Southern Methodist University (SMU) Mustangs Football National Championship Wins - 3 Victories

The Southern Methodist University (SMU) Mustangs football program claims three national titles in the nearly one hundred years that the sport has been played at the college in the Dallas, Texas area. The three national championships are from:

• 1935


• 1981


• 1982

While SMU has never been awarded the distinction of a football national championship from the most highly regarded polls generated by the Associated Press (AP) or the Coaches Poll or even the more recently created Bowl Championship Series (BCS) system the university does claim football national championships based on designations bestowed on them by alternative sources.

When it comes to the highest level of college football the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which has tournaments and formally recognizes a national champion for every other college sport, has refrained from officially crowning a college football national champ at the highest level. Prior to 2006 the highest level of college football was called Division 1-A. Since 2006 the term Division 1-A has been replaced with Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). With regards to both Division 1-A and more recently Division I FBS the NCAA only states that "a number of polling organizations provide a final ranking."

Despite the fact that the NCAA organizes a tournament and pronouncing an eventual national champion at the Division-II and Division-III levels of college football the governing body of college football has chosen to abstain from officially declaring a FBS (formerly Division-IA) national champion. Because of this fact a number of colleges have chosen to claim national titles for historical seasons despite consensus opinions to the contrary.

In 1935 the SMU football program went 12-1 in a season that was concluded with a bowl victory after beating Stanford 7-0 in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Three different organizations declared the SMU team led by head coach Madison Bell as the best in the country. Those three organizations were (1) Dickinson, (2) Houlgate System, and (3) Sagarin Ratings.

In 1981 the Dallas based institution of higher learning claimed a second national championship after a 10-1 season under coach Ron Meyer where the Mustangs did not conclude their season with a bowl game. The low profile organization that declared SMU the best college football team in the country after that season was the little known group called the National Championship Foundation.

In 1982 Bobby Collins coached the SMU Mustangs to an 11-0-1 record over the course of a season that concluded with a thrilling 7-3 Cotton Bowl victor over the University of Pittsburgh. Future NFL Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson led the squad that finished second in the AP and Coaches Polls.

Although Penn State was widely accepted as the national champion with a substantially more difficult schedule than SMU the Penn State program finished with an 11-1 record. The lone loss to then number four ranked University of Alabama gave an organization that calls itself the Helms Athletic Foundation sufficient reason to declare SMU the national champion because the Mustangs finished with one tie and no losses while Penn State had one loss in week five of the 1982 season.

Kim, the author of this piece, imagines that despite the NCAA sanctions laid on the football program in the late 1980s that Eric Dickerson still proudly uses a red blue SMU golf bag when he plays a relaxing game of golf with former teammates. Because a Southern Methodist University golf bag is very difficult to find online Kim recommends getting a plain golf bag with the school colors and adding the Mustangs logos on separately.

For more tips on creating your own SMU golf bag readers are encouraged to check out the links in the previous paragraph.

Myths of NFL Cheerleaders Unraveled

So there's tons of cheerleaders out there dancing on the field and we never bother to get to know them. All we do is just stare at them dancing, think 'oh they dance good, look good, typical cheerleaders' and move on without a thought as to what really goes behind the scenes of an NFL cheerleader. Well, I am here to tell you that there is a lot more than meets the eye. All those movies you saw like "Bring it On" and those television shows that showed a bunch of drama queens as cheerleaders have got it all wrong.

Myth #1 - It's easy being an NFL cheerleader.

Um. No. There is no way that it is easy being a cheerleader. So much goes into the auditions, that you're lucky to even make it into the squad in the first place. Hundreds of girls try out and you have to be in the top 3% to make it in the squad, no kidding. They all dance good, look good, are energetic, enthusiastic, and have a great personality on top of all that. After they get into the squad, it takes hours of practice almost every day in order to get the NFL dancing routines down. It gets worse when they have to dance in the freezing cold, especially in the northern States (which some NFL teams use as an excuse for not having a cheerleading team and yes not every NFL team has a cheerleading squad). Outside of the dances, they also have to show up for charity events, make guest appearances, do photo shoots, and sometimes even travel overseas to entertain our very own US military troops to keep their morale high. Whoever said being a cheerleader was easy obviously hasn't seen one at work.

Myth: NFL Cheerleaders get to meet football stars and date them

Absolutely not. NFL Cheerleaders are not allowed to "fraternize" with the players. That means no flirting, no personal relationships, no personal "friendships", or anything that might imply a relationship outside of the professional realm of the NFL. Yes, they can interact a little bit at charity events and guest appearances but typically, you'd have better luck getting to know the football stars as a janitor cleaning their locker rooms or being some sort of groupie. Cheerleaders going out with the likes of Tom Brady and Randy Moss? Forget about it.

Myth: NFL Cheerleaders rack in the fame and fortune

How much do cheerleaders get paid in the NFL? The answer to that question is $15 to $50 a game. Heck, there are times when they don't get paid at all. They have to show up at guest appearance, photo shoots, overseas performances for US troops and all of that is most likely unpaid. Don't feel too bad for them. Some of them get out of cheerleading and find that a bunch of opportunities await them because of their NFL cheerleading elite status. Teri Hatcher from Desperate Housewives was a San Francisco 49ers Gold Rush Cheerleader once and look where she is now. Making $285,000 an episode and multiply that by 10+ episodes per season. Now who wants to be an NFL cheerleader?

Myth: NFL Cheerleaders are stupid and act like valley girls

Yes, NFL cheerleaders are hot but who said you can't combine beauty with brains? People tend to associate cheerleaders with light-headed valley girls who enjoy going shopping and being the drama queens. Well these cheerleaders aren't in high school anymore for one thing. Another thing is that these cheerleaders need to be mature and intelligent so that they can answer to the media. After all, they are an important aspect of the team's public image.

NFL cheerleaders deserve a better reputation. Sure there are a few black sheep out there but in general, the NFL cheerleaders are good girls who do their best to perform for us. The least we could do is show our appreciation. Don't forget they also contribute to the community in various charity events so they do help out on a local and national level. Let's show our support for them and give them the credit they deserve.

David Court has written various articles on the issue of NFL cheerleaders. To find out more, visit his website NFL Cheerleaders Blog

A Gimpse Into Life In An NFL Locker Room

As a former NFL player, I spent a lot of my time in the locker room. As many people wonder what goes on inside an NFL locker room, here is a quick look.

As an NFL player, the locker room is our home away from home. This is where the team members become a family. This is where we bond and learn about each other's different cultures, personalities, and view on life.

On an NFL team, there are people from many different walks of life. People are from different races, different parts of the country, they grew up with different values, different religions, and different cultures. Being able to get to know these people and learn about their life is one of the things I enjoyed most about the NFL. It was such a great learning experience to interact with so many different people.

So what do NFL players talk about in the locker room? We talk about the same thing everybody else does. We talk a lot about our wives, girlfriends, families, children, movies, music, our problems, and of course, a lot of joking around and talking smack. On every team there are a couple of guys who love to play pranks and keep everyone guessing as to what is coming next. It is a lot of fun.

Another fun thing to do is haze the rookies. Giving rookies a hard time is always fun and it helps build camaraderie. How do we haze rookies? Well, we like to get several team members together and go out for dinner with a rookie and then make him pay the bill. We also like to make rookies carry our equipment. To really embarrass rookies, we'll make them get up in front of everybody and sing or dance. Sometimes we will give them a horrible haircut by shaving parts of their head. Sometimes we'll shave off their eyebrows too. Embarrassing rookies is always good fun.

What is inside the locker room? The locker room is setup just like home to help players relax. There are couches, big screen TV's, video games, and an attached cafeteria.

The locker room is also a place where we come together as a team to support each other, like when we lose a game or a player gets hurt or in trouble. The locker room is where a team's chemistry is created and it is that chemistry that makes a team great when they walk out onto the field.

Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who now owns a popular NFL Merchandise website as well as a dating tips website.