Now with quarterback Justin Willis back this season to direct what could be Conference USA's most explosive offense, the Mustangs might finally be on the verge of restoring some of that winning tradition and overcoming the less savory aspects of its past.

"When I took this job I knew it was going to be a challenge," says Phil Bennett, in his sixth year as SMU coach.

That challenge, Bennett says, stemmed from the combination of the death-penalty seasons in 1986-87 and the demise of the Southwest Conference a decade later.

"We lost our identity," he says. "Those two things really set us back. Our affiliation with Conference USA now is getting us back on our feet. We're right on the cusp of having the kind of team we'd be proud to say, "That's who we are.' "

SMU last season was agonizingly close to reaching its first bowl game since 1984. How close? Four points and less than four minutes. A 31-27 loss to Rice in the season finale in a game SMU led late put the Owls in the New Orleans Bowl and kept the Mustangs home for the holidays yet again. But SMU's 6-6 finish was its first non-losing mark since 1997.

Bennett says reaching a bowl isn't the be-all and end-all for the 2007 campaign, but he admits, "There's no question it's the next step, and it's a step we've got to take. We had our fate in our hands last November, and we were disappointed in how we finished, but sometimes you learn your greatest lessons in your toughest defeats."

Willis, a redshirt sophomore from Denton, Texas, who last year threw a school-record 26 TD passes to only six interceptions and hit 67.4 percent of his passes, is ready to take those lessons to heart.

"We've got a little bit of anxiety and a little bit of excitement, just because we know how close we were last year," Willis says. "We had a bunch of young players in their first year, including me, and we were all here all summer working hard, trying to get better. I think we're going to overcome that this year and be a stronger team."

Despite finishing 10th in the nation in passing efficiency last season, Willis knows he can improve.

"We had big plays, but we had a lot of three-and-outs," he says. "We need to be able to move the ball efficiently. We've been working on that."

The big plays should still be there with top receiver and fellow sophomore Emmanuel Sanders returning. But the running game needs to improve. Junior DeMyron Martin, who showed promise as a freshman in 2005 but struggled with injuries last year, should help.

"He's not only healthy but he's recommitted," Bennett says. "He'll be the first to tell you he didn't quite push himself hard enough. I really believe now he's playing because he wants to show what he's made of."

The offense had to score in big bunches last year to stay in a lot of games, but Bennett thinks there will be significant progress on the defensive side.

"I'm a defensive guy, so I'm never going to concede anything to the offense," Bennett says. "One of the things that's happening now is we've been able to redshirt some guys. When I first got here, if you had a pulse, you played. Now we've got some guys who've played a lot and have gotten acclimated. That's what building a program is all about."

It's also about finding players who want to be a part of a foundation.

"When I was recruiting these kids, part of my pitch was to take a challenge to come to a program that's been down," Bennett says. "You can be a guy people talk about for a long time."

It won't be easy. The Mustangs' schedule is a killer, starting with a Labor Day showdown with former SWC rival Texas Tech and including their annual tilt with nearby TCU. The C-USA scheduling computer was also unkind, sending SMU on the road to East Division favorite Southern Mississippi and chief West rivals Tulsa and Houston.