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Forde is a tool. Guy has never had a kind word to say about SMU.
It matters not what he says at this stage.

What all these tools don't seem to get is that SMU actually has a strong football history (pre death penalty), and that if SMU can be part of a P5 conference and compete on equal footing with recruits, we can be very competitive again in both football and basketball. There is no reason why SMU can't achieve what TCU has. With Larry Brown we were clearly the better basketball program, and over the last few years (with the exception of the most recent one) you could also argue we had the better football team. What we didn't have is the ability to play in a P5 against the best programs. Once that changes, the upside for SMU is better than that of UCF or Cincy. So on top of adding inventory, the central time zone, access to DFW and Texas, we can also field very good teams once we compete on equal footing! Once that comes, the eye balls and interest will also come (hopefully)...

Mustangs_Maroons wrote:What all these tools don't seem to get is that SMU actually has a strong football history (pre death penalty), and that if SMU can be part of a P5 conference and compete on equal footing with recruits, we can be very competitive again in both football and basketball. There is no reason why SMU can't achieve what TCU has. With Larry Brown we were clearly the better basketball program, and over the last few years (with the exception of the most recent one) you could also argue we had the better football team. What we didn't have is the ability to play in a P5 against the best programs. Once that changes, the upside for SMU is better than that of UCF or Cincy. So on top of adding inventory, the central time zone, access to DFW and Texas, we can also field very good teams once we compete on equal footing! Once that comes, the eye balls and interest will also come (hopefully)...

The ignorance - maybe that's harsh, because much of our NATIONAL success was 30 years ago, and many on message boards are kids, who know next to nothing about our past, much less present. I stand in awe of what my university has accomplished IN SPITE of the NCAA, the crappy conferences, Pye's academic probation, bad hires, and on and on.

3 national championships. 5 NFL HOF, 18 bowl games, 180 weeks in AP, 2 weeks #1, 16 consensus AA, 11 conference championships - You all know this already. Much of that was achieved while in a MAJOR conference of that era.

One stat I really like is 174 draft picks, 8442 NFL games played - quite literally HALF as many games played as many of the teams ahead of us, and yet we have 720 TDs scored by former Mustangs and rank at #35 for this stat. Amazing.

Of all the difficulties we endured during the last 30 years, far worse than both the DP and Pye penalty, was the string of crappy conferences. The WAC 16 might have been something, but we barely got our feet wet before the split. And then it was one crappy situation after another. The AAC has literally been our most stable situation since the SWC. And yet because it is G5, our rankings suffer, recruits are not rated as well, and it hurts recruiting. And up until very recently, there was NO way to even hope to get a chance to play for a national championship.

We have invested more in our program I suspect than any other G5 institution in the last 20 years. And more is coming. Our product on the field has continually improved, and I suspect we will see our very best team in years in 2023. Adding the PAC 12 logo to the uniform is the cherry on top. And I will be thrilled when its officially official!

We said and.... Go Mustangs.

So if Eastern Oregon secedes from Oregon and joins Idaho. Does Oregon State become Greater Idaho U?

crazy horse....from your mouth to God's ear...

EastStang wrote:So if Eastern Oregon secedes from Oregon and joins Idaho. Does Oregon State become Greater Idaho U?

OSU is in western Oregon.

Since everything is gearing towards 2024 (ucla, usc, texas, ou and expanded playoff) i have a feeling that this is going to happen pretty fast.

More details here:

https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/02/09/ ... p-targets/

"John Wilner Feb 9th 2023:

The Pac-12 is inching closer toward remaining a 12-school conference following the departures of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten in the summer of 2024. The university presidents discussed SMU and San Diego State as expansion candidates during a meeting last week and approved commissioner George Kliavkoff taking the next step in the complicated process of adding membership, according to sources with knowledge of the meeting. Sources emphasized that the approval was informal in nature — the presidents did not vote to add specific schools — but expansion is viewed as highly likely. Kliavkoff attended an SMU basketball game on Wednesday night as part of a campus visit, according to the Dallas Morning News. It is not known if other schools were discussed last week during the Pac-12 presidents’ quarterly meeting, held at Arizona State.

Expansion is part of a complicated three-step process in which the Pac-12 must negotiate a new media rights contract with network partners; the schools must agree to sign their media rights over to the conference; and invitations to new members must be extended on a formal basis. The Pac-12 has been negotiating a new media agreement since July. Kliavkoff has said that process would come first, followed by the grant-of-rights piece and then expansion.

But the three tracks were expected to unfold concurrently, sources said, with the conference informing its media partners of expansion plans during contract negotiations and prior to issuing formal invitations. Under Pac-12 bylaws, expansion requires a three-fourths vote of the presidents, meaning eight of the 10 schools would have to approve any new members. (USC and UCLA will not participate in expansion proceedings during their final 18 months in the conference.)

SMU and San Diego State have been obvious candidates all along. Neither would be offered full revenue shares, at least initially, according to sources. Each school is attractive to the Pac-12 for a variety of reasons, including the inventory of games they would add.

As a 10-team conference, the Pac-12 would have approximately 65 football games available to its media partners, assuming each team played nine conference games and two non-conference home games every season.

As a 12-team league, the Pac-12 would have approximately 78 games available (assuming two non-conference home games per team). Those additional 13 games provide valuable inventory, especially if media partners are interested in weekly programming for Friday nights. (With 10 members, each team would have to play more often on Fridays.)

In realignment — whether the topic is expansion or media rights — nothing is guaranteed until deals are sealed. But given the increasing likelihood of Pac-12 expansion, the Hotline presents a brief overview of the top targets."

They better have daily zoom conference calls about this or this will be another Big East situation.

deucetz wrote:They better have daily zoom conference calls about this or this will be another Big East situation.

The media deal should include more money per school than the Big 12 and an enormous buyout fee to protect against the Big 10 poaching Washington and Oregon. SMU doesn't seem to worry about a reduced rights clause as we will still be making much more than in the AAC, but I have the feeling that we do have some bargaining leverage. The PAC 12 probably needs us or Fresno State to stay afloat and we are the much more attractive school.

Do any of y’all worry about the rug being pulled out from beneath us? I am QUITE cautiously optimistic if you can even call it that. I feel like this is going to fall through for some reason and we may need to slow our roll.

crispy_taco wrote:Do any of y’all worry about the rug being pulled out from beneath us? I am QUITE cautiously optimistic if you can even call it that. I feel like this is going to fall through for some reason and we may need to slow our roll.

Relax. Jon Wilner said "highly likely". The PAC wishes to stay together. All the
negative chatter by armchair qb types is just hot air. They have been vetting us
and SDSU for what seems like eons.

Here is a fun PAC-12 Podcast which feels SDSU and SMU are in and makes the case for Fresno State as a #3.

However, he goes on to make another, strong case, e.g. increasing PAC-12 geographic reach in the the Central Time Zone with two superb academic universities as 13th and 14th members: Tulane and Rice

I enjoyed his argument to the Conference of Champions (PAC-12 Presidents) jury.

https://www.12news.com/article/sports/l ... abb83b406e

Water Pony wrote:Here is a fun PAC-12 Podcast which feels SDSU and SMU are in and makes the case for Fresno State as a #3.

However, he goes on to make another, strong case, e.g. increasing PAC-12 geographic reach in the the Central Time Zone with two superb academic universities as 13th and 14th members: Tulane and Rice

I enjoyed his argument to the Conference of Champions (PAC-12 Presidents) jury.

https://www.12news.com/article/sports/l ... abb83b406e

Weird. First article I have ever seen mention UT-Arlington? I’d love to travel with Rice and Tulane.