1981 SMU Mustangs football team

1981 SMU Mustangs football
NCF national champion SWC champion
Conference	Southwest Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 5
1981 record	10–1 (7–1 SWC)
Head coach	Ron Meyer (6th year)
Offensive coordinator	Steve Sidwell (6th year)
Home stadium	Texas Stadium

1981 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#5 SMU $	7	–	1	–	0	10	–	1	–	0
#2 Texas	6	–	1	–	1	10	–	1	–	1
Houston	5	–	2	–	1	7	–	4	–	1
Arkansas	5	–	3	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
Texas A&M	4	–	4	–	0	7	–	5	–	0
Rice	3	–	5	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Baylor	3	–	5	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
TCU	1	–	6	–	1	2	–	7	–	2
Texas Tech	0	–	7	–	1	1	–	9	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1981 SMU Mustangs football team represented the Southern Methodist University in the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Mustangs offense scored 365 points while the defense allowed 137 points. At season's end, the Mustangs were given the National Championship Foundation's (NCF) national championship and secured the Southwest Conference championship.

However, the Mustangs had been put on probation by the NCAA for recruiting violations and, per its terms, were banned from participating in any bowl game in 1981 should they have won enough games to qualify. Since SMU's performance would have given them an automatic berth in the Cotton Bowl, the team decided to treat its final regular season game against Arkansas as their bowl game and nicknamed it the "Polyester Bowl".

SMU finished at #5 in the final Associated Press poll of the season. Because its rules prevent schools under probation from being considered, the Mustangs were not ranked in the UPI Coaches Poll at all during the season.

Schedule

Date	Opponent^#	Rank^#	Site	Result	Attendance
1981-09-05	Texas-Arlington*		Texas Stadium • Irving, TX	W 48-0	20,130
1981-09-12	North Texas State*		Texas Stadium • Irving, TX	W 34-7	20,400
1981-09-19	Grambling State*		Texas Stadium • Irving, TX	W 59-27	45,700
1981-09-26	at TCU	No. 20	Amon G. Carter Stadium • Fort Worth, TX (Battle for the Iron Skillet)	W 20-9	25,862
1981-10-10	Baylor	No. 14	Texas Stadium • Irving, TX	W 37-20	33,110
1981-10-17	at Houston	No. 10	Astrodome • Houston, TX	W 38-22	36,892
1981-10-24	No. 10 Texas	No. 8	Texas Stadium • Irving, TX	L 7-9	62,777
1981-10-31	at Texas A&M	No. 13	Kyle Field • College Station, TX	W 27-7	62,646
1981-11-07	Rice	No. 10	Texas Stadium • Irving, TX (Rivalry)	W 33-12	28,750
1981-11-14	Texas Tech	No. 8	Texas Stadium • Irving, TX	W 30-6	24,410
1981-11-21	at No. 16 Arkansas	No. 6	Razorback Stadium • Fayetteville, AR	W 32-18	43,842
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. ^#Rankings from AP Poll.

Game summaries

Arkansas

#6 SMU at #16 Arkansas

	1	2	3	4	Total
• SMU	3	9	0	20	32
Arkansas	7	0	11	0	18

Date: Saturday, November 21
Location: Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville, Arkansas
Game attendance: 43,842

Source: Eugene Register-Guard

Scoring summary

1	SMU	Garcia 39-yard field goal	SMU 3-0

1	ARK	Anderson 7-yard pass from Jones (Lohay kick)	ARK 7-3

2	SMU	Garcia 43-yard field goal	ARK 7-6

2	SMU	Washington 10-yard interception return (pass failed)	SMU 12-7

3	ARK	Clark 1-yard run (Jones to Pierce pass)	ARK 15-12

3	ARK	Lohay 21-yard field goal	ARK 18-12

4	SMU	Garcia 24-yard field goal	ARK 18-15

4	SMU	Garcia 47-yard field goal	Tied 18-18

4	SMU	Jones 10-yard run (Garcia kick)	SMU 25-18

4	SMU	Dickerson 31-yard run (Garcia kick)	SMU 32-18

SMU wins first conference title since 1966 (ineligible for Cotton Bowl Classic berth).

Team players drafted into the NFL

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL Club
Perry Hartnett	Tackle	5	116	Chicago Bears
Harvey Armstrong	Defensive Tackle	7	190	Philadelphia Eagles
Eddie Garcia	Kicker	10	264	Green Bay Packers

^[1]

References

↑ "1982 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-12-24.

SMU Mustangs football

Venues	Ownby Stadium (1926–48, 1989–94) Cotton Bowl (1932–78, 1995–2000) Texas Stadium (1972–73, 1979–86) Gerald J. Ford Stadium (2000–present)

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Houston Navy: Gansz Trophy North Texas: Safeway Bowl Rice: Mayor's Cup TCU: Battle for the Iron Skillet

Culture & lore	Peruna Best Dressed Band in the Land Southern Methodist University football scandal

People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders

Seasons	1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

National championship seasons in bold

Southwest Conference football champions

Oklahoma & Baylor (1915) Texas (1916) Texas A&M (1917) Texas & Oklahoma (1918) Texas A&M (1919) Texas (1920) Texas A&M (1921) Baylor (1922) SMU (1923) Baylor (1924) Texas A&M (1925) SMU (1926) Texas A&M (1927) Texas (1928) TCU (1929) Texas (1930) SMU (1931) TCU (1932) Arkansas (1933) Rice (1934) SMU (1935) Arkansas (1936) Rice (1937) TCU (1938) Texas A&M (1939) Texas A&M & SMU & (1940) Texas A&M (1941) Texas (1942) Texas (1943) TCU (1944) Texas (1945) Rice & Arkansas (1946) SMU (1947) SMU (1948) Rice (1949) Texas (1950) TCU (1951) Texas (1952) Rice & Texas (1953) Arkansas (1954) TCU (1955) Texas A&M (1956) Rice (1957) TCU (1958) Arkansas, Texas, & TCU (1959) Arkansas (1960) Texas & Arkansas (1961) Texas (1962) Texas (1963) Arkansas (1964) Arkansas (1965) SMU (1966) Texas A&M (1967) Arkansas & Texas (1968) Texas (1969) Texas (1970) Texas (1971) Texas (1972) Texas (1973) Baylor (1974) Arkansas, Texas & Texas A&M (1975) Houston & Texas Tech (1976) Texas (1977) Houston (1978) Arkansas & Houston (1979) Baylor (1980) SMU (1981) SMU (1982) Texas (1983) SMU & Houston (1984) Texas A&M (1985) Texas A&M (1986) Texas A&M (1987) Arkansas (1988) Arkansas (1989) Texas (1990) Texas A&M (1991) Texas A&M (1992) Texas A&M (1993) Texas A&M (1994) Texas (1995)

National championships in bold

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