UNIVERSITY PARK -- Whenever the accomplishments of this 2019 SMU football team are referenced, it's always in the context of the early 1980s. The last time any of this success happened -- a 6-0 start, a Top 25 ranking -- was during that time period.

In that sense, this current team and that former era are inextricably linked. But in another sense, several of the top players from that time period feel very distanced from their school and its football program.

"A lot of players feel like they're not wanted," said SMU and NFL Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson. "Like they don't want them there. Like it was our fault that SMU got the death penalty."

Dickerson, the No. 2 overall pick in the 1983 NFL draft, and his former SMU teammates Craig James and Harvey Armstrong spoke to The Dallas Morning News this week about their current relationship with their alma mater.

All three say they still love their school. All three watch games weekly. All three go to games whenever possible. And all three take tremendous joy in their program's start this fall. But that joy comes with a frustration that they feel the school isn't as proud of them as they are of it.

"I played my heart out and was an All-American at SMU for four years. So I sweat and bled SMU and the red and blue," said Armstrong, who played eight years in the NFL. "I feel like the President and some of the people in the front office, they don't have the same love for us, because, I guess, they feel like we brought embarrassment to the school.

"They really try to disassociate themselves from us. They try to distance themselves from us."

Armstrong is adamant that he still cares deeply about SMU football. He even plans to take a group of ex-teammates on a trip to the Mustangs' bowl game for his 60th birthday, wherever it might be.

Armstrong also attempted to go to the SMU-USF game in Tampa, Fla., on Sept. 28. He reached out ahead of time to director of former player relations, Ramon Flanigan, for four field passes to the game.

Flanigan reached out to people in the administration, Armstrong said, but eventually responded to Armstrong to say he could only get one ticket. Armstrong appealed to director of major gifts, Bob Sharp, who looked into the matter but eventually told Armstrong there would be only one available to him, according to Armstrong.

Armstrong, who is in SMU's Hall of Fame, said "my feelings were hurt" by the situation, and he didn't accept the ticket. He stayed in his Tampa hotel and watched it on TV.

"I said man, that's [expletive]," Dickerson said, recounting a conversation with a former teammate about having to buy tickets. "It's a real slap in the face. ... To me it's classless. You don't ask a former player to come back and pay to go to a football game."

SMU declined to address that ticket situation specifically, but did release a statement from athletic director Rick Hart.

"We celebrate achievements of all our former student-athletes across every sport and every era," Hart's statement read. "We do our best to ensure they always feel welcome when they return to the Hilltop."

SMU does offer all Letterman's Association members two free season tickets to home games. SMU also honored Dickerson and James with the Doak Walker Legends Award a decade ago. The 1983 SMU football team was honored in 2013 and the 1982 team was honored in 2007.

"They have been very, very kind and gracious in trying to welcome us back," James said. "But there's just a feeling, and I don't know, I haven't had anyone ever say something that was negative. It's a feeling that we all have as former players in that great era. We just have it, it's the way it is.

"... It's hard not to be self-conscious. I'm aware of it when I'm on campus, when I'm around the administration. It's almost like they say the right things, but I just don't feel the right things."

SMU gave out Dickerson bobbleheads Saturday against Tulsa, as well as during a game last season. He has also been invited back to SMU's homecoming game this year. Dickerson said he will attend, along with other former teammates.

The morning after SMU beat Tulsa, Dickerson tweeted that he woke up feeling like he'd just played in the game.

Woke up feeling so happy and victorious like if I played last night. Brought back many great memories and for all this to happen on my bobblehead doll night is very special. Big thanks to @CoachDykesSMU and the players for bringing back @SMU_Football #GodIsAmazing #PonyExpress — Eric Dickerson (@EricDickerson) October 6, 2019

"I went to sleep that night, and I woke up, and that was the first thing on my mind," Dickerson said. "I was like, 'Man, we won.' It was just, I was excited about it."

The issue they have isn't with the team or the coaching staff. James said he's had dinner with Sonny Dykes, who has been a friendly face with alumni.

"There's no reason that they shouldn't be considered a team that could play in a Cotton Bowl," James said. "It would be great for the City of Dallas, great for the Cotton Bowl and great for our school."

Armstrong said "it's been a joy" to watch this SMU team. There have been group texts between old teammates excitedly talking about all the winning.

"I've always followed SMU football," Armstrong said. "It's just now I follow with a pride."

These three were the conductors of the Pony Express -- a title that brings mixed feelings to SMU, even to this day. The Mustangs were 10-1 in 1981, 11-0-1 during the 1982 season and 10-2 the year after.

Now, as one of just three schools that are already bowl eligible this season, SMU looks like it has recovered from the death penalty.

Armstrong speculated that if it were lesser members of those early 1980s teams, they might not have even gotten a call back about tickets, had they been the ones to request them for that game against USF.

"They haven't given us the love that I've seen from Texas, and Texas A&M when I speak to their former players," Armstrong said. "They can come on the field, go in the locker room as they please, just do different things. We don't have that green light."

He wishes he could be a part of the process, be invited back more and be welcome to share stories from his time at SMU as a way to help bring in better talent. He'll watch the games no matter what -- it's easy for him to separate those feelings. But he wants to do more than watch.

Dickerson has the same perspective and believes that engaging this alumni base would help make it grow even more.

"I just wish they would use the guys that are in Dallas that really want to be a part of the program, that live right there close," Dickerson said. "... I just feel like they need to do more."