Adam Tauzal has hosted a tailgate at the same spot on SMU’s Boulevard for over a decade. On the day of the ACC opener against Florida State, he added a second beer keg to his tent. It’s the second time he’s ever done so, the other being the Texas A&M game in 2014.

There’s a glimpse of this moment’s magnitude for a fan base who’s spent over 40 years waiting for a return to major college football.

When Adam was in undergrad, SMU opened its famed Boulevard on September 2, 2000, for the first game at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. In the two decades since, the tradition became its own verb. “Boulevarding” – translation: catching a healthy buzz at a block party with generations of SMU fans under the shade of white tents or trees. 

It was the place to be on a Saturday afternoon - Adam was on the waitlist for his reserved spot for five years. And most of the time, fans stayed on it during the game. SMU’s football team had one winning season, a 6–5 record in 1997, in 20 years. In 2003, when Adam was working on his Master’s, the Mustangs bottomed out to 0–12.

In total, SMU went 39 years without a conference championship. 

“Moses roamed through the desert shorter than SMU has been roaming the bad football years,” mega-donor Bill Armstrong said. “It’s about time we came back.”

To keep it in biblical terms, there are two time periods of SMU football. Before Death Penalty, and After Death Penalty. 

SMU claimed back-to-back national titles in 1981 and 1982 behind star running backs Eric Dickerson and Craig James, dubbed “The Pony Express.” But SMU received the Death Penalty from the NCAA after the 1986 season for recurring violations of paying players.When the program returned in 1989, they were never the same.

There are a select few alumni who lived through SMU’s golden age, and they’re found at the northernmost section of the Boulevard, next to the stadium. Steve Barnicoat was a swimmer who graduated in 1985, and he takes in the scene with friend Steve Good, whose son is currently on the SMU swimming team. 

Barnicoat was on campus when Dickerson received a Pontiac Trans-AM for first committing to Texas A&M. He was in the crowd tonight when Dickerson was driven toward midfield (not in a Trans AM), waving from the backseat, an honorary captain. Dickerson is not a taboo figure at his alma mater like other stars who received money. He was the face of the program’s best era and was honored as SMU embarks on what they hope is another. 

“It was NIL before NIL,” Good says. “So SMU was a trendsetter.”

Everyone laughs, but there’s a tinge of scorn behind it. Four decades of bitterness. SMU was exiled because they committed the same crimes as other Southwest Conference teams. They were just caught before paying players was changed from a violation to a prerequisite.

Walking south down the Boulevard, away from the stadium and toward the Quad, is a walk through SMU’s football history. At the stadium’s entrance are alumni like Barnicoat who went to college when SMU was a powerhouse. Toward the middle are the alums from the “lost generation” like Adam who attended school and stayed fans when SMU was at its lowest. And at the southernmost tip, just beneath Dallas Hall, are the current students reaping the rewards of all who came before them.

The current students don’t register the devastation their predecessors like Barnicoat and Adam endured, but how could they? Over half of SMU’s undergraduate population hails from out of state. They’ve transitioned from high school to college in an era where athletes are paid. Student tickets for the ACC opener sold out in eight minutes, and if that’s because of the excitement of playing the Florida State brand after years in the American Athletic Conference, then great. 

This game can mean different things to different generations. What really matters is that when they all converge on Bishop Street to get into the game, they’re supporting SMU. 

But even if someone’s wearing Florida State garb, they get a good-natured clap on the back, too. It’s fun to host a conference opponent with a proud fanbase that travels. It’s what SMU is becoming. 

“Whereas before, we were always trying to get individuals and groups of us to be on the Boulevard, now, everybody wants to be here,” Barnicoat said.