SMU Mustangs football under Ron Meyer

Ron Meyer was the coach of the Southern Methodist University's football team from 1976 to 1981. He compiled a 34–32–1 record, and was succeeded by Bobby Collins.[1]

1976 Season

1976 SMU Mustangs football
Conference	Southwest Conference
1976 record	3-8 (2–6 SWC)
Head coach	Ron Meyer
Home stadium	Cotton Bowl (c. 72,032)

1976 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Houston +	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 13 Texas Tech +	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 7 Texas A&M	6	–	2	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
Baylor	4	–	3	–	1			7	–	3	–	1
Texas	4	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	1
Arkansas	3	–	4	–	1			5	–	5	–	1
Rice	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
SMU	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
TCU	0	–	8	–	0			0	–	11	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
1976-09-11	Texas Christian	Cotton Bowl Dallas	W 34-14	24,328
1976-09-18	at No. 14 Alabama*	Legion Field Birmingham, Alabama	L 3-56	63,203
1976-09-25	vs. North Texas State*	Texas Stadium Irving, Texas	W 38-31	25,539
1976-10-02	at Memphis State*	Memphis Memorial Stadium Memphis, Tennessee	L 13-27	31,424
1976-10-09	at Baylor	Baylor Stadium Waco, Texas	L 20-27	25,000
1976-10-16	No. 19 Houston*	Cotton Bowl Dallas	L 6-29	28,204
1976-10-23	at No. 13 Texas	Memorial Stadium Austin, Texas	L 12-13	50,000
1976-10-30	Texas A&M	Cotton Bowl Dallas	L 0-36	35,213
1976-11-06	at Rice	Rice Stadium Houston	L 34-41	18,000
1976-11-13	at No. 5 Texas Tech	Jones Stadium Lubbock, Texas	L 7-34	34,780
1976-11-20	vs. Arkansas	State Fair Stadium Shreveport, Louisiana	W 35-31	32,000
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1976 SMU Mustangs football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class OL 71 Mike Jusko Fr WR 21 Emanuel Tolbert Fr SR 81 Gene Ratliff So QB 12 Ricky Wesson Sr RB 40 Arthur Whittington Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DL 61 Charles Hunt Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Ron Meyer Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

1977 Season

1977 SMU Mustangs football
Conference	Southwest Conference
1977 record	4-7 (3–5 SWC)
Head coach	Ron Meyer
Home stadium	Cotton Bowl (c. 72,032)

1977 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Texas $	8	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 3 Arkansas	7	–	1	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
Texas A&M	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Houston	4	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Texas Tech	4	–	4	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Baylor	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
SMU	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
TCU	1	–	7	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Rice	0	–	8	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
1977-09-10	at Texas Christian	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, Texas	W 45-21	19,576
1977-09-17	vs. North Texas State*	Texas Stadium Irving, Texas	L 13-24	26,097
1977-09-24	Tulane*	Cotton Bowl Dallas	W 28-23	18,460
1977-10-01	No. 6 Ohio State*	Cotton Bowl Dallas	L 7-35	45,000
1977-10-08	at Baylor	Baylor Stadium Waco, Texas	L 6-9	30,300
1977-10-15	at No. 19 Houston*	Astrodome Houston	W 37-23	30,774
1977-10-22	No. 2 Texas	Cotton Bowl Dallas	L 14-30	36,151
1977-10-29	at No. 11 Texas A&M	Kyle Field College Station, Texas	L 21-38	53,932
1977-11-05	Rice	Cotton Bowl Dallas	W 41-24	6,918
1977-11-12	No. 18 Texas Tech	Cotton Bowl Dallas	L 7-45	21,689
1977-11-19	at No. 8 Arkansas	Razorback Stadium Fayetteville, Arkansas	L 7-47	43,791
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1977 SMU Mustangs football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE 87 Bob Fisher So QB 10 Mike Ford Fr OL 71 Mike Jusko  Fr OL 67 Mike Mason Fr WR 21 Emanuel Tolbert So R 81 Gene Ratliff Jr OL 76 Lee Spivey Fr RB 40 Arthur Whittington Sr RB 33 Walt Foster Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 27 Charles Bruton Fr DB 9 Mark Gibson Fr DB 12 James Mobley Fr DL 80 Byron Hunt Fr DL 61 Charles Hunt So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Ron Meyer Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Team players in the NFL

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Arthur Whittington	Running back	7	176	Oakland Raiders

1978 Season

1978 SMU Mustangs football
Conference	Southwest Conference
1978 record	4-6-1 (3–5 SWC)
Head coach	Ron Meyer
Home stadium	Cotton Bowl (c. 72,032)

1978 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 10 Houston $	7	–	1	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 11 Arkansas	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	2	–	1
No. 9 Texas	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Texas Tech	5	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
No. 19 Texas A&M	4	–	4	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
SMU	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	1
Baylor	3	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Rice	2	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
TCU	0	–	8	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

With sagging attendance in recent years, including a dismal 6,918 against conference foe Rice, Southern Methodist athletic director Russ Potts orchestrated "Mustang Mania." Potts wanted to make SMU more visible in the Dallas area. Average attendance at SMU home games jumped from 25,644 in the previous year to 51,960 in the 1978 season. This was the highest average attendance for SMU home games since 1950.[2][3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
1978-09-09	Texas Christian	Cotton Bowl Dallas	W 45-14	41,112
1978-09-16	at Florida*	Citrus Bowl Orlando, Florida	W 35-25	34,101
1978-09-23	at No. 3 Penn State*	Beaver Stadium University Park, Pennsylvania	L 21-26	77,404
1978-10-07	at No. 14 Ohio State*	Ohio Stadium Columbus, Ohio	T 35-35	87,712
1978-10-14	at Baylor	Baylor Stadium Waco, Texas	W 28-21	36,500
1978-10-21	No. 11 Houston*	Cotton Bowl Dallas	L 28-42	64,871
1978-10-28	at No. 7 Texas	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, Texas	L 3-22	65,000
1978-11-04	Texas A&M	Cotton Bowl Dallas	L 17-20	57,208
1978-11-11	at Rice	Rice Stadium Houston	W 58-0	14,000
1978-11-18	at Texas Tech	Jones Stadium Lubbock, Texas	L 16-19	45,101
1978-11-25	Arkansas	Cotton Bowl Dallas	L 14-27	44,647
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1978 SMU Mustangs football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE 87 Bob Fisher Jr QB 10 Mike Ford So OL 77 Perry Hartnett Fr OL 71 Mike Jusko So OL 67 Mike Mason So OL 76 Lee Spivey So QB 12 Jim Bob Taylor Fr RB 33 Walt Foster Sr WR 21 Emanuel Tolbert Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 27 Charles Bruton So DL 99 Eric Ferguson Fr DB 9 Mark Gibson So DL 80 Byron Hunt So DL 61 Charles Hunt Jr DB 20 James Mobley  Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Ron Meyer Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Team players in the NFL

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
D. K. Perry	Defensive back	8	200	New York Giants

1979 Season

1979 SMU Mustangs football
Conference	Southwest Conference
1979 record	5-6 (3–5 SWC)
Head coach	Ron Meyer
Home stadium	Texas Stadium (c. 65,101)

1979 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 5 Houston +	7	–	1	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 8 Arkansas +	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 12 Texas	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 14 Baylor	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Texas A&M	4	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
SMU	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Texas Tech	2	–	5	–	1			3	–	6	–	2
TCU	1	–	6	–	1			2	–	8	–	1
Rice	0	–	8	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
1979-09-08	Rice		Texas Stadium Irving, Texas	W 35-17	60,217
1979-09-15	at Texas Christian	No. 20	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, Texas	W 27-7	18,732
1979-09-22	North Texas State*	No. 18	Texas Stadium Irving, Texas	W 20-9	57,923
1979-09-29	at Tulane*	No. 19	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana	L 17-24	42,563
1979-10-13	Baylor*		Texas Stadium Irving, Texas	L 21-24	65,101
1979-10-20	at No. 5 Houston		Astrodome Houston	L 10-37	43,409
1979-10-27	No. 9 Texas*		Texas Stadium Irving, Texas	L 6-30	53,327
1979-11-03	at Texas A&M		Kyle Field College Station, Texas	L 14-47	58,690
1979-11-10	at Wichita State		Cessna Stadium Wichita, Kansas	W 34-0	6,110
1979-11-17	Texas Tech		Texas Stadium Irving, Texas	W 35-10	42,226
1979-11-24	at No. 7 Arkansas		War Memorial Stadium Little Rock, Arkansas	L 7-31	54,718
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1979 SMU Mustangs football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 19 Eric Dickerson Fr TE 87 Bob Fisher Sr QB 10 Mike Ford Jr OL 77 Perry Hartnett So RB 32 Craig James Fr OL 71 Mike Jusko Jr OL 53 Randy Katz Sr OL 67 Mike Mason Jr OL 50 Lance Pederson Jr OL 76 Lee Spivey Jr QB 12 Jim Bob Taylor  Fr WR 21 Emanuel Tolbert Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DL 75 Harvey Armstrong So DB 27 Charles Bruton Jr DT 74 Michael Carter Fr DL 99 Eric Ferguson So DB 9 Mark Gibson Jr DL 80 Byron Hunt Jr DL 61 Charles Hunt Sr DL Jerry Kovar So DB 20 James Mobley So DB 34 John Simmons Jr DL 95 John Wells So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 1 Eddie Garcia So	Head coach Ron Meyer Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Team players in the NFL

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Emanuel Tolbert	Wide receiver	7	183	Chicago Bears
Bob Fisher	Tight end	12	323	Chicago Bears

1980 Season

1980 SMU Mustangs football
Holiday Bowl vs. Brigham Young, L 45-46
Conference	Southwest Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 20
AP	No. 20
1980 record	8-4 (5–3 SWC)
Head coach	Ron Meyer
Home stadium	Texas Stadium (c. 65,101)

1980 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 14 Baylor $	8	–	0	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 20 SMU	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Houston	5	–	3	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Texas	4	–	4	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Rice	4	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Arkansas	3	–	5	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Texas A&M	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Texas Tech	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
TCU	1	–	7	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
1980-09-13	North Texas*		Texas Stadium Irving, Texas		W 28-9	52,781
1980-09-20	Texas Christian		Texas Stadium Irving, Texas		W 17-14	39,622
1980-09-27	Texas–Arlington*		Texas Stadium Irving, Texas		W 52-16	26,611
1980-10-04	at Tulane*		Louisiana Superdome New Orleans		W 31-21	42,563
1980-10-11	at No. 18 Baylor	No. 20	Baylor Stadium Waco, Texas		L 28-32	35,000
1980-10-18	Houston		Texas Stadium Irving, Texas		L 11-13	32,109
1980-10-25	at No. 2 Texas		Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, Texas	ABC	W 20-6	73,535
1980-11-01	Texas A&M	No. 19	Texas Stadium Irving, Texas		W 27-0	41,289
1980-11-08	at Rice	No. 18	Rice Stadium Houston, Texas		W 34-14	23,000
1980-11-15	at Texas Tech	No. 18	Jones Stadium Lubbock, Texas		L 0-14	42,197
1980-11-23	Arkansas		Texas Stadium Irving, Texas		W 31-7	28,225
1980-12-19	vs. No. 13 Brigham Young	No. 20	Jack Murphy Stadium San Diego (Holiday Bowl)		L 45-46	52,000
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1980 SMU Mustangs football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 19 Eric Dickerson So QB 10 Mike Ford Sr OL 77 Perry Hartnett Jr RB 32 Craig James So OL 71 Mike Jusko Sr OL 67 Mike Mason Sr OL 76 Lee Spivey Sr QB 12 Jim Bob Taylor  So	Defense Pos. # Name Class DL 75 Harvey Armstrong Jr DB 27 Charles Bruton Sr DT 74 Michael Carter So DB 29 Russell Carter Fr DL 99 Eric Ferguson Jr DB 9 Mark Gibson Sr DL 80 Byron Hunt Sr DB 20 James Mobley Jr DB 34 John Simmons Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 1 Eddie Garcia Jr	Head coach Ron Meyer Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Season summary

Texas

SMU at Texas

1 2 3 4 Total • SMU 0 3 10 7 20 Texas 3 3 0 0 6 Date: Saturday, October 25 Location: Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, Texas Game attendance: 73,535 TV announcers (ABC): Al Michaels

Scoring summary 1 Texas Goodson 20 yard field goal Texas 3-0 2 SMU Garcia 47 yard field goal Tie 3-3 2 Texas Goodson 47 yard field goal Texas 6-3 3 SMU James 53 yard run (Garcia kick) SMU 10-6 3 SMU Garcia 44 yard field goal SMU 13-6 4 SMU Mobley 22 yard interception return (Garcia kick) SMU 20-6

It was SMU's first win versus Texas in 14 years.

[4]

Team players in the NFL

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
John Simmons	Defensive back	3	64	Cincinnati Bengals

1981 Season

1981 SMU Mustangs football
Southwest Conference Champions
Conference	Southwest Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 5
1981 record	10-1 (7–1 SWC)
Head coach	Ron Meyer
Home stadium	Texas Stadium (c. 65,101)

1981 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 5 SMU $	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
No. 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

Main article: 1981 SMU Mustangs football team

References

1. http://www.collegefootballdatadvds.com/guides/smu2008.pdf
2. http://www.collegefootballdatadvds.com/guides/smu2008.pdf
3. http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/1978/10/01/SPORTS_Is_Mustang_Mania_Horsefeathers.aspx
4. "SMU Shocks Texas Behind James' Running." Palm Beach Post. 1980 Oct 26.