Cal Football: Former Bears Coach Sonny Dykes Ends Season With a Thud at SMU

His Mustangs squad loses to Florida Atlanta 52-28 in the Boca Raton Bowl

Former Cal coach Sonny Dykes had outstanding season in his second year as SMU’s coach, but it did not end well. 

The Mustangs started the year 8-0 and were ranked 15th in the country, but they lost three of their final five games and got thumped by Florida Atlantic 52-28 in the Boca Raton Bowl on Saturday.

“I don’t think we were in the right frame of mind,” Dykes said after the game according to the Dallas Morning News.

SMU (10-3) gave up more than 50 points in three of its final five games, and Cal fans are well aware of the defensive deficiencies of Sonny Dykes teams.

Although the Bears rolled up lots of points under Dykes, who helped guide quarterback Jared Goff to the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, the Bears ranked 127th of 128 FBS teams in scoring defense, yielding 42.6 points per game, in 2016, Dykes’ final season at Cal. The Bears also ranked next-to-last nationally in scoring defense in Dykes’ first season at Cal in 2013.

The Owls (11-3) managed a blowout win despite being without head coach Lane Kiffin, who accepted the head coaching job at Mississippi earlier this month. FAU was led by interim head coach Glenn Spencer, although the Owls did have the distinct advantage of playing the bowl game on their home field.

“I don’t think it’s indicative of the way this group has played this year, and I hate it that it’s the way we ended our season,” said Dykes told the Morning News. “It was one of those days where we didn’t do anything right. We didn’t play well on offense, didn’t play well on defense ... clearly didn’t do a very good job getting our team ready to play.”

SMU had its first 10-win season since 1984, but its last win over a team that currently has a winning record was back on Oct. 19.