The rebuild and rebirth of SMU football

Over 30 years ago, SMU football was sentenced to death by the NCAA.

Now after all this time, SMU is one of the 12 teams in the new college football playoff.

How did SMU rise from the ashes to become yet again a national championship-caliber team?

Well, that is the question that will be attempted to answer.

In the year 1979, legendary running back Eric Dickerson committed to SMU, shocking all of the national analysts and experts. No one could fathom why a massive recruit would commit to SMU. This was the start of SMU’s dominant run which concluded in an undefeated season in 1982.

But all that glitters was not gold for the Mustangs, for the NCAA would discover that the coaching staff and boosters had been paying players to commit to the team.

In 1985 the NCAA imposed sanctions on the team for recruiting violations. The team was banned from bowl games for two years and would lose numerous scholarships over that two year period.

Instead of stopping the payments altogether, the team attempted to phase out their payments to keep players from leaving the team and playing elsewhere. But when a disgruntled player reported the system to the media, the fate of the program had been sealed.

After the first set of recruiting violations, the NCAA would create a set of harsher punishments for teams that repeatedly violate the recruiting rules. SMU would become the first team to receive the “Death Penalty.”

The team would be forced to cancel their entire 1987 season, and would not be allowed to play a single home game in 1988. The team would decide to cancel the 1988 season anyway.

SMU would also lose even more scholarships and would be forbidden to recruit off of the campus. These sanctions would cause many recruits to not commit to the team and put the program in a near-death state.

After the scandal, the team did not reach a bowl game until 2009, 22 years after the penalty was imposed on the football program.

In recent years, however, the team began to gain some momentum.

Last season the team captured the AAC championship defeating Tulane for the team’s first major win since the 1980’s.

After the season, the program would make the move to the ACC, but not without some controversy.

Florida State attempted to sue the conference stating that adding SMU posed nothing good for the conference and that the program would hurt both the prestige and profits that the teams and the conference itself were pulling in.

What would become ironic, is the fact that Florida State would play one of its worst seasons in recent memory, while the Mustangs would win. And oh boy did they win.

The Mustangs rolled through the regular season, going 11-1 to make it to the ACC championship in their first season in the conference. Though they would fall to Clemson in the title game, the Mustangs nearly pulled off a miracle comeback in the second half to stun the Tigers.

In the college football playoff, the Mustangs have a chance to rewrite their story. By defeating college football blue-blood Penn State, SMU can place itself firmly back on the map.

Luke Stefanisko is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email ljs6415@psu.edu.