DALLAS (AP) — A few things would have been different for Eric Dickerson and Craig James if SMU’s “Pony Express” played in college football’s current era instead of more than four decades ago.
The running backs certainly would have gotten a lot more money than they did, and that wouldn’t be against the rules like it was then. And they likely wouldn’t have even remained teammates for all four seasons, like then before the transfer portal that allows players to easily move from one school to another.
“If we had the transfer flexibility back then … one of us would have probably gone. And so it discourages that teamwork concept, especially at the same position,” James said Thursday. “I’m glad we stuck it out and competed through it.”
Dickerson, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, quickly responded, “I’m glad we did too.”
While together at SMU from 1979-82, Dickerson and Craig combined to run for 8,192 yards and 70 touchdowns. The Mustangs were 11-0-1 during their senior season, winning the Southwest Conference title and then the Cotton Bowl over Pittsburgh and quarterback Dan Marino. They were No. 2 in the final AP poll, the school’s best-ever finish.
They are now the namesake of The Pony Express Award, which they founded to honor college football’s most outstanding tandem, regardless of position. Current players select the winner of the national award relaunched last season, and won by the Colorado duo of Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, the standout two-way player, and quarterback Shedeur Sanders
“It’s a `we’ award in a ‘me’ era,” James said.
SMU’s death penalty
Schools can now pay players, who can also benefit financially from their name, image and likeness (NIL). When Dickerson and James were in college, plenty of schools in the old SWC and other leagues were in trouble for recruiting and other violations.
SMU became the most heavily penalized as a repeat offender, and in 1987 was the only school to ever get the so-called NCAA death penalty for a pay-for-play scandal during those standout seasons that extended until after Dickerson and James were in the NFL. The program didn’t field a team again until 1989, and weren’t ranked again until 2019.
“I’m so tired for getting blamed for that,” Dickerson said.
“It wasn’t that we were doing something that was unique back in that time. We just got in trouble for it,” James said. ”Eric and I used to get blamed for it a lot, and we weren’t a part of that particular crime. And it used to bother me immensely, and I finally just got beyond it.”
Dickerson, a longtime critic of the NCAA, has acknowledged receiving $500 to $1,000 a month while playing for SMU, and sent much of that home to his great aunt who raised him. There was also that infamous gold Trans Am he got while still in high school.
Often asked what he could make now, Dickerson insists he doesn’t think much about that. “I have no clue what I’d make,” he said, after initially mentioning a couple of million dollars.
“I know it would have been more than we did get,” James said.
SMU’s move to the ACC
The Mustangs began No. 6 in 1982, the first of four consecutive seasons in the AP preseason poll. They then went 40 years before another preseason ranking, at No. 16 this season.
Last year was their first in a major conference since the SWC shut down after the 1995 season. The Mustangs debuted in the Atlantic Coast Conference going undefeated in conference games, making the ACC championship game and 12-team College Football Playoff.
Honoring standout tandems
The origin of The Pony Express Award goes back to 2011, when James was an ESPN broadcaster. The first winner was the Oklahoma State trio of quarterback Brandon Weeden, receiver Justin Blackmon and running back Joseph Randle after the Cowboys went 12-1, winning their only Big 12 title and the Fiesta Bowl.
After James got out of broadcasting and an unsuccessful run for a U.S. Senate seat in 2012, the award went dormant until last year, when its reboot coincided with SMU’s successful ACC debut that revived memories of the “Pony Express” days.
James said, “It all kind of dovetailed together nicely.”
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