The 2017 SMU Mustangs football team represented

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = " The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , pr ...

in the

2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2017. The regular season began on August 26, 2017, and en ...

. The Mustangs played their home games at

Gerald J. Ford Stadium Gerald J. Ford Stadium is a stadium in University Park, Texas, with a Dallas mailing address. The stadium is owned by Southern Methodist University (SMU) and used primarily for games played by the SMU Mustangs football team. About Ford Stadium ...

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

, and competed in the West Division of the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA ...

. They were led by third-year coach

Chad Morris Chad Allen Morris (born December 4, 1968) is an American football coach. He is currently an offensive analyst at South Florida. Morris served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 2015 to 2017 and the University ...

during the entire regular season until December 6, when he resigned to become the head coach at

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...

. On December 11, SMU hired

Sonny Dykes Daniel "Sonny" Dykes (born November 9, 1969) is an American football coach, and a former college baseball player. He is currently the head football coach at Texas Christian University (TCU), and previously served in the same role at Southern Meth ...

as head coach, and he led them in their bowl game. They finished the season 7–6, 4–4 in AAC play to finish in a tie for third place in the West Division. They were invited to the

Frisco Bowl The Frisco Bowl is an annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctioned post-season Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football bowl game played in Frisco, Texas, since December 2017. The bowl has a tie-in with ...

where they lost to

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

Previous season

The

Mustangs The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, the ...

finished the 2016 season 5–7; they were 3–5 in American Athletic play, to finish in fifth place in the West Division. :Schedule Source:

Schedule

SMU announced its 2017 football schedule on February 9, 2017. The schedule consisted of 7 home and 5 away games in the regular season. The Mustangs hosted AAC foes

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, and

UCF The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University S ...

, and traveled to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

, and

. The Mustangs hosted three of the four non-conference opponents,

Arkansas State Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

from the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams partici ...

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort W ...

from

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...

and

Stephen F. Austin Stephen Fuller Austin (November 3, 1793 – December 27, 1836) was an American-born empresario. Known as the "Father of Texas" and the founder of Anglo-Americans, Anglo Texas,Hatch (1999), p. 43. he led the second and, ultimately, the success ...

from the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...

, and traveled to

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...

. With a 7–5 regular season result, the team was invited to the

2017 Frisco Bowl The 2017 Frisco Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played on December 20, 2017, at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, United States. The first annual Frisco Bowl, it featured the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs of Conference USA and the SMU Mu ...

, to face

on December 20.

Weekly awards

* Jordan Wyatt –

Bronko Nagurski Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski (November 3, 1908 – January 7, 1990) was a Canadian-born professional American football player in the National Football League (NFL), renowned for his strength and size. Nagurski was also a successful professional w ...

National Defensive Player of the Week, AAC Defensive Player of the Week *

Trey Quinn David Lee "Trey" Quinn III (born December 7, 1995) is an American football wide receiver for the Michigan Panthers of the United States Football League (USFL). He played college football at LSU and SMU. Quinn was selected by the Washington Re ...

–

Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award The Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award is an award given annually to the "top offensive player in Division I football who also exhibits the enduring characteristics that define Earl Campbell: integrity, performance, teamwork, sportsmanship, drive, comm ...

Player of the Week, AAC Offensive Player of the Week

Game summaries

Stephen F. Austin

North Texas

at TCU

Arkansas State

UConn

at Houston

at Cincinnati

Tulsa

UCF

at Navy

at Memphis

Tulane

vs. Louisiana Tech–Frisco Bowl

Players in the 2018 NFL Draft

References

{{SMU Mustangs football navbox

SMU Educational institutions * St. Martin's University, Lacey, Washington, United States * St. Matthew's University, the Cayman Islands * St. Michaels University School, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada * Saint Monica University, Cameroon * Samuel ...

SMU Mustangs football seasons

SMU Mustangs football The SMU Mustangs football program is a college football team representing Southern Methodist University (SMU) in University Park in Dallas County, Texas. The team competes in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of the American ...