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1956 SMU

4–⁠6 (2–⁠4 Southwest Conference), coached by Chalmer Woodward.

Schedule and results

SMU in 1956, game by game: won vs. No. 3 Notre Dame 19–13; lost vs. No. 2 Georgia Tech 7–9; won at Missouri 33–27; lost at Duke 6–14; won at Rice 14–13; won at Texas 20–19; lost vs. No. 5 Texas A&M 7–33; lost at Arkansas 13–27; lost vs. No. 16 Baylor 0–26; lost vs. No. 14 TCU 6–21+7−26Won 19–13 vs. No. 3 Notre Dame+6No. 3 Notre DameLost 7–9 vs. No. 2 Georgia Tech-2No. 2 Georgia TechWon 33–27 at Missouri+6MissouriLost 6–14 at Duke-8DukeWon 14–13 at Rice+1RiceWon 20–19 at Texas+1TexasLost 7–33 vs. No. 5 Texas A&M-26No. 5 Texas A&MLost 13–27 at Arkansas-14ArkansasLost 0–26 vs. No. 16 Baylor-26No. 16 BaylorLost 6–21 vs. No. 14 TCU-15No. 14 TCU
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 22vs3Notre DameW 19–⁠1344%
Sep 29vs2Georgia TechL 7–⁠942%
Oct 6atMissouriW 33–⁠2766%
Oct 13atDukeL 6–⁠1443%
Oct 20atRiceW 14–⁠1351%
Nov 3atTexasW 20–⁠1959%
Nov 10vs5Texas A&ML 7–⁠3345%
Nov 17atArkansasL 13–⁠2734%
Nov 24vs16BaylorL 0–⁠2643%
Dec 1vs14TCUL 6–⁠2137%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to TCU 21–⁠6; unranked in the final AP poll; 5th in the Southwest Conference.

In program history: The 63rd-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 110 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 2: 5
  2. Wk 3: 12
  3. Wk 4: 19

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 1956.

Record
4–⁠6
Conference
2–⁠4 5th in Southwest Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 5
Points
125–⁠202
Coach
Chalmer Woodward
Elo
1470 −75 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
4.2 No. 49 of 111 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Bill Livingstone and Smitty Keller

All-Southwest Conference

1 first team, 2 second team

First team

  • Tommy GentryEAP-1; UP-1

Second team

  • Bob BlakeleyOTAP-2
  • Smitty KellerOGAP-2; UP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1956 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1956 Southwest Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Texas A&M6–⁠09–⁠0–⁠15
TCU5–⁠18–⁠314
Baylor4–⁠29–⁠211
Arkansas3–⁠36–⁠4
SMU2–⁠44–⁠6
Rice1–⁠54–⁠6
Texas0–⁠61–⁠9

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