Implications of UNT fiasco

[mrydel]

SMU Football Blog was writing about SMU football before you were born Nate. Show a little respect whether you agree or not.

[SMU Pom Mom]

Nonsense. My classmates in the 80s suffered through FAR WORSE. We were the joke of college football. We broke the record for the longest losing streak in D1A history. Wins were so rare that when they happened we ripped down the goal posts and tossed them in the lake. Our stadium was off campus and students had to take a shuttle. Our weather was legendarily bad. Our practice facilities the worst in college football. Our conference was chock full of ranked teams. We never thought it would be any different.

Did we stop supporting our alma mater? No. One day she bit the bullet, got a pricey coach, and built a program. We started winning. After he jumped ship we started populating our staff with people who were loyal to the school. When our HC tragically died one summer, we replaced him with basically a child, an inexperienced assistant barely out of the program himself who cared deeply for the school. His passion became our passion. We won just 4 games his first year. Then 6. Then 9. And now we've had three straight 10-win seasons.

Our AD put together a marketing program that worked, adding staff, building the brand, tying it in with the city. He included students in the process to increase their attendance.

If we could do it so can you. I believe this. There is always hope. Please don't turn you back on your alma mater.

[ponyboy]

Great story. What is the school?

[SMU Pom Mom]

Great story. What is the school?

Northwestern.

[mrydel]

My folks used to attend the Northwestern games during their “rise” to the nations longest losing streak. Said the stands were always filled.

[SMU Pom Mom]

My folks used to attend the Northwestern games during their “rise” to the nations longest losing streak. Said the stands were always filled.

To be fair, they were usually filled with fans of the other teams.

[ponyboy]

Interesting bit of trivia that SMU's only played Northwestern once in our long, storied football histories. It was a 21-20 victory by the Mustangs in 1970

http://www.winsipedia.com/smu/vs/northwestern

[PonyNate]

I didn't watch the game either. Checked the score after the game was over and then read Ponyfans. Got the whole flavor of the game in 5 minutes without the ugliness you can't unsee. Only way for me to catch any games going forward.

I paid for my education at SMU so I don't owe it anything. It does nothing for out-of-state alums so I don't care whether it keeps sports or not. At the end of the day, it's a g-5 school. By the time it makes it to the P5, it'll be the P4 that's relevant. The day LB walked out the door is the day I lost interest.

Like the other guy, this is also why SMU can never fill a stadium. Part of being a part of the P5 is having fan support to convince the big conferences to let you in. If we filled up the Ford every Saturday this wouldn't be an issue. On field success helps too, but a huge part of it is fan support. The indifference of the fan base has crippled the program.

Disagree.
The p!ss-pooredness of the program has crippled the fan base.

That's exactly right. My argument is the fan base shouldn't be crippled. There are much worse teams that draw more fans than we do. In a market like Dallas, the arrow should be pointing up, not down.

[PonyNate]

SMU Football Blog was writing about SMU football before you were born Nate. Show a little respect whether you agree or not.

How does my age lessen my fandom or credibility at all? I've dealt with many of the lows of the program my whole life too. I was born in an SMU jersey. No disrespect was intended at all, I just feel turning your back on your alma mater like that is wrong. I see the Ford 75% empty every Saturday, so those comments explain to me why it's empty. Yeah, it's frustrating going to a game and there's 4000 people there when the stadium is in the heart of a thriving market like Dallas.

Hats off to SMU Football Blog for writing about the team for so long, but he needs to stick with his team. When it gets turned around, all the people that jumped ship are going to want back on. I want as many along for the ride as possible.

[Nacho]

I hope were not on another 20 year plan. not sure I will make it that long.

[EastStang]

The day that the SWC blew up and we ended up in the WAC, we should have gotten the message. We didn't. When the WAC blew up and we ended up with the toaster leavins', we should have gotten the message, we didn't. When TCU throttled us and moved to another conference, we should have gotten the message and we didn't. Only when that conference got raided and they had to take us, did we begin to see the light. Improvements have been in fits and starts. Is the talent better than the talent that we fielded the last year we were in the WAC? I believe it is. But, in G5 programs, the problem usually isn't the first string, its depth. If one man goes out, the next guy usually is not of the same quality. This year unfortunately, it is the first string that is not that great. I believe that Chad left a lot of holes when he left and Dykes is trying to coach them up as they say. Hicks is not a great quarterback. Quinn and Sutton made him look a lot better than he is. Sutton drew double coverage, Quinn ran great routes and options opened up. This may be one of those years in which we go 0fer, or slowly we might turn things around after non-conference play. Remember, Bennett, Jones, Morris all had horrific first years at SMU. Let's give Dykes a chance. This may be one of those character building seasons, and we've had too many. But that's life in G5. You don't get 5 star players, you don't get depth and every few years, you're going to stink. Look at our conference, Tulsa up and down. Cincy up and down. Temple up and down. ECU up and down. Memphis up and down. Same with UCF, USF, Houston, and us. Navy is usually competitive but they have a prep school feeding them talent and Tulane is usually not that great. Let's ride out this season and hope that the team grows as the season wears on.

[Pony ^]

Unless we miraculously make it into a P5 some day, this program has zero chance to do anything. I follow from afar, with enough distance to where I'm not disappointed every single weekend. It's actually just turned to laughter when I see the score. The day I buy season tickets is the day we enter the BIG 12. So probably never. But hey, it could be worse. Texas has all the resources/facilities/coaches in the world and hasn't won a damn thing in 10 years.

[ojaipony]

I really think if Denbow didn't hit the guy and just touched him as he fell down (downing him) and Clemons had that pick six, we would have won the game. Our confidence would be high and our hesitation would have eased. But we didn't and showed no resilience/winning attitude/confidence and just folded. So we got our [deleted] kicked. That's the most disappointing thing - shows the true character of this team ... just lying down to UNfrickingT. So frustrating and sad to watch.

[One Trick Pony]

Unless we miraculously make it into a P5 some day, this program has zero chance to do anything. I follow from afar, with enough distance to where I'm not disappointed every single weekend. It's actually just turned to laughter when I see the score. The day I buy season tickets is the day we enter the BIG 12. So probably never. But hey, it could be worse. Texas has all the resources/facilities/coaches in the world and hasn't won a damn thing in 10 years.

And I don't know why that makes me so happy about Texas not winning anything for 10 years - I guess Juco, SMU, and UCF will do that to you. Funny thing is I enjoy watching the conference games it's the only ones I watch

[JasonB]

I really think if Denbow didn't hit the guy and just touched him as he fell down (downing him) and Clemons had that pick six, we would have won the game. Our confidence would be high and our hesitation would have eased. But we didn't and showed no resilience/winning attitude/confidence and just folded. So we got our [deleted] kicked. That's the most disappointing thing - shows the true character of this team ... just lying down to UNfrickingT. So frustrating and sad to watch.

I don't think any of that had anything to do with our OL not blocking anybody. With their performance, which had nothing to do with morale, we would have gotten drilled eventually.