The early 1980s turned Southern Methodist football into one of the most feared brands in all of college sports. Head coach Ron Meyer had rediscovered the magic of a program laid dormant after the national prominence of the 1940s and 1960s by reinventing success, and the Pony Express years with Eric Dickerson and Craig James sent the team skyrocketing to the top of the national rankings before he left for the NFL and handed the reins to Bobby Collins of Southern Mississippi.
The success came with a heavy price tag after the NCAA investigated infractions committed by the Mustangs, but nobody predicted what happened when the governing body levied the first-ever death penalty in February of 1987.