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1949 SMU

5–⁠4–⁠1 (2–⁠3–⁠1 Southwest Conference), coached by Madison Bell.

Schedule and results

SMU in 1949, game by game: won vs. Wake Forest 13–7; won vs. Missouri 28–27; lost vs. Rice 27–41; won vs. No. 7 Kentucky 20–7; won vs. No. 19 Texas 7–6; tied at Texas A&M 27–27; won vs. Arkansas 34–6; lost vs. No. 15 Baylor 26–35; lost at TCU 13–21; lost vs. Notre Dame 20–27+28−14Won 13–7 vs. Wake Forest+6Wake ForestWon 28–27 vs. Missouri+1MissouriLost 27–41 vs. Rice-14RiceWon 20–7 vs. No. 7 Kentucky+13No. 7 KentuckyWon 7–6 vs. No. 19 Texas+1No. 19 TexasTied 27–27 at Texas A&M0Texas A&MWon 34–6 vs. Arkansas+28ArkansasLost 26–35 vs. No. 15 Baylor-9No. 15 BaylorLost 13–21 at TCU-8TCULost 20–27 vs. Notre Dame-7Notre Dame
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 24vsWake ForestW 13–⁠771%
Oct 1vsMissouriW 28–⁠2770%
Oct 15vsRiceL 27–⁠4170%
Oct 22vs7KentuckyW 20–⁠752%
Oct 29vs19TexasW 7–⁠656%
Nov 5atTexas A&MT 27–⁠2781%
Nov 12vsArkansasW 34–⁠677%
Nov 19vs15BaylorL 26–⁠3559%
Nov 26atTCUL 13–⁠2157%
Dec 3vsNotre DameL 20–⁠2730%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Notre Dame 27–⁠20; unranked in the final AP poll; 5th in the Southwest Conference.

In program history: The 21st-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 110 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 9
  2. Wk 2: 10
  3. Wk 3: 17
  4. Wk 4: 11
  5. Wk 5: 9
  6. Wk 6: 12
  7. Wk 7: 10

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 1949.

Heisman voteDoak Walker, third

Consensus All-AmericanDoak Walker, RB

Record
5–⁠4–⁠1
Conference
2–⁠3–⁠1 5th in Southwest Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 9
Points
215–⁠204
Coach
Madison Bell
Elo
1606 −52 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
13.2 No. 23 of 119 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Dick McKissack, Bobby Folsom and Doak Walker

Drafted in 1950

The 1950 draft
Rd 5Jack Halliday OGBaltimore Colts
Rd 5Dick McKissack BLos Angeles Rams

All-Southwest Conference

2 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1949 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1949 Southwest Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Rice6–⁠010–⁠15
Baylor4–⁠28–⁠220
TCU3–⁠36–⁠3–⁠1
Texas3–⁠36–⁠4
SMU2–⁠3–⁠15–⁠4–⁠1
Arkansas2–⁠45–⁠5
Texas A&M0–⁠5–⁠11–⁠8–⁠1

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