University of Florida and Vanderbilt University for women’s lacrosse.
Former full members of the American Athletic Conference are Rutgers University, which now is in the Big 10, and the University of Louisville, which now is in Atlantic Coast Conference.
At the end of the 2017 season, Sonny Dykes was named SMU's new football coach, replacing Chad Morris, who had come to Dallas from Clemson, where he was offensive coordinator.
Morris became SMU's head coach in December of 2014. His first season, 2015, resulted in a 2-10 record. In 2016, SMU finished 5-7. In 2017, the Mustangs finished 7-5. Morris resigned after the last regular season game to become coach at Arkansas, and Dykes coached the Ponies to a 51-10 loss to Louisiana Tech in the Frisco Bowl in Toyota Stadium, in Frisco, Texas.
SMU football is in its second year under the leadership of head coach Sonny Dykes.
For the 2018 season, Dykes replaced Chad Morris, who at the end of the 2017 regular season resigned as the Mustangs' head coach to become head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Morris had become SMU's head coach in December of 2014. When Morrris left Highland Park/University Park, SMU had a 7-5 record and was headed to the inaugural Frisco Bowl in Frisco, Texas. Dykes was hired and coached the Mustangs in their 51-10 bowl loss to Louisiana Tech on December 20, 2017.
Things didn't get much "sunnyer" for Dykes or SMU during the 2018 season. The Mustangs lost their season-opener to North Texas, 46-23, lost their rivalry game to TCU, 42-12, and ended 2018 with a 5-7 record.
Coach Meyer was infamous for his recruiting tactics, including visits each year to the homes of 70 or more of the top recruits per year. His most notable recruits were future NFL running backs Eric Dickerson and Craig James before the 1979 season, as both their high school teams went 15-0 and won state championships. Combined with blue chip running back Charles Waggoner, the three backs were nicknamed the "Pony Express" running attack and shredded opposing defenses in the option offense led by quarterback Lance McIlhenny.
This team claimed a share of the 1981 college football Division 1-A national championship, based on the determination of the National Championship Foundation. However, the claimed championship is not recognized by most college football observers. Clemson, which finished number one in the AP and Coaches' polls that season, is regarded as the consensus champion that season.
Coach Meyer left to become the head coach of the New England Patriots in 1982, and SMU hired coach Bobby Collins, then head coach at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Dickerson finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1982, and the team claimed a share of its second consecutive national championship, based on the determination of the Helms Athletic Foundation. However, the claimed championship is not recognized by most college football observers. Penn State, which finished number one in the AP and coaches' polls that season, is regarded as the consensus champion that season.
From 1980-1984, SMU posted a 49–9–1 record, which was the highest winning percentage (.839) in Division 1-A over that span.
But, cheaters never really win and they don't prosper, and SMU was CHEATING!
In 1987, SMU football became the first, and currently only, football program in collegiate athletic history to receive the "death penalty" for repeat violation of NCAA rules, that is, having a sports program fully terminated for a determined amount of time. SMU's football program was terminated for the 1987 season because the University was making approximately $61,000 in booster payments from 1985 to 1986. It later emerged that a slush fund had been used to pay players as early as the mid-1970s, and athletic officials had known about it as early as 1981.
SMU was eligible for the "death penalty" because it had been placed on probation in 1985 for recruiting violations. Boosters would induce prospective student-athletes to sign with SMU by offering them payments and expense coverage.
Several key boosters and administration officials determined that it would not only be unethical to cut off those payments, but also potentially problematic as some boosters were contractually obligated to pay the athletes for the duration of their time at SMU.
There was also the real potential of disgruntled football players "blowing the whistle" on SMU should the payments not continue.
When the sanctions were handed down, SMU had three players - all seniors about to graduate - receiving payments. Not long afterward, SMU announced that its football team would stay shuttered for the 1988 season as well after school officials received indications that they wouldn't have enough experienced players to field a viable team as most of the team left the university and transferred to other institutions.
Forrest Gregg, an SMU alum who was the head coach of the Green Gay Pacers, was hired in 1988 to help rebuild the team. The decimation of the program meant that Gregg was left with an undersized and underweight lineup; he was taller and heavier than virtually all of his players.
The Ponies struggled for 20 years to recover from the effects of the scandal. Coach Gregg compiled a 3–19 record in his two seasons. He was the SMU Athletic Director from 1990 through 1994.
The Mustangs had three more head coaches and only one winning season through the completion of the 2007 season.
In 2008, SMU hired Steve Orsini away from the University of Central Florida to be its Athletic Director. Orsini hired June Junes from the University of Hawaii to be SMU's new head coach and the fifth coach in the post death penalty time since 1989.
In Jones' first season at SMU, the team had a 1-11 record. In 2009, Jones' second season at SMU, the Mustangs had a turnaround season, compiling an improved regular season record of 7-5. SMU was invited to its first bowl game in 25 years, defeating the University of Nevada in the 2009 Hawaii Bowl, the team's first bowl win since 1984.
Following Texas A&M's move to the SEC in August and September 2011, SMU made it known that it would like to be in the Big 12. Thankfully, SMU's interest in the Big 12 was never reciprocated. The Big 12 instead smartly added TCU and West Virginia. SMU ended the Jones Era in 2014, the way it began, with an 1-11 season.
SMU Football Gets NCAA Death Penalty: here
The stadium, which was built on the former Ownby Stadium grounds, has a horseshoe configuration with an open south end zone adjacent to Mockingbird Lane. The architecture is consistent with the Collegiate-Georgian style of the entire SMU campus. The stadium has a seating capacity of 32,000 and includes nearly 600 club level seats and 240 seats in 24 luxury suites housed in a three-level press box. The playing surface is 25 feet below ground level, with half of the stadium's seats sunk below grades.
In the summer of 2013, SMU added a new 233-seat Hall of Champions Club and seven new suites in time for sMu's move to the American Athletic Conference. Among the features of the new Club and suites is their indoor/outdoor design which allows fans to enjoy the comfort of indoor amenities as well as outdoor seating.
Prior to the 2009 season, SMU installed new integrated video and audio system in Ford Stadium, with a Daktronics videoboard that measures approximately 32 feet high by 45 feet wide, and a custom sound system.
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