When SMU looked to replace Chad Morris as head coach, Sonny Dykes was an obvious choice. Dykes has longstanding roots to the state of Texas, and also runs a productive spread offensive system. The thought process was simple: Dykes can build on the success Morris had by the end of his tenure with the Mustangs.

Four years into the Dykes era at SMU it became obvious — it wouldn’t be that simple. Dykes was quickly shuffled in to coach the 2017 bowl game against Louisiana Tech, and then opened against North Texas, TCU and Michigan. An 0-4 start was tough enough. Getting outscored 184-65 in the four games was disastrous.

“Like anything else, it takes time,” Dykes said. “Sometimes the stars align, and it all falls into place. It didn’t for us.”

After the 0-3 start in 2018, Dykes decided it was time to get back to the basics. The staff simplified aspects of the scheme and focused on developing skills. Instead of trying to deceive teams with scheme, SMU decided to limit its own mistakes instead.

“I went to camps in high school and I remember my high school coach saying that if you can run, you can block, you can tackle, you can play this game,” defensive coordinator Kevin Kane said. “It hasn’t changed. It’s those little fundamentals in those realms that you have to keep getting better at.”

Once the focus changed, results came quickly. The Mustangs won five of their next seven games, including a major upset over rival Houston. The only losses were to UCF and Cincinnati, arguably the two best teams in the AAC a year ago. Late in the year, SMU was suddenly in the mix for the AAC West championship.

“We need to come in and treat every game like we’re playing Michigan,” Proche said. “We let our emotions run high against Memphis. We played SMU football against Houston and you see the result.”

That commitment to fundamentals has only doubled during the offseason. There are more basic tackle and skills drills than normal. Assistants will blow the whistle and stop a play just because a player didn’t get lined up exactly right. The level of attention to detail is rising dramatically and it’s making the Mustangs a more consistent team.

“Fundamentals are something that don’t get talked about as much in football anymore,” Dykes said. “You tackle well on defense; you block well on offense. That’s an over-simplistic approach, but it’s really not. The teams that do those two things are good football teams.”

It doesn’t hurt that the Mustangs suddenly have a veteran-heavy team. Running backs Xavier Jones and Ke’Mon Freeman, wide receiver James Proche and linebacker Richard Moore are all seniors. Twenty-one of 25 listed starters overall are back from a season ago.

Dykes emphasized the youth on the offensive line a season ago. Four of five starters are back, and the Mustangs added a few transfers in the offseason who might be able to contribute right away. However, no addition is bigger than quarterback Shane Buechele, who was the first true freshman to start the opener at Texas since 1944.

SMU was close to playing for a conference championship last season, but inexperience reared its ugly head. The Mustangs lost a tight game against Memphis late in the year, and then fumbled a gimme against Tulsa to miss out on a bowl game. Getting that close only made the roster hungrier.

“When you look at the games, the Tulsa game, we expected to win,” Proche said. “We figured we’d blow them out. We need to come in and treat every game like we’re playing Michigan. We let our emotions run high against Memphis. We played SMU football against Houston and you see the result.”

Dykes is the first SMU coach in a generation who didn’t need to rebuild the whole program. In fact, Dykes is the first Mustangs coach since the Death Penalty to take over a roster that finished over .500 the year before. SMU is a high-level academic school right in the most fertile recruiting grounds in the nation. Everything is set up for Dykes to finally unleash the potential of this program once again.

“We want to win a championship,” Dykes said. “We don’t want to have good seasons and be competitive, we want to win championships.”