A tie in their regular season finale against No. 9Arkansas on November 20 caused the voters inboth polls to drop SMU from second tofourth,[3] costing the Mustangs thenational championship. The tie was attributed in part to a lengthy and highly questionable pass interference call on Arkansas late in the game that allowed SMU to score the game-tyingtouchdown,[4] a call that announcerKeith Jackson stated on air was a bad call by the officials. Trailing by a point, head coach Collins opted not to go for thetwo-point conversion and the lead, and they kicked the extra point to knot the score at seventeen with under three minutes remaining. There was no further scoring, as SMU missed a long field goal attempt in thefinal seconds.[2][4]
Repeating as SWC champions, the Mustangs earned the automatic bid to theCotton Bowl onNew Year's Day, where they defeated sixth-rankedPittsburgh7–3.[1][5] Played in near-freezing conditions, it was the final college game for the "Pony Express" running back tandem ofEric Dickerson andCraig James, as well as for Pitt quarterbackDan Marino.
After SMU's tie to Arkansas,Penn State moved up to second and then defeated No. 1Georgia in theSugar Bowl to secure the top spot in the AP Poll and theCoaches Poll, despite a slightly less impressive final recordof 11–1.[6][7][8]
The Mustangs were runners-up in the final AP Poll, but theHelms Athletic Foundation, in the final year in which it selected a national college football champion, split the honor between SMU and Penn State. On the season, the Mustangs outscored their opponents by a combined score of 354 to 160.
SMU romped to a season-opening victory over Tulane with a school-record 519 yards rushing. SeniorEric Dickerson ran for 183 yards and two touchdowns, and went over 3,000 career rushing yards.Craig James added 110 yards and a touchdown. It was the 10th time Dickerson and James each ran for more than 100 yards in the same game.[21]
Going into this game, SMU needed a victory or a tie to claim the SWC championship and secure a trip to the Cotton Bowl. Arkansas, on the other hand, needed a victory over the Mustangs plus a win over Texas the following week. The game proved to be marred by controversy due to questionable officiating.
Late in the fourth quarter Arkansas led SMU 17-10 with time winding down. From the Mustang 43 yard line, SMU quarterback Lance McIlhenny lofted a pass to receiver Jackie Wilson down the left sideline, with Wilson being defended by Arkansas cornerback Nathan Jones. The pass was long, and Jones was in fact in front of Wilson as both players went to the turf together. Jones was flagged for pass interference, and since that penalty was a spot foul instead of 15 yards at that time in college football, the ball was placed near the Arkansas 15 yard line. SMU would score the game-tying touchdown a few plays later, and the game ended in a 17-17 tie, handing the Mustangs the conference championship. Play-by-play announcerKeith Jackson would even say on live television that the pass interference penalty on Jones was "just a terrible call". The officiating crew was suspended after this game and the NCAA issued an apology to Arkansas. This egregious call directly influenced the NCAA to change the rules for pass interference over the following summer so that a pass interference penalty would be 15 yards and not a spot foul.
