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SMU football has shown no rookie fatigue in its first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
At 11-1 overall on the season, the No. 7 Mustangs played for their first ACC title on Saturday against one of the conference’s powerhouse programs, No. 17 Clemson, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
While Clemson ultimately won to claim the ACC title, with SMU’s win over Cal at the end of November, the Mustangs became the first team since 1978 to jump into a “power” conference from a Group of Five and go 8-0 in conference play.
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The Mustangs’ successes this season — including a rise into the top 10 of the US LBM Coaches Poll and earning a spot in the College Football Playoff — is made all the more impressive considering SMU has dealt with penalties unlike any other college football program in history.
Here’s a look back at SMU receiving the “death penalty” in the 1980s as the Mustangs head up to Happy Valley to take on Penn State in the first round of the College Football Playoffs.
SMU-NCAA death penalty, explained
The NCAA defines the “death penalty” as the suspension of an NCAA membership program for at least one year if it is found guilty of being a repeated violator of a major NCAA violation in a span of five years.
The death penalty can be leveled upon a program if the following criteria are met within five years of its first violation:
Following the announcement of a major case, a major violation occurs and
The second violation occurred within five years of the starting date of the penalty assessed in the first case. The second major case does not have to be in the same sport as the previous case to affect the second sport.
Penalties for repeat violators of legislation, subject to exemptions…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/smu-death-penalty-revisiting-mustang-113055543.html
Author : USA TODAY Sports
Publish date : 2024-12-21 11:30:00
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