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I just have a few questions. How much are student tickets at Ford? And, how good is student support/attendance at the football games?

I'm not sure what the actual price of a student ticket is, but it is included in the fees they pay when they enroll. Therefore, all they have to do is show their student I.D. to pick up a ticket. Generally speaking, the student attendance at games is dismal. Perhaps free beer would help ... that seems to be what gets them most excited about any function. Of course, I doubt any of the students currently enrolled have had a chance to enjoy a winning season in football at SMU ... kind of hard to get any excitment for the games or loyalty for the program considering that fact I guess.

I am a student. I support SMU athletics. Let me just say that even if we were decent at football the student attendance would still suck. PK, you were kind in saying the support is dismal because it is far worse than that. Winning 6-7 games a year still would not have too much of an effect. The students here really do not care about sports, at least SMU sports. The ones that do are basketball fans, and we only have about 40 of those.

IMO, if you think differently than I do, you are in denial.

hey ponytalk.....

why do the students do not care???

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good point LA. why don't the students care?

That is an excellent question that I do not have an answer to.

I always try and spread the word to fellow students about football and basketball games and the answer to my question, "Are you coming to the game?" is usually, maybe if I am not busy.

Students do not come to SMU for the athletic atmosphere. Fraternities schedule study halls and parties with no regard to athletic event scheduling. They would rather party or even just sit at home than walk across the street to an event.

I recently got into a big debate with a student on why he never made it to more than one basketball game. He said, look at how we finished, we were not any good. I told him for the majority of the season we only had 4-5 losses, and those were to very good teams. And on top of that we were undefeated at home, so his argument about us not being good was bs.

Same deal with football. We beat Kansas and then at the Tulane game--next home game--we had no student support. I always ask why, we were 1-0 at home, 1-1 in the season, and the students had already forgotten about the team.

I honestly believe that a stronger marketing campaign would not boost student support. The academic administration does not care about SMU Athletics. For a change to happen, it must start at the top. SMU is not committed to winning right now. The coaches and players might be, but the school as a whole is not, and that is what it will take for SMU to be successful at athletics.

A perfect example of students wanting to just party is the boulevard. Look how many students show up to that and do not make it to the game. There are countless pre-game parties besides the boulevard, where students go and never leave. They have no sense of loyalty toward SMU. I am calling for a commitment to winning from all of SMU, students, alumni, coaches, players, and most importantly, the administration of SMU.

Amen Ponytalk. You hit the nail on the head but I don't think that is going to change in the near future unless they let one of us be president or A.D. And the chances of that are slim but we can always hope.