Look at 2006

[SmooPower]

Hell, I will just call it right now. 14-0, BCS bowl, national title.

Let's see how many people remember this in nine months.

[smu01]

i agree....coaches need to look outside texas a little and get some southern boys...(as well as texans). they need to play some named teams...not necessarly good teams but name teams..baylor is one.....ole miss, get some other conference schools also mix it up a little......SMU will not be competitive until it gets good players and to do that you need coaches who know how to recruit.....and not just give honorary scholarships to smu rich alumni kids like in the past..

again sorry about spelling

[couch 'em]

You guys are getting way ahead of yourselves with this 11-1 stuff. We don't even know who our QB will be, or who our QB MIGHT be. It took forever to get Romo rolling, it is foolish to think another juco or freshman will get going any faster.

[LawSchoolPony]

I have to agree that predictions of 11-1 are a little far-fetched. With a new QB, and with this still being the Mustangs, I don't think we're looking at a one loss season next year.


BUT, I love our schedule with the non-conference teams. It is great that we are playing these teams, schools that we can beat and get the win. I second the sentiments that we need WINS, and that we should take them over whoever we can. In C-USA, all we need is to be bowl eligible...beating teams that are not good, or below our division doesn't matter - all we need is 6 wins.

I look forward to a better start to next year, rather than just finding our momentum in the latter half of the season. I think our schedule will allow that, although it will depend on who fills the QB spot. I'm optimistic for 2006!!!!

[smu01]

i must say i love everyones opinons on here...its refreshing to talk about SMU football since i moved to Georgia......but i do have to say i still believe to get recruits is not the number of wins but who you play.......if smu has great facilities (which it does), good location and community support it will get recruits...high school kids dont want to play rinky dink teams......especially in texas......most would rather walk on at a&m or texas then to sign with SMU and play sam houston.....but i do belive that if we schedual some non conference teams like ole miss and miss state or even kentucky then that would bring some wins with named schools......kids look at the reputation of the schools we play..not there rankings....but keep opinions comming..i love reading them.......and stallion,,,,we disagree but i love your enthusiasm...keep those post comming

[Charleston Pony]

I agree with others who say we should always try to play TCU and Baylor, and I will throw in UNT for a game of local interest. I like the game with TTech as a "measuring stick" game, but I also agree with '01 that we should try schedule "name" schools from BCS conferences that may give us home/home series, like Ole Miss, Miss St, Kansas and yes, Okla St (wish we had played them instead of A$M this year).

Hayden Fry always liked to play one we should beat (UNT?) one we should have a very competitive game with (TCU) and one we hope to beat and gain noteriety (TTech). In the 12 game schedule, add another competitive game (Baylor, Kansas, etc...)

[Mustangs35SMU]

Well dont worry for those who want to play "Name" schools.

Cause in 07 we do just that.

9/01 @ Texas Tech
9/08 vs North Texas
9/15 @ Baylor
9/22 @ TCU

Which btw I like that 07 schedule better than 06.

[NickSMU17]

I for one believe recruits will be drawn in with bowl games and top tier coaches, not getting their face kicked in by a bunch of BCS schools. Get to a bowl next year, get the 750,000 payday, national TV audience, and get the program back in the black. Any attendance woes caused by playing lower tier teams will be solved by playing in a bowl. It is a wash. I believe we win the recruiting battle by giving these recruits a chance at the conference championship and a bowl game every year, which we did when we switched to conference USA. Then, once the better recruits come, and we get to a level on par with TCU we can start scheduling the BCS players, and give them a game, then more revenue streams in. It should have been done this way 15 years ago.

[DiamondM75]

While we are talking about other teams to play, we need to put Arkansas on our schedule. This would give us the exposure in the south, so we could recruit Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, etc. Right now I think we could beat Arkansas.

[smu01]

Once again for those who are miss reading my post...i do not thing we should schedual nebraska or florida state....thats a bad idea...but we should put arkansas on there.....play the schools with the big names but are in a slump........that will draw recruits.....bowl wins also...but again it will be hard for SMU to get top recruits simply because it is hard to recruit in texas..to many schools not enough players......thats why smu needs to go out of state.....

[Stallion]

I think the 2007 Schedule is perfect. If you can't at least win 2 games against NTSU, Baylor, TCU and throw in Texas Tech then ask yourself-does SMU really deserve a bowl game. Probably not. Those are the games people care about-those are the games recruits care about, those are the game SMU fans will show up for. Let SMU recruit the same players as those schools and SMU will have a team that will accomplish something to be proud of. Seriously if you don't think SMU can't compete with a schedule like that then there is something very very wrong.

[LawSchoolPony]

Wow, the '07 schedule does look great! I didn't realize that we would be playing Baylor and TCU again, that is nice.

I echo various posters' sentiments in diversifying our playing of at least one big name school, and I think Ole Miss makes a fine choice. Arkansas is also a good one. But, I'm glad 06 is an easier schedule b/c we need to build the program on wins first, before going after bigger fish...

[Mustangs35SMU]

I agree about 2007.

Lets face it..2006 schedule while it isn't good for our fans..This is the perfect schedule for our REBUILDING team. Lets not forget we're still trying to get to a freakin bowl for the first time since the 80s.

This has been our best chance since the late 90s. Bennett did well IMO to get this thing done. 07 I think is a more friendly fan schedule.

Texas Tech..UNT..Baylor..TCU. Those 4 games I could drive to easily. And those are games that actually have some history behind them.

[BrianTinBigD]

If we could actually recruit Texas then we could easily be more competitive. Take the Texas Top 100 as an example. If we can pull 10 players a year out of that list then we are the top dog in CUSA every year. All we need is a lousy 10%. Then pull another 10 players out of the DFW Area Top 100 and we are close to being ranked. Become the school that welcomes the top area kids back when they transfer out of bad BCS situations and then you are a Top 25 program. Sure the occasional out of state player is nice but Texas has 200 legit D-1 prospects every year.

The other thing we need to start working on is the fact that the Texas has 24 commits. They ain't gonna give a scholarship to every kid. They don't have that many to give and still compete for some of the Top 100 kids in the country that they are looking to grab. Tech has 18 and A&M has 15. They still have an equal number of kids claiming that they are still looking to select those schools. Look for a decent number getting the shaft this year.

We have great facilities, a program on the rise(hard to believe), and we are located in Dallas. We have several advantages that schools like TCU, Rice, Houston, UTEP, Baylor and NTSU can only dream of. If we can't pull in the top class in Conference USA this year then we have some serious problems.

[Mustangs35SMU]

We have great facilities, a program on the rise(hard to believe), and we are located in Dallas. We have several advantages that schools like TCU, Rice, Houston, UTEP, Baylor and NTSU can only dream of. If we can't pull in the top class in Conference USA this year then we have some serious problems.

Not to mention we played 5 of those schools..and beat 4 of them (dominating 3 of them).

If that doesn't help us a little then I don't know what will.