One SMU fan brought a great sign to Saturday’s game against TCU.
The Mustangs took on the Horned Frogs in Sonny Dykes’ return to face his former team, which TCU won 42-34. There was some hostility towards Dykes from the home SMU crowd, as expected.
Sonny Dykes knew he'd hear it from Mustangs fans Saturday, returning to face SMU as coach of rival TCU. Dykes said earlier this week if he were an SMU fan, "I would boo me too."
Well, they booed. Wore "traitor" shirts. Waved "coward" signs.
In the end, Dykes survived and won. pic.twitter.com/SERM1Us4JY
— Jeff Kolb (@JeffKolbFOX4) September 25, 2022
But the killer sign came from an SMU fan, who wrote “We paid players before it was cool.”
College football pic.twitter.com/adfrzgV0ON
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) September 24, 2022
The poster was hashtagged with “Pony Express,” which was the nickname for the backfield tandem of Eric Dickerson and Craig James on the 1982 SMU squad that went 11-0-1. SMU teams went 41-5-1 over four seasons from 1981-1984.
SMU was hit with the “death penalty” by the NCAA after they were found to have been paying players. SMU had been paying recruits to sign with them, and then many players were paid from a “slush fund” put together by boosters. Dickerson received a gold Trans Am to come to SMU.
After being given the death penalty, SMU did not have another winning season until 2009. They didn’t have another double-digit win season until Dykes went 10-3 in 2019.
Yup, SMU was paying players long before it was cool.
