Arizona vs. SMU

Arizona and SMU have 3 meetings on file, the first in 1938; SMU leads the series 2–⁠1 in the games on file. Over the last 3 meetings it’s SMU 2–⁠1.

Arizona wins
1
SMU wins
2
Ties
0
Earliest on file
1938
Longest streak
1 SMU
Current streak
1 SMU
Last 10 meetings
SMU 2–⁠1
Most recent
2025

The series at a glance

Every meeting by decade, colored by the winner
’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1930s0–⁠1
1980s1–⁠0
2020s0–⁠1
Average margin
16.3 points; 1 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Arizona
1–⁠0 Arizona’s record at home
At SMU
1–⁠0 SMU’s record at home
Neutral sites
0–⁠1 Arizona first

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Arizona and SMU, 1938 on130015001700194019501960197019801990200020102020

Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.

Stars of the series

Named most valuable

Yamir Knight SMU2025
Ahmaad Moses SMU2025

Most valuable: as the games’ Wikipedia articles name them (CC BY-SA).

From the newspapers

  • The Evening star's story of the 1938 game: MUSTANGS RUN WILD Southern Methodist Trips Arizona in Late Going, 2o-7.

    1938 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Oct 2, 1938

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.

On television

2025FOX2.3 million viewers

Viewers: Nielsen, as compiled by nschultz7’s ratings tracker.

Every game

Jan 2, 2026SMU 24, 21Arizona 19Snapdragon StadiumHoliday Bowl
Oct 5, 1985Arizona 28, 3SMU 6at Arizona
Oct 1, 1938SMU 29, Arizona 7at SMU

Every game is listed as played on the field.