Sport: Death to S.M.U. Football

Chronic cheater Southern Methodist University last week was expelled from football for a season and hamstrung for years to come by the most debilitating penalties ever assessed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. For alumni payments to their players, among other excesses, the Mustangs must hibernate in 1987. They may resume in 1988, but only for seven road games, and there is to be a two-year blackout of live TV. When all the lost revenue is totted up, it may amount to a $4 million fine.

This is the first "death" sentence levied since the 1985 N.C.A.A. reforms, undertaken when educators finally panicked at the familiar spectacle of alumni boosters running amuck. Corrupt football practices are not unique to Dallas or the Southwest Conference, though the climate seems perfect there all the year. Three of the nine S.W.C. schools will be on probation this year.