1953 SMU
5–5 (3–3 Southwest Conference), coached by Chalmer Woodward. Share
Schedule and results
- Biggest upsetBeat No. 11 Rice 12–7Oct 17
Rice was ranked No. 11, above it.
| Date | Opponent | Result | Elo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 3 | at 9Georgia Tech | L 4–6 | 19% |
| Oct 9 | vs Missouri | W 20–7 | 54% |
| Oct 17 | vs 11Rice | W 12–7 | 49% |
| Oct 24 | at Kansas | W 14–6 | 40% |
| Oct 31 | vs Texas | L 7–16 | 51% |
| Nov 7 | at Texas A&M | W 23–0 | 46% |
| Nov 14 | vs Arkansas | W 13–7 | 77% |
| Nov 21 | at Baylor | L 21–27 | 42% |
| Nov 28 | at TCU | L 0–13 | 56% |
| Dec 5 | at Notre Dame | L 14–40 | 16% |
Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.
How it ended: Lost to Notre Dame 40–14; unranked in the final AP poll; 4th in the Southwest Conference.
In program history: The 46th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 110 on file).
AP poll, week by week
- Wk 5: 13
- Wk 6: 11
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 1953.
- Record
- 5–5
- Conference
- 3–3 4th in Southwest Conference
- AP final
- Unranked peak No. 11
- Points
- 128–129
- Coach
- Chalmer Woodward
- Elo
- 1542 +30 this season
- SP+ rating
- —
- SRS
- 12.3 No. 20 of 110 major-college teams
- Recruiting class
- —
- Captains
- Jack Gunlock and Jerry Clem
Drafted in 1954
The 1954 draft| Rd 7 | Jerry Norton B | Philadelphia Eagles |
| Rd 7 | Don Miller B | Cleveland Browns |
All-Southwest Conference
4 second teamSecond team
Frank EidomBUP-2- Ed BernetEAP-2; UP-2
- Don GrossOTAP-2
- Jack GunlockOTUP-2
From Wikipedia’s 1953 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).
1953 Southwest Conference standings
| Team | Conf. | Overall | AP final |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rice | 5–1 | 9–2 | 6 |
| Texas | 5–1 | 7–3 | 11 |
| Baylor | 4–2 | 7–3 | |
| SMU | 3–3 | 5–5 | |
| Arkansas | 2–4 | 3–7 | |
| Texas A&M | 1–5 | 4–5–1 | |
| TCU | 1–5 | 3–7 |
Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.