1982 SMU Mustangs football team

The 1982 SMU Mustangs football team represented the Southern Methodist University in the 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the first year for the team under head coach Bobby Collins and the Mustangs finished undefeated at 11–0–1,[1][2] and were Southwest Conference champions (7–0–1).

1982 SMU Mustangs football
Co-national champion (HAF)
SWC champion
Cotton Bowl Classic champion
ConferenceSouthwest Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 2
APNo. 2
1982 record11–0–1 (7–0–1 SWC)
Head coach
CaptainCraig James
Gary Moten
Home stadiumTexas Stadium
1982 Southwest Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 2 SMU $ 7 0 111 0 1
No. 17 Texas 7 1 09 3 0
No. 9 Arkansas 5 2 19 2 1
Houston 4 3 15 5 1
Baylor 3 4 14 6 1
Texas Tech 3 5 04 7 0
Texas A&M 3 5 05 6 0
TCU 2 6 03 8 0
Rice 0 8 00 11 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

A tie in their regular season finale against No. 9 Arkansas on November 20 caused the voters in both polls to drop SMU from second to fourth,[3] costing the Mustangs the national championship. The tie was attributed in part to a lengthy and highly questionable pass interference call on Arkansas late in the game that allowed SMU to score the game-tying touchdown,[4] a call that announcer Keith Jackson stated on air was a bad call by the officials. Trailing by a point, head coach Collins opted not to go for the two-point conversion and the lead, and they kicked the extra point to knot the score at seventeen with under three minutes remaining. There was no further scoring, as SMU missed a long field goal attempt in the final seconds.[2][4]

Repeating as SWC champions, the Mustangs again earned the automatic bid to the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day, where they defeated sixth-ranked Pittsburgh 7–3.[1][5] Played in near-freezing conditions, it was the final college game for the "Pony Express" running back tandem of Eric Dickerson and Craig James, as well as for Pitt quarterback Dan Marino.

After SMU's tie to Arkansas, Penn State moved up to second and then defeated No. 1 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl to secure the top spot in the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll, despite a slightly less impressive final record of 11–1.[6][7][8]

The Mustangs were runner-up in the final AP Poll, but the Helms Athletic Foundation,[9] in the final year in which it selected a national college football champion, split the honor between SMU and Penn State.[10] On the season, the Mustangs outscored their opponents by a combined score of 354 to 160.

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 11Tulane*No. 8W 51–733,814
September 18at UTEP*No. 6W 31–1033,509
September 25TCUNo. 6
W 16–1343,321
October 2North Texas State*No. 7
W 38–1030,118[11]
October 9at BaylorNo. 6W 22–1930,000
October 16HoustonNo. 5
  • Texas Stadium
  • Irving, TX
W 20–1431,817
October 23at No. 19 TexasNo. 4W 30–1780,157
October 30Texas A&MNo. 4
  • Texas Stadium
  • Irving, TX
W 47–950,008
November 6at RiceNo. 2W 41–1425,000
November 13at Texas TechNo. 2W 34–2745,954
November 20No. 9 ArkansasNo. 2
  • Texas Stadium
  • Irving, TX
T 17–1765,101
January 1, 1983vs. No. 6 PittsburghNo. 4W 7–360,359
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1982 SMU Mustangs football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
TE 87 Rickey Bolden Jr
OL 67 Andrew Campbell
QB   Jeff Courtwright Sr
RB 36 Mark Crites Jr
RB 19 Eric Dickerson Sr
FB 28 Charles Drayton  Sr
RB 21 Reggie Dupard Fr
T 70 Dale Hellestrae So
RB 32 Craig James Sr
QB 2 Don King Fr
WR 7 Bobby Leach So
QB 11 Lance McIlhenny Jr
Defense
Pos.#NameClass
DB 13 Keith Brooks Fr
DT 74 Michael Carter So
DB 29 Russell Carter Jr
DB 46 Wes Hopkins Sr
CB 1 Rod Jones Fr
LB 91 Clarence McDade Jr
CB 5 Reggie Phillips So
DB 23 Blane Smith Sr
DT 78 Richard Neely Sr
OLB 54 Tony Good Jr
Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
K 3 Jeff Harrell Jr
P 32 Craig James Sr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
— = Not ranked.
Week
PollPre1234567891011121314Final
AP6866765442224442
Coaches Poll1168765443224442

Game summaries

Tulane

Tulane vs. #8 SMU
1 234Total
Green Wave 0 007 7
Mustangs 7 17720 51

SMU romped to a season-opening victory over Tulane with a school-record 519 yards rushing. Senior Eric Dickerson ran for 183 yards and two touchdowns, and went over 3,000 career rushing yards. Craig James added 110 yards and a touchdown. It was the 10th time Dickerson and James each ran for more than 100 yards in the same game.[12]

at UTEP

#6 SMU at UTEP
1 234Total
Mustangs 14 1430 31
Miners 0 730 10

TCU

In the Battle for the Iron Skillet, SMU beat TCU 16–13.

North Texas State

North Texas State vs. #7 SMU
1 234Total
Mean Green 0 730 10
Mustangs 14 1077 38

at Baylor

Houston

at Texas

#4 SMU at #19 Texas
1 234Total
Mustangs 0 7320 30
Longhorns 0 0017 17

Texas A&M

Texas A&M at #4 SMU
1 234Total
Aggies 0 036 9
Mustangs 16 10147 47

Eric Dickerson ran for over 200 yards and 3 touchdowns on 14 carries.

at Rice

In the Mayor's Cup, SMU beat Rice 41–14.

at Texas Tech

Arkansas

#9 Arkansas vs. #2 SMU
1 234Total
Razorbacks 7 037 17
Mustangs 0 737 17

[13]

vs. Pittsburgh (Cotton Bowl)

#6 Pittsburgh vs. #4 SMU
1 234Total
Panthers 0 030 3
Mustangs 0 070 7

[14]

Awards and honors

NFL Draft

Six Mustangs were selected in the 1983 NFL Draft, which lasted twelve rounds (335 selections).

PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL Club
Eric DickersonRunning back12Los Angeles Rams
Russell CarterSafety110New York Jets
Wes HopkinsSafety235Philadelphia Eagles
Gary MotenLinebacker7175San Francisco 49ers
Craig JamesRunning back7187New England Patriots

[18]

References

  1. "Mustangs (11-0-1) cotton to No. 1". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. January 2, 1983. p. 4D.
  2. Putnam, Pat (January 10, 1983). "Cottoning on to No. 2, it's SMWho". Sports Illustrated: 21.
  3. "Mustangs lose No. 2 position to Penn State". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. November 23, 1982. p. 3B.
  4. "SMU makes a tie as good as a win". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. November 21, 1982. p. 6F.
  5. "SMU in high Cotton after stopping Pitt". Tuscaloosa News. (Alabama). Associated Press. January 2, 1983. p. 4B.
  6. "Only dissent on No. 1 comes from No. 2". Eugene Register Guard. (Oregon). AP, UPI. January 3, 1983. p. 1C.
  7. "At long last". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 3, 1983. p. 23.
  8. Donovan, Dan (January 3, 1983). "National title belongs to players - Paterno". Pittsburgh Press. p. C1.
  9. Jenkins, Dan (September 11, 1967), "This Year The Fight Will Be in the Open", Sports Illustrated, Chicago, IL: Time Inc., 27 (11): 33, retrieved March 16, 2016, In 1948, the Helms Athletic Foundation decided to name a national champion … and name past champions. The director of Helms since its beginning, Bill Schroeder, did the work, and he now heads the committee that selects No. 1 after the bowl games. 'A committee of one – me,' he says.
  10. "David Wilson's Homepage".
  11. "SMU Mustangs trample North Texas State". The Daily Advertiser. October 3, 1982. Retrieved October 29, 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  12. "SMU's Pony Express mauls Green Wave, 51-7". Shreveport Times via newspapers.com. September 12, 1982. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  13. "S.M.U. IN BOWL AFTER 17-17 TIE". The New York Times. November 21, 1983. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  14. "Stout S.M.U. Defense Holds Off Pitt, 7-3". The New York Times. January 2, 1983. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  15. Eric Dickerson: Pro Football Hall of Fame, http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?PLAYER_ID=55
  16. "'82 Heisman race no Walker in the park". November 1, 2011. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  17. Eric's College Days at SMU, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2003-06-04. Retrieved 2015-07-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. "1983 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2007-12-21.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.