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DALLAS --- Between towers of red and blue balloons, under banners boasting ''Aloha SMU!'' and ''Howdy Hawaii!'' a round table was set aside Tuesday to show off a fancy invitation in a wooden frame.

It was for a spot in the Hawaii Bowl and it was personalized to Southern Methodist.

The Mustangs (7-5), led by former University of Hawaii coach June Jones, are headed to Honolulu for their first bowl appearance in 25 years.

SMU will face UH at Aloha Stadium on Dec. 24 if the Warriors defeat Wisconsin in both teams' season finale Saturday.

''This has been a very interesting, almost spiritual kind of year,'' Jones said. ''It'll be interesting to see what happens this weekend, if Hawaii ends up winning.''

Nevada is likely for the Hawaii Bowl if the Badgers win Saturday.

SMU's bowl drought often looked like it might never end as the program tried recovering from the NCAA's ''death penalty'' for repeated rules violations.

''We have proven there is life after death!'' athletic director Steve Orsini said, drawing raucous applause from a room full of students and boosters.

As Orsini, Jones and school president Gerald Turner stepped onto the stage, they received lei made of purple orchids that were flown in from Hawaii, in the same package that included the invitation.

''This is the one they used to give to royalty,'' said Jones, who coached at UH from 1999 to 2007, going 76-41 with six bowl appearances, including a spot in the Sugar Bowl in his final season with the Warriors. He is the second-winningest coach in school history.

The Mustangs went 1-11 last year in Jones' first season; their six-win surge this season is the best in the country.

''Whoever we're going to play over there is going to be maybe as good as or better than we are,'' Jones said. ''But these kids have learned how to win.''

SMU officials were so excited to receive the invitation they didn't want to sit on the news until this weekend. They got permission from the Conference USA commissioner to make their acceptance official, then threw themselves a news conference that was more like a pep rally, complete with a band, cheerleaders, students and alumni.

Jones actually set the Hawaii Bowl as a goal for his team since the first practice of the season. He reminded them of the goal ''maybe every three or four weeks.'' Even when SMU had a chance to play for the conference championship, ''I told them we'd still go to Hawaii.''

The goal wasn't merely for the obvious reasons people look forward to in going to Hawaii. It's also a tribute to his friend Frank Gansz, who was the special teams coach until he died in April.

Gansz played and coached at Navy, was a pilot in the Air Force and began his coaching career at Air Force, all before making his mark on football as a special teams coach in the NFL.

''He and I specifically talked about this, putting the kids on the buses and going to Pearl Harbor,'' Jones said. ''It's going to be a really, really special day when we do that.''

Jones will start practices for the bowl on Monday --- Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day.

SMU's last bowl appearance was at the Aloha Bowl in 1984.

''For those of you who have been so faithful for so long, we thank you,'' Turner said, drawing an ovation that lasted about 30 seconds.

The once-proud program of Doak Walker, Don Meredith and Eric Dickerson was discovered in 1987 to have paid players, then lied about it in a cover-up that included a former governor of Texas. Because SMU already was on probation, the NCAA shut the program down for that season and school officials chose to sit out another year to make sure things were truly cleaned up.

Since restarting in 1989, the Mustangs have been an example of how harsh the death penalty is.

They won two games that first season and have had a total of nine seasons with zero, one or two victories. They came into this season 59-164-3, having peaked at 6-5 in 1997 and 6-6 when this year's seniors were freshmen.

Jones is the school's fifth coach since restarting and some have suggested that if he couldn't turn around this program, then nobody could.

He's off to one heck of a start, and he's already been rewarded with a two-year contract extension.

''We'll start talking about winning championships now,'' Jones said. ''We were just talking about getting in the dance. Now the next step is to take it to the next level. I think we're probably two seasons away from really challenging to get to build it to where TCU has gotten it, Boise has gotten it. But we can get there.''