After the longest period between games since the series began in 1916, the SMU and Baylor football teams will meet for the first time since 2016 on Saturday.
When the Southwest Conference broke up after the 1995 season, the two didn't play again until 2003. After a 2005 contest, they didn't play again until 2012. And of the six meetings since 2003, only two were played in Dallas.
The Mustangs will also look to break a 13-game losing streak against Baylor. The last time SMU won was a 27-21 victory in 1986.
"This is a new SMU. It's a new day, but we haven't beaten Baylor since anybody on our team was even remotely thought of being alive," SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said. "The games matter to our fans because the Southwest Conference, we all know the history of what the Southwest Conference was."
Lashlee was born into it. He remembers when Arkansas reached back-to-back Cotton Bowls at the end of the 1980s.
"I grew up in Arkansas. My first 10 years of my life, it was the Southwest Conference," Lashlee said. "I know the history of Arkansas, I know the history of SMU. In Arkansas, when you grew up, it was you with all the Texas schools. … I've got a great respect for what the Southwest Conference was and the schools that were a part of it."
SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings was born nearly a decade after the Southwest Conference broke up, so he didn't get to experience it firsthand. But he did grow up in Dallas and also grew up watching his uncle play at Baylor.
When the Southwest Conference broke up, Baylor found a new home in the Big 12. SMU went to the WAC, Conference USA and then the American before joining the ACC just over a year ago. Now that the Mustangs are back in a power conference, they are ready to get back to the heights those teams of the SWC achieved.
"Moving all the way up to the ACC last year, being able to play in a higher conference, P4 conference, is obviously a big deal," Jennings said. "I think the fans really appreciate that. The Southwest Conference and now coming to the ACC, where it's a high-powered conference, we're just looking to make our way back like they did back in the day."
The history doesn't just go back between the programs. There is history between the players — whether it is playing together, against each other, camps or their recruitment.
SMU and Baylor have a combined 134 players from the state of Texas on their rosters.
"I always look at it from a players' standpoint when you have these games, whether it's us and TCU, us and Baylor, us and Houston, it's more that these guys all grew up playing together and, probably, were all recruited by similar schools," Lashlee said. "I think that adds to it. I bet our guys have a lot of friends on that team and vice versa, and same thing in coaching. I think the world of Dave Aranda. I think the world of Jake Spavital. But, on Saturday, we both want to win."
It's the type of win that will go a long way for the Mustangs as they continue the early part of their power conference journey.
SMU has had success over the last two seasons. But it is a small sample size, and they are still trying to find that respect.
"I still feel like people don't respect (us)," senior safety Ahmaad Moses said. "Even though we're in a Power 4 conference and even though we went to the ACC championship our first year, I feel like it's respect we still have to earn. Every game going into it, it doesn't matter who it is. People see SMU, they see the ranking by our name, but I feel like they still think of the old SMU. Every time we get the chance to play a big-name opponent, we want to make it known it's a new SMU team."
But don't expect the Mustangs to approach this game any differently than they did in Week 1 against East Texas A&M, next week at Missouri State or any other game on the schedule.
"I think, with us, it's just worrying about ourselves no matter what it is," senior offensive lineman Logan Parr said. "No matter who we're playing, no matter who's lining up across from us, our game plan and game preparation, you've got to attack it the exact same."
And if the Mustangs are going to get their first win against Baylor in almost 40 years, they better be prepared.
"We've got our work cut out for us," Lashlee said. "... Make no mistake, we know we're going to have to beat these guys on Saturday because they're really good and they're going to be a hard challenge to overcome."
