SMU in Big 12?

[FloridaMustang]

The SMU/CUSA situation was just a case of bad timing..TCU was a stronger program and for a conference looking to boost the competiveness as CUSA was doing at the time, TCU was a much better choice than SMU could have been. Simple as that.

[Nacho]

SMU is not going to C-USA or the Big 12. When you guys get that through your thick skulls SMU will be a lot better off.

SMU's only hope is to go into a regional conference with Tulsa, Rice and SMU at the core. The following to go along with those 3: NTSU, UTEP, La Tech, the LaLas (2), Ark St. That's a 9 team conference.

Forget TCU, Baylor, Houston and Tulane. They aren't going anywhere.

The benefits to the new conference would be easy travel, much less expenses and the ability to develop rivalries.

Would someone please tell me how much money we have made from the glorious WAC since we have been in it. My guess is that we have lost money. Can anyone dispute that? I didn't think so.

[boulevard bum]

I took a look at Coogfans.com and the Houston Cougars are half in favor of being in a new SWC and half in favor of staying in C-USA and hoping for better than the SWC. They include us in all of their possible new SWC's but they do not like the idea of Tulsa being in the SWC. They don't like the idea of having too many Private schools. But they love the idea of us being in the C-USA bringing the conference to a total of 12 teams. I think I like that also. It would fit us right now. We would play TCU, Houston, Tulane, and USM who all make geographic sense. I think Louiville and Memphis make a small amount more sense than Nevada and SJSU. I am not in favor of a SWC that would include SMU, Tulsa and Rice as the base. That idea sucks. We really have no business being in a conference with UTEP. I don't mind Tulsa being in the conference but I don't think three "church schools"(that's what the coogs call us) makes a very good base.

[boulevard bum]

I think C-USA would be a big step up for us right now. The SMU-TCU Rivalry would become what it used to be. Houston fans are right. Here is what I think would be the best case scenario over the next few years taken directly from a Cougars fan.

FOOTBALL
WEST DIVISION
Houston
TCU
SMU
Tulane
Memphis
Southern Miss
EAST DIVISION
Louisville
Cincinnati
East Carolina
Army
South Florida
Navy or Marshall or Central Florida

I think TCU, Houston, SMU and Tulane would be a match made in heaven. We would have rivalries with all three of them. That would be great.

[Charleston Pony]

you overlooked UAB in your CUSA east group. they're already in the conference so SMU, or whoever they might invite; makes 12 football members. The problem with CUSA is that the bball members don't want to expand, so unless something changes, any CUSA invite would be football only.

[StangEsq]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Nacho:
<B>SMU is not going to C-USA or the Big 12. When you guys get that through your thick skulls SMU will be a lot better off.

SMU's only hope is to go into a regional conference with Tulsa, Rice and SMU at the core. The following to go along with those 3: NTSU, UTEP, La Tech, the LaLas (2), Ark St. That's a 9 team conference.

Forget TCU, Baylor, Houston and Tulane. They aren't going anywhere.

The benefits to the new conference would be easy travel, much less expenses and the ability to develop rivalries.
</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

On the downside, you'd have no recruits and a bunch of very bad, unranked teams on your schedule (a few of whom are in danger of getting knocked out of Division I for poor attendance). That conference would be one of the worst in the NCAA. Getting into a conference like that is just committing yourself to a future of mediocrity.

If you're interested in building a competitive program, you'll hope we can build a winner in the conference we're in, and that success will provide a springboard for a promotion to a better conference. I'm not at all interested in having a ceiling on our program, knowing that the best we can hope for is getting 6 wins and make a bowl every few years. People who think like that have a lot in common with Cincy Bengals fans.

[NCPony]

Charleston Pony brings up another factor: bball. We would have a pretty strong package, a football program on the move and a decent bball program that keeps getting better, to bring to a conference. Take a look at what Fla. St. has done with the ACC-brought a great football program to the table and a bball program that needed a boost. Fla. St. is on the move in bball (just beat Duke last night)and the ACC is quickly becoming one of the better all around football conferences.

I believe SMU has a lot of potential and would be a great addition to any conference. Being in the BigXII would definitely boost our football program and our bball program would hold its own in that league. That's not to say they would win the conf. but they certainly wouldn't come in last year-in and year-out.

[EastStang]

I think the chances of us getting invited into the Big XII at this time are slim and none. There is only one thought I would have is if the mid-majors and the BCS schools had some sort of agreement which says, that every year the bottom team in the BCS conference drops down to a mid-major and the mid-major champion goes up to that BCS conference. You could have the Big East tied in with C-USA. MWC with PAC-10. Big XII with WAC. Big 10 with MAC and SBC with SEC. Thus, Baylor would have dropped to the WAC and BSU to Big XII. Toledo to Big 10 and Michigan State to the MAC. TCU to the Big East and Temple to C-USA. Vandy to Sun Belt and UNT to SEC. Colorado State to PAC. Again, this would be full of potential problems, but if it got into some sort of antitrust type of scenario you might see this as a bone to the Mid-majors. That basically would mean that every other year, there would be a team going up to the bigger conference and then the next year probably dropping back down. It will never happen, but it would be interesting to see it tried.

[NCPony]

East- you left out the ACC; also, what you described is how professional soccer is done in England between the Premiere League on down the line through 7 or 8 diff. classified leagues. I doubt it could work in college football.

[SoCal_Pony]

I realize that for now Big XII membership is just a pipedream, but if we ever were to join, I’m convinced it would only be a matter of time before we could become one of the top 5 or 6 teams in this elite conference.

Could you imagine the recruiting success Bennett would have? And his analogy of the University of Miami model would ring true. The negatives of our small student base and NFL city location would be far outweighed by the fact that 18 year-old kids would rather live in Dallas and Miami than Lubbock or Morgantown.

For me personally, I don’t want to ever give up the goal of returning to the BCS, however remote that possibility might be, because if we ever did return, we would be GOOD.

[BTPony]

Sure it's good for us - but how does it benefit the Big XII or the schools currently affiliated? We're a small school with very little connection to the larger Dallas community (not to mention week alumni support).

[cowboypony]

I really hate to get sucked into this Big XII discussion b/c it's so far out of the relm of possiblities. I do agree with many people on this board that if we ever started wining and winning big - in whatever conference we're in - then we can start having some meaningful dialogue on this topic. Even with a winning team, we will probably only dream of ever becoming a member of a BCS conference.

Having said all of that, to address a specific comment on this board, the Dallas metroplex would become really attractive to all Big XII schools (other than Texas and OU) because they would get a football game here every few years. While I'm not stupid enough to think that the DFW tv share goes up b/c of SMU, the recruiting enhancements to all Big XII programs gets a boost by getting to be in Dallas for football, basketeball, etc. all throughout the year.

Is this enough to get SMU into the Big XII? No.

We must first win. Until then, we are asking others to help us with our own problems. In my opinion, until recently, this mentality is why we've been at or near the bottom for over 15 years. Let's win and then see what happens.

[SoCal_Pony]

Place us in a major conference, have our administration remove all remaining obstacles, and we can compete against anybody. That is a FACT. The University of Miami has proven this. A solid academic, small student base university in a football crazed NFL city can flourish.

Texas and Florida dominate high school football. Dallas is to Texas what Miami is to Florida, the most appealing big city in the state.

To answer your question, Miami is good for the Big East, therefore we can be good for any conference as well.

[EastStang]

Yes, I did leave out the ACC, because there are only five mid-major conferences and only C-USA has east coast schools which blend better with the Big East schools. Also, the ACC is well notoriously snobbish about members. They would never want Louisville, Memphis, Houston, Cincinnati, or USM even possibly joining their conference.

[cowboypony]

The difference is that Miame IS the Big East. Without Miami, the Big East would be similar to C-USA. No matter what we do at SMU, we will not ever BE the Big XII. I do agree that having the recruiting base of Dallas at our doorstep is our best bet for a new conference; and that venues for teams like Iowa State, Mizzou, et al. would be attractive for them.

But, please, let's not forget that we MUST win big first. Until then, this discussion is academic at best.