By KEITH WHITMIRE
FOXSportsSouthwest.com
December 30, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas -- SMU didn't get the storybook ending it wanted after falling short against Army, 16-14, in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl.
However, SMU's recent success is writing a new ending to one of college football's darkest stories.
SMU's saga of cheating and scandals in the 1980s was retold recently in the excellent ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, "Pony Excess."
Out of control boosters and a complicit administration led to SMU receiving the NCAA's so-called death penalty in 1987 and suspension of the football program for two seasons.
The new tale of SMU football under the direction of Coach June Jones could be titled "Pony Success."
The Armed Forces Bowl marked back-to-back bowl seasons for SMU, something the Mustangs haven't done since 1983-84, right in the thick of the era documented by "Pony Excess."
