SMU Football does not have a bright future

[SoCal_Pony]

You may get your wish next year as we have road games with UNT & Baylor and are at Ford against TCU but need to find another home game. If we do a home/home with someone, the return trip would have to be in 2019 as we have only one road game scheduled that year (at Ark State). Problem is that I think our current TCU series is only firmed up through 2018 and I hope we play them in Ft Worth in 2019 in what would be the 1st year of a new series. So...we are probably looking for a "low level" FCS opponent to come to Ford next year with no home/home arrangement. I suspect we will look to Southland Conference teams.

An early look at the 2017 home schedule:

Sep 2nd - Stephen F Austin
Sep 9th - NTSU
Sep 23rd - Arkansas State

Conference Home Games - UCF, UConn, Tulane and Tulsa

Good Luck with Season Ticket sales. Anybody want to place an Over/Under?

[Charleston Pony]

You may get your wish next year as we have road games with UNT & Baylor and are at Ford against TCU but need to find another home game. If we do a home/home with someone, the return trip would have to be in 2019 as we have only one road game scheduled that year (at Ark State). Problem is that I think our current TCU series is only firmed up through 2018 and I hope we play them in Ft Worth in 2019 in what would be the 1st year of a new series. So...we are probably looking for a "low level" FCS opponent to come to Ford next year with no home/home arrangement. I suspect we will look to Southland Conference teams.

An early look at the 2017 home schedule:

Sep 2nd - Stephen F Austin
Sep 9th - NTSU
Sep 23rd - Arkansas State

Conference Home Games - UCF, UConn, Tulane and Tulsa

Good Luck with Season Ticket sales. Anybody want to place an Over/Under?

That schedule will test the theory some seem to have that "winning cures everything" re: attendance. We might be able to run the table at home in 2017 but will we see a 30k crowd at Ford for any of those games? If so, SMU football will truly have turned the corner.

[sbsmith]

That schedule will test the theory some seem to have that "winning cures everything" re: attendance. We might be able to run the table at home in 2017 but will we see a 30k crowd at Ford for any of those games? If so, SMU football will truly have turned the corner.

The NTSU game might get 25K but that'll be as high as we'll get at Ford that season.

[Pony Boss]

That schedule will test the theory some seem to have that "winning cures everything" re: attendance. We might be able to run the table at home in 2017 but will we see a 30k crowd at Ford for any of those games? If so, SMU football will truly have turned the corner.

The NTSU game might get 25K but that'll be as high as we'll get at Ford that season.

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

[Stallion]

50 years of performance provides ample experience for educated guesses

[sbsmith]

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Care to venture a guess of your own?

[EastStang]

Don't the FBS rules still have a butts in the seats average requirement? When we were in the WAC, we came perilously close to falling under that level. Home games with P5 schools guarantee attendance that will usually help average out the attendance at games against the likes of SFA or ECU. Someone pointed out that TCU has played more 1-AA teams than us. (1) TCU hasn't had an attendance problem and (2) that scheduling cost them a chance at the National Title last year. So, if we can't beat them, we can never join them.

[sbsmith]

Don't the FBS rules still have a butts in the seats average requirement?

No, there is an average attendance requirement and teams can report however they want though the NCAA doesn't seriously enforce it.

[SMU Football Blog]

Don't the FBS rules still have a butts in the seats average requirement? When we were in the WAC, we came perilously close to falling under that level. Home games with P5 schools guarantee attendance that will usually help average out the attendance at games against the likes of SFA or ECU. Someone pointed out that TCU has played more 1-AA teams than us. (1) TCU hasn't had an attendance problem and (2) that scheduling cost them a chance at the National Title last year. So, if we can't beat them, we can never join them.

TCU has never had our attendance problems, but they did for several years question why they lagged behind where they thought they should be in attendance. Those issues were eventually worked out to some degree. However, if you google "TCU low attendance" you may be surprised by what you find. Again, their attendance issues pale in comparison to ours.

[CalallenStang]

Don't the FBS rules still have a butts in the seats average requirement? When we were in the WAC, we came perilously close to falling under that level. Home games with P5 schools guarantee attendance that will usually help average out the attendance at games against the likes of SFA or ECU. Someone pointed out that TCU has played more 1-AA teams than us. (1) TCU hasn't had an attendance problem and (2) that scheduling cost them a chance at the National Title last year. So, if we can't beat them, we can never join them.

To (2) I don't care (and the Baylor loss did more damage to their playoff bid than their schedule did) because we don't have to worry about making the playoff if we start each season with 3 losses. Do what they did to build their program.

Step 1: beat crap teams
Step 2: beat decent teams
Step 3: beat good teams

That's the model.

I'm not against playing top 5 opponents. But I believe that we must build our program to that point.

TCU is the model. Their schedule was always a combination of low level power conference schools (Kansas, etc.), a bad G5-type program (mostly us), and sometimes an FCS school.

Schedule TCU every year. But otherwise, follow the model.

Would much rather beat Kansas than get blown out by Baylor.

[Pony Boss]

50 years of performance provides ample experience for educated guesses

Yeah...tcu sucked in the field and attendance for 50 years before 1998. Look at them now.