Upcoming SMU Mustangs Football dates
Dates and live ticket listings appear here as soon as they are on sale. The guide below covers what to know before you buy.
Ford Stadium seats, decided quickly
For an SMU home game, buy a sideline seat between the 30-yard lines on the west side for an afternoon kickoff, and treat the top rows as fair game. Gerald J. Ford Stadium is listed at just 33,200 seats, so its highest sideline rows are nearer the action than the upper level of any giant stadium, and midfield up high usually outranks a corner seat down low. You will find it on SMU's campus in University Park, an independent town that Dallas completely surrounds. Home games begin around Labor Day weekend and wrap up in late November.
Families on a budget should look at the north end zone. Fans who want to stand and yell should look at the Stampede student block.
Three sides of seats and an open south end
Built on the footprint of old Ownby Stadium, the venue hosted its first game on September 2, 2000. Stands line both sidelines and curve around the north end zone, while the south end has no seating at all. Filling that gap is the planned path to roughly 45,000 seats. The field itself points north and south.
- Sidelines between the 30s: top sightlines, and the seats that sell out first when a big opponent visits.
- Upper sideline rows: strong value in a bowl this compact.
- North end zone: the value pick for families.
- Plays at the south end: with no stands there, crowd noise escapes at that end, and you watch action near that goal line from the sidelines at a flat angle.
Outside the northeast corner, Doak Walker Plaza displays a full-size copy of the trophy named for SMU's Heisman winner; the Loyd All-Sports Center attaches at the northwest corner. The biggest regular-season crowd came for TCU in September 2022, though published counts disagree (35,481 or 35,569). The 2010 Armed Forces Bowl holds the all-time mark of 36,742. When every seat is filled, the compact bowl feels jammed.
The Stampede and seats near it
SMU's student section, The Stampede, fills sections 123 through 127. SMU Athletics says students come in at Gate 5 and seats go to whoever arrives first. Student tickets cost nothing and are requested online once the claim window opens on the Sunday before each game, which keeps almost all of them off the resale market.
Sitting in or beside those sections means noise, standing and energy for four quarters. Fans who prefer to stay seated should pick a section a little farther along. The sources used here do not identify the home and visitor sidelines or a visitor section, so check the map on your listing.
Texas heat: west side vs. east side
Dallas in September can be brutally hot, and the field's alignment determines who bakes. Afternoon sun falls behind fans on the west sideline and into the faces of everyone across the field on the east side. So for a day game early in the year, pick the west side; under the lights, both sides are equal.
The easiest tickets of the year, early non-conference games, are also the hottest afternoons, so factor the sun into your section choice when you buy for those dates.
ACC dates, Homecoming and the end of the Iron Skillet
After 11 years in the American, SMU moved into the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in July 2024. The league guaranteed the Mustangs two annual opponents, Stanford and California, and rotates the rest of the league through. With the conference moving to a nine-game league schedule in 2026, more of SMU's home dates come from the ACC.
The Iron Skillet game with TCU, whose campus lies roughly 40 miles west in Fort Worth, was SMU's signature rivalry for a hundred years, dating to 1915. TCU declined to extend it past the 2025 meeting, and nothing is scheduled. Three other regional series, Navy for the Gansz Trophy, Rice for the Mayor's Cup, and North Texas, stopped after SMU's conference switch, though each could come back as a non-league game.
- Highest demand: the ACC's traditional powers, Homecoming (celebrated since 1926) and late-season games with a title race in play.
- Middle tier: Stanford, Cal and rotating ACC visitors.
- Easiest seats: early non-conference games.
Boulevarding and getting to the Hilltop
At SMU, tailgating is called Boulevarding. Fans set up tents under the trees on Bishop Boulevard, the loop road circling the main quad by Dallas Hall, whose hilltop setting gave the campus its nickname. A shaded lawn instead of an asphalt lot makes it one of the more unusual pregame parties in the ACC. Look for Peruna, the mascot, and the Mustang Band, about 80 musicians playing jazz and big-band tunes under their self-awarded title of Best Dressed Band in the Land.
Parking on neighborhood streets is a mistake: University Park and Highland Park limit it and write tickets, so SMU directs fans to its official gameday lots. If you park on East Campus, a shuttle picks up at three points: the Energy Square Garage, the North Central Expressway frontage road at SMU Boulevard, and Airline Drive at Binkley Avenue. By train, take DART to Mockingbird Station, the closest stop; rideshare is another easy option. See the SMU parking page for the current map.
Mustangs tickets and stadium entry
Season plans, single games and parking all go through SMU's athletics ticket office. Donors get the prime sideline season seats, generally ranked by how much they give and for how long. A small stadium leaves little for the general public when a big ACC name or Homecoming is on the schedule, so resale is the usual path for those dates, and listings tend to climb as kickoff approaches, more so if both teams carry a ranking. September games typically have seats to spare. Reserved Seat stands behind each order with a 100% guarantee.
The most recent published policy (2024–25) admits transparent bags no larger than 12 by 6 by 12 inches, gallon-size clear freezer bags and a clutch about the size of your hand. You cannot bring in a backpack, noisemakers or outside food and drinks, apart from one sealed bottle of water per person. Strollers stay out of the stands, but Gate 5 will check them for you, and medical items go through their own screening. Policies are updated from year to year, so look over the SMU Athletics bag policy before game day.
Aerial Circus, Pony Express and the long rebuild
Football at SMU began in 1915. Coach Ray Morrison's 1920s offenses put the ball in the air 30 or 40 times a game, an outlandish total in an era of five or six passes, and the press named them the Aerial Circus. SMU lists three national championships: 1935, 1981 and 1982. Halfback Doak Walker is the school's lone Heisman winner (1948), and he packed the Cotton Bowl so consistently that people called it the House that Doak Built. In 1966, Jerry LeVias, signed by coach Hayden Fry, became the first Black player on a football scholarship in the Southwest Conference.
Running backs Craig James and Eric Dickerson, the Pony Express, powered a 49–9–1 run across 1980–84 that no Division I-A team topped. Then came the fall. Over improper payments to players, the NCAA shut the program down for 1987 under the so-called death penalty, a sanction no other football team has ever received, and SMU stayed off the field until 1989. Rebuilding took a generation; in 2024 the Mustangs played for the ACC title and earned a spot in the first 12-team playoff.
Frequently asked questions
Which side of Ford Stadium is better in hot weather?
West. The sun sets behind that sideline, so east-side fans look into it during day games.
Are upper rows at Ford Stadium worth buying?
Usually. The bowl is small, so the top of a sideline section is still close, and a high midfield seat tends to beat a low seat in the corner.
Why is the south end of Ford Stadium open?
The stadium is a horseshoe with seats on three sides. The open south end leaves room to expand toward about 45,000 seats.
How do SMU students get tickets?
Students claim free tickets online starting the Sunday of game week and sit in the Stampede, sections 123 to 127, entering through Gate 5.
Who are SMU's protected ACC opponents?
Stanford and California. The rest of the ACC rotates through the schedule, which grows to nine conference games in 2026.
Can I bring a stroller to an SMU game?
Not into the stands. Under the 2024–25 policy, you can leave one at Gate 5.