SMU Football Greats Look Ahead - cusa-fans.com

[mr. pony]

Reflecting On The Future
Mustang Football Greats Talk Conference Re-alignment, SMU’s Place
By Rick Atkinson for cusa-fans.com
http://cusa-fans.com/


DALLAS – The SMU Lettermen’s Association and Mustang fans gathered on Friday on The Hilltop to celebrate the school’s rich athletic history with a luncheon and launch party for the new book, In Honor of the Mustangs, A Centennial History of SMU Athletics, 1911- 2010, by Darwin Payne.

Mustang athletes from all sports were on hand to sign copies of the 400-page book, sure to be a collector’s item.

With so many SMU gridiron stars on hand and the football season underway, this scribe asked a few of them to share their thoughts on conference realignment, the Big 12, and SMU’s pigskin place when the dust settles.

Mike Ford (1977-78, 1980), All-Southwest Conference quarterback and nation’s second-leading passer, 1978 (3,007 yards):
“I’d like to see SMU wind up in a conference that’s geographically conducive, the way the old Southwest Conference was. We could get in our car on Friday night and drive to the place they’re going to play on Saturday - making it economically feasible for fans to travel, geographically feasible for families of players to travel.”

“Who they’re with in that conference, I really don’t care. I really believe that in 10 years we’ll be down to four super-conferences in college football. I think that they’re headed that way today.”

“We don’t have a lot of hard feelings for the folks in Austin, but if they think that they can play the ball game by themselves, then they may get a chance to someday.”

“We’ve still got friends from Texas and do business with people from down there. And I’m not sure it’s all Texas’ fault. I think ESPN had something to do with initiating that. I hear that the bottom line was that they wanted high school football in Texas on The Longhorn Network. Well, that deal’s kind of back-fired on them.”

“You know what happened with TCU, and them going to the Big East? I think that’s the biggest mistake that school has ever made. Their fan base on the East Coast, I just don’t believe is strong enough to support them. Heck, what’s the college life about if you can’t go to the game on Saturdays? That’s what a lot of the college atmosphere is. It’s generated around that fall afternoon, on Saturdays.”

“I just truly hope and pray that our university and our leaders … will land us in a competitive conference, where we’ve got a chance to play with the big boys, yet is geographically located to where our fan base can [attend.]”

Mac White (1963, 1965-66), All-SWC quarterback, led team to SWC title and Cotton Bowl berth, 1966:
“Looks to me like they’re about to ruin the game of college football, if they come out and just have 50 top-rated teams, or something like that. That’s what they’re trying to do, it looks like.”

“A lot depends on how quickly [SMU] can come back. They’re going to re-align these things within the next year or two, it looks like. If we don’t hurry up and get there, we’re going to be left out in the cold.”

Mitch Gleiber (1986, 1989), receiver and one of three players from ’86 to return in ’89, post “death penalty”:
“I really have no idea. Everything is just so up in the air right now, that you don’t know what’s going to happen. I think it would be great if we were put into a situation where we were re-aligned with a lot of our traditional rivalries again. But, no matter where we end up, the football program is on the right flight pattern here. Everything is going up and looking good.”

“My gut feeling is that [The Big 12] will figure something out and keep the majority of it together. They may add a couple of teams here and there. It may take a different shape. I just have a hard time believing that those schools won’t be able to work something out to keep it all together.”

Lance McIlhenny (1980-83), 3-time All-SWC quarterback, 1981-83; led team to back-to-back SWC titles, 1981-82, and a Cotton Bowl win over Pittsburgh; led back-to-back wins over Texas in Austin, 1980, 1982:
“I think they’re working on doing a bigger deal with Conference USA, Mountain West and some others, kind of having a 24-team deal which will have a tie-in to the BCS. Or we’ll be with another group. We’re going forward and it’s all in a good way.”

“I hope the University of Texas is just out there all by themself, flapping in the wind.”

Andrew Campbell (1981-84), 2-time All-SWC offensive lineman, 1983-84:“I don’t agree with [Dallas Mavericks owner] Mark Cuban on too many things, but [I agree with] his recent blog on his thoughts on The Big 12 and where schools ought to go, and that finally it’s being proved out that geographic alignment that makes sense. Like the old Southwest Conference, there’s a reason that creates the rivalries that ultimately make the money the schools are looking for. Even schools like SMU play a role in that.”

“So I hope that people come to their senses and recognize that rivalries that have been around for a hundred years are what make the great game of college football what it is. … Hopefully, people will realize that, and if they do then SMU is going to be just fine.”

“I think there is so much posturing [in The Big 12] it’s hard to tell whether or not people are being sincere or if it’s just sort of a chess game right now. Hopefully, it’s just a chess game and they’ll hold together. And if they do, then schools like SMU, certainly, can play a roll. [Or] Houston. I’m hopeful … that we’ll see at least remnants of the old Southwest Conference.”

Robert Polpelka (1970-72), 2-time All-SWC safety, 1971-72; All-American, 1972:
“I think with the way the program is going now and it’s getting better every year, I feel like in the future we should be able to get into a BCS conference and hopefully have some old rivalries still in place.”

“There’s a lot happening, and I think SMU should be a big part of it.”

“Right now, I don’t think [The Big 12’s] going to be around, as it is. It may still be a Big 12, but it may be other schools. Hopefully, SMU is part of that deal.”

Mike Richardson (1966-68), All-SWC running back, 1968; holds SMU single-game rushing record (244 yards vs. Texas A&M, 1968):
“I think we can be at that [BCS conference] level. The thing we need to do is keep improving our record and get some people in the stands. Baylor wasn’t [ready] four years ago either, but look what they’ve done. They beat TCU and they’ve started winning.”

Jerry Norton (1951-53), All-SWC punter, 1952
“We need to find a way to get into one of the super-conferences. … I think if they keep going like they’re going, they’re going to have a pretty good team and they would fit in any conference, five years from now.”
_______________________________________________________
In Honor of The Mustangs, The Centennial History of SMU Athletics, 1911-2010, by Darwin Payne, is available at smu.edu/cul/degolyer, or by emailing [email protected] or calling 214-768-0829. Cost is $55 per book (includes tax and shipping). Copies also are sold at Culwell & Son, across Hillcrest from the SMU campus. The book is published jointly by the SMU Lettermen’s Association and SMU’s DeGolyer Library.


From left, Mac White and Ricky Wesson


Mike Ford


From left, Robert Popelka, Richard Neely, Andrew Campbell


From left, Joe Stutts, Bill Jackson


From left, Mitch Gleiber, Chuck Hixson


From left, Don McIlhenny, Lance McIlhenny

[ALEX LIFESON]

Good stuff, thanks! Pony Up!

[Stallion]

Who let Freddie Akers into the Lettermen's Club-sorry Robert Popelka

[Charleston Pony]

Robert "Crash" Popelka

[Charleston Pony]

I agree with Mike Ford that college football is better served by keeping it local/regional. I would not want to be in TCU's situation because it pretty much rules out "road trips" for most. I have fond memories of road trips against SWC opponents and hope SMU can get back to a more local situation at some point in the future. For now, CUSA West is a pretty nice arrangement for us but it sure would be nice to be back in the same conference as TCU and Baylor. I'm one of the few who would welcome UNT as a conference mate as well. Who knows? I might even warm to Texas State and UTSA some day, depending on where all of this leads.

I'm not determined to compete at the highest level if we aren't truly going to compete. Not sure I want to be everyone's whipping boy just to say we compete at the highest level. It has to be tough being a Vanderbilt, Baylor or Duke football fan.

[Stallion]

If NTSU and their huge student body fills their stadium they will move up-if they don't they won't. Despite their paranoia toward SMU their future lies in their own student body and alumni

[Charleston Pony]

safety in late 60's early 70's era for Hayden Fry; could really drop the boom (much like Cliff "Crash" Harris of the Cowboys who played alongside Charlie Waters)

I think a few of his old teammates could tell some stories about being in the wrong place at the wrong time when "Crash" arrived to deliver a hit and finish a play

P.S. this was back in a time before concussions were so closely monitored

[Topper]

safety in late 60's early 70's era for Hayden Fry; could really drop the boom (much like Cliff "Crash" Harris of the Cowboys who played alongside Charlie Waters)

I think a few of his old teammates could tell some stories about being in the wrong place at the wrong time when "Crash" arrived to deliver a hit and finish a play

P.S. this was back in a time before concussions were so closely monitored

Popelka was an AP All-American first team at least once. I remember seeing him on a Bob Hope TV special where Hope introduced the entire All-America team one at a time. Hope said "Good old SMU!"
Of course, as I recall, Dean Galvin helped set Hope up in some pretty lucrative tax sheltered oil investments. And then twisted his arm for donations. It was a win/win deal.