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1938 SMU

6–⁠4 (4–⁠2 Southwest Conference), coached by Madison Bell.

Schedule and results

SMU in 1938, game by game: won vs. North Texas 34–7; won vs. Arizona 29–7; lost vs. Marquette 0–7; lost at No. 1 Pittsburgh 7–34; won vs. Texas 7–6; won vs. No. 19 Texas A&M 10–7; won vs. Arkansas 19–6; won at Baylor 21–6; lost vs. No. 2 TCU 7–20; lost at Rice 14–25+27−27Won 34–7 vs. North Texas+27North TexasWon 29–7 vs. Arizona+22ArizonaLost 0–7 vs. Marquette-7MarquetteLost 7–34 at No. 1 Pittsburgh-27No. 1 PittsburghWon 7–6 vs. Texas+1TexasWon 10–7 vs. No. 19 Texas A&M+3No. 19 Texas A&MWon 19–6 vs. Arkansas+13ArkansasWon 21–6 at Baylor+15BaylorLost 7–20 vs. No. 2 TCU-13No. 2 TCULost 14–25 at Rice-11Rice
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 24vsNorth TexasW 34–⁠791%
Oct 1vsArizonaW 29–⁠751%
Oct 7vsMarquetteL 0–⁠764%
Oct 22at1PittsburghL 7–⁠3417%
Oct 30vsTexasW 7–⁠675%
Nov 5vs19Texas A&MW 10–⁠751%
Nov 12vsArkansasW 19–⁠655%
Nov 19atBaylorW 21–⁠634%
Nov 26vs2TCUL 7–⁠2035%
Dec 3atRiceL 14–⁠2552%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Rice 25–⁠14; unranked in the final AP poll; 2nd in the Southwest Conference.

In program history: The 41st-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 110 on file).

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1938.

Record
6–⁠4
Conference
4–⁠2 2nd in Southwest Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
148–⁠125
Coach
Madison Bell
Elo
1549 +33 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
2.2 No. 58 of 122 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captain
Charles Sprague

Drafted in 1939

The 1939 draft
Rd 4Billy Dewell EPhiladelphia Eagles

All-Southwest Conference

2 first team, 1 second team

First team

Second team

  • J. SandersOTAP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1938 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1938 Southwest Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
TCU6–⁠011–⁠01
SMU4–⁠26–⁠4
Baylor3–⁠2–⁠17–⁠2–⁠1
Rice3–⁠34–⁠6
Texas A&M2–⁠3–⁠14–⁠4–⁠1
Arkansas1–⁠52–⁠7–⁠1
Texas1–⁠51–⁠8

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.