Don’t Sleep On SMU

By Joe Brown
Love of Sports Correspondent

“Stay patient, Mustang fans. Your time will soon be here.”

Southern Methodist University was once one of the best football programs in the country. They were National Champions in 1935, ’81 & ’82.

The award given to the nation’s top running back, the Doak Walker Award, is named after the Mustangs’ legendary Heisman-winning running back.

From 1980-85, they were the winningest program in NCAA football.

Soon after, the program would come to a screeching halt.

They were the first program to be punished by the NCAA “Death Penalty” after booster payments and an illegal “slush fund” that paid players came to light. The NCAA canceled their ’87 season. They couldn’t field a team in ’88 due to a lack of viable players.

The program hasn’t recovered since.

Enter the offensive-minded head coach, June Jones, who has been in charge of coming in and resurrecting the program. After brief coaching stints in the NFL that included stops in Atlanta, Detroit, San Diego and Houston, he made his mark as the head coach at the University of Hawai’i.

Always preferring a wide open, high-powered passing attack, he hasn’t strayed since arriving at SMU this season. Even though the Mustangs are 1-7 this year, they’re doing some good things that could pay dividends very soon.

Case in point: the top two wide receivers at the Division I-A level are both receivers for the Mustangs.

Sophomore Aldrick Robinson and junior Emmanuel Sanders are racking up some gaudy stats. Robinson has 46 catches for 909 yards and 10 scores this year, while Sanders has scored eight times, catching 58 passes for 823 yards.

The Mustangs won’t end their 24-year bowl game drought this year, but I assure you June Jones’ system is catching the attention of talented high school quarterbacks and wide receivers across the country. This program’s done their time and paid for their actions, and it’s refreshing to know this once respected and dominant program will soon exit the decades of misery it has endured with its loyal fan base.

Mark my words: once Jones has two more years to recruit some of his type of players, the Mustangs will be going bowling for the first time in a very, very long time.