The 2021 SMU Mustangs football team represented

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

during the

2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 152nd season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision. The ...

. The Mustangs played their home games at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in

University Park, Texas University Park is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States, in suburban Dallas. The population was 25,278 at the 2020 census. The city is home to Southern Methodist University. University Park is bordered on the north, east and west by Dal ...

, a separate city within the city limits of

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, competed as members of the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

(AAC). The Mustangs were led by fourth-year coach

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 ...

—on November 29, it was announced that Dykes would leave the program to become the head coach at

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 ...

. He finished at SMU with an overall record of 30–18. After finishing their regular season with an 8–4 record, the Mustangs accepted a bid to play in the

Fenway Bowl The Fenway Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Organized by ESPN Events and Fenway Sports Management, it features teams from the American Athletic Conf ...

, where they were due to face the

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as Wahoos or Hoos, are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic Coast C ...

. On December 26, the Cavaliers withdrew from the game, due to COVID-19 issues; the bowl was subsequently canceled.

Preseason

Media poll

The American Athletic Conference preseason media poll was released at the virtual media day held August 4, 2021.

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, who finished the 2020 season ranked No. 8 nationally, was tabbed as the preseason favorite in the 2021 preseason media poll.

Schedule

Personnel

Depth chart

Game summaries

Abilene Christian

North Texas

At Louisiana Tech

At TCU

South Florida

At Navy

Tulane

At Houston

At Memphis

UCF

At No. 5 Cincinnati

Tulsa

Rankings

Weekly awards

*The American offensive player of the week : Tanner Mordecai (week 1 vs. Abilene Christian) :Tanner Mordecai (week 3 vs. Louisiana Tech) :Tanner Mordecai (week 8 vs. Tulane) :Tanner Mordecai (week 11 vs. UCF) *The American special teams player of the week :Bryan Massey (week 5 vs. Navy)

References

{{SMU Mustangs football navbox SMU SMU Mustangs football seasons

SMU Mustangs football The SMU Mustangs football team is a college football team representing Southern Methodist University (SMU) in University Park, Texas, University Park, Dallas County, Texas. The Mustangs compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, NC ...