What about the $3.5 million AD deficit?

[SMU Football Blog]

I still don't get it. Newsflash: We lose to those teams. We lose to CUSA teams. We lost to WAC teams. If we were ripping through C-USA, I would agree with you. And when we reach that point, I will agree with you. But we are not there.

And noone ever addresses the other point. That every school going from where we have been to where we want to be has done the same thing. I guess that is because nobody can make a credible response.

[Stallion]

....and you will get YOUR RESPONSE when about 6-8,000 (actual attendance) show up for those games.

[SMU Football Blog]

Wrong. And you know it.

The Sam Houston game is the first home game of the year and will be well attended regardless. Want to dispute that?

The second home game will be parents' weekend and will be about as well attended as every game on parent's weekend. Maybe a little better if we are 2-1 instead of 0-4 or 1-3. Nobody ever showed up to watch San Jose State, yet somehow, people were there!

I'd make a bet on the attendance for each game, but you would not pay because you'd complain about announced versus actual attendance.

I like how you don't deny that you said you were OK with scheduling soft this year.

[Sam I Am]

If SMU had won one more game against a soft opponent in 2005, we would have been in a bowl game for C-USA. Given the NCAA win-loss standards for post-season play, some NC soft schedule games may be the way to go. Attendance will suffer unless the visiting team for our home games can bring a crowd with them. We need to play Baylor and TCU for attendance sake. Tech is too strong for us these days. Unless Bennet takes the team to a bowl in 2006, I think his time will be up under a new AD.

[hunters]

Ark St could very well beat us

[abezontar]

attendance for the first home game will be a moot point if we don't keep it respectable against tech, and win against NTSU. A lot of freshman will be encouraged to go up to Denton to see the game and if we lose to NTSU after getting killed by tech there will be no one there for SHSU for the opener.

[EastStang]

Baylor, Tulane, ECU were all beatable teams. And We had Marshall on the ropes and couldn't finish them. We would have been bowl eligible if we had beaten the teams we should have beaten.

[SMU Football Blog]

But we didn't. And you aren't one that usually likes to hype our moral victories.

[Sam I Am]

We'll be slaughtered in Lubbock, win in Denton, and lose at home to Arkansas State. Bennett is terrible in September, and we still have a QB problem. After we lose to Ark State, fan support will disappear and fire the coach will become the mantra on this board. This prediction is guaranteed, so put it in a sealed mayo jar to be re-read in October. I told you so.

[Sam I Am]

I forgot to add the SHSU game to the list, and frankly I don't know if we can win that game because the Bearcats can pass and score points. May I say that if we lose the SHSU game, then it really won't matter much what happens by the time we play Arkansas State.

[SMU Football Blog]

I'll take that under advisement.

[westexSMU]

I think, if the Quarterback situation gets resolved, we should have a decent SR/JR team next year. A 6-5 or better season is logical. The real question is can we rebuild our fan base of young SMU supporters and become the College team of Dallas again. It will be one hell of a marketing project but like Russ Potts recently said " SMU could have a good sports program again." Without rebuilding the fan base we are doomed. TCU did it so I can't believe we can't.

[SMUstang]

You said the terrible word "TCU". They worked at building support. They didn't depend on their AD to do everything for them. I hope we can do it too, but I don't know. We like to make excuses.

[Sam I Am]

Granted that Fort Worth is a cowtown, you have to wonder how much the Dallas Cowboys have hurt college football at TCU compared to SMU. I do not ever expect to see strong fan support from the Dallas public or the SMU student body even when the team has winning seasons again. Our best crowds have usually come from good attendance by the visiting schools fan base, not ours. Still I remember the crowd of about 7,000 for a Rice game back in the good old days of the SWC. We've have been down before and found a way to build attendance back up again. The AD marketing budget needs to spend some money in order to make some money. Not all of our money need go to coaching salaries where we have yet to get a return for our investments. I say again, we have a QB problem; and that comes from a combination of recruiting deficits and the inability to develop the talent on hand.