This Friday’s game between SMU and Baylor will be the 81st time that the two teams have met. Baylor currently leads the series with 37 wins, but Chad Morris and the Mustangs have a chance to bring the series back to a tie this year.

If the Mustangs do win this Friday, it will be the first time since 1986 that SMU has triumphed over Baylor. While that may seem like a long time ago, there were more than 17 years during that 29-year span where the two teams did not meet following the dissolution of the Southwest Conference. After last year’s sound defeat at the hands of the Bears, a win seems unlikely. However, last year’s Mustangs can find consolation in the fact that it was not the most that SMU has been beaten by, having lost the first matchup against Baylor 61-0 in 1916.

SMU has had its fair share of resounding victories in the series. In 1945 and 1946, SMU had back-to-back victories of 34-0 and 35-0. If history is any indicator, the Mustangs just might have it in them.

SMU also has two long winning streaks of its own, winning nine games from 1937-48 and eight games from 1966-73. Though Baylor has been on an 11-game winning streak since 1989, the Mustangs could turn it around and revive the winning tradition this weekend.

Maybe this is the year that SMU, under the direction and leadership of new Head Coach Chad Morris, can pull off the upset and once again make its mark on the series. But regardless of the outcome of Friday’s game, SMU has one thing Baylor does not… a National Championship.