Conference USA – SMU competes at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics – Division I, Football Bowl Subdivision – and plays under the Conference USA banner.
Championship Teams and Postseason Play – During the 2009–10 season, three SMU teams won conference championships and 11 teams advanced to the postseason.
Football Success – The Mustangs ended a 25-year bowl drought in 2009 with a Sheraton Hawaii Bowl Championship and a share of the Conference USA Western Division Championship. In 2010 SMU again won the Conference USA Western Division Championship, advancing to its first Conference Championship game and playing in its second straight bowl game.
Ranking – SMU has ranked as the top school in its conference for 11 of the last 13 years in the Directors’ Cup Division I overall athletic rankings.