Another opinion on Conf USA cross-div teams for 2005/2006

[MD_Stang]

...is it just me or do others think that SMU's got the worst case scenario for cross-divisional teams for 2005/6. If I had to choose my top three it would have been without a doubt - S. Miss, Memphis, and C. Florida. S. Miss and Memphis are probably the best teams in the Conf right now, would be easy to get to and would bring the most fans. C. Flor has the alure of an away trip to Orlando. On the other hand, Marshall and E. Carolina are the hardest to get to and will bring the least amount of fans...UAB doesn't do much for me either as a new rival. Of course, we'll flip flop in 2007/8, but I would have liked to have at least one or two of Memphis, S. Miss, and C. Florida to start off with. Just my opinion.

[Charleston Pony]

selfishly, I'm glad we drew ECU 1st...because that's the shortest road trip for me from Columbia. UAB is the 2nd closest CUSA opponent...and, we will get 3 of our 5 divisional games at home, which shouldn't hurt our chances of getting off to a good start in CUSA. That road trip to Marshall will be a good test of how far we've come by 2005.

[EastStang]

I hate to say it, for selfish me the same thing. Marshall and ECU are the closest to me as well. I'll get to see two road games in two years. What the MC and the alumni association need to do in tandem is go to Raleigh, Columbia Pittsburgh and DC alumni chapters and figure out a way to get a 1000 people to road trip to the games from these eastern locations. It would allow alumni to reconnect, probably increase donations, and perhaps lure a few to join the MC. Chartered buses, private train cars with catered food and booze. And the funny thing is it wouldn't cost the school much money until the people bought the tickets. Heck even one bus from DC area would mean 40 people and that's only 9% of the DC alumni. You could probably get three buses from DC alone to ECU and more the next year to Marshall. I am sure there are some SMU alums in Birmingham and Atlanta as well that could be coaxed out to games at UAB if a nice road trip were planned for them. You could even have a family friendly bus, a party bus, and a quiet bus. Just a thought.

[Terry Webster]

This is my first post, but I am also glad that the Ponies will be heading out east for the first run through the CUSA. I live in the Cincinatti area, so the trip to Marshall will be a geat time for me. Hope to see others at that game.

[MustangStealth]

I don't know about S. Miss., but I was at a Memphis-TCU game a couple years ago (don't ask) and Memphis had maybe 100 fans there. They'll probably travel better now that they are expected to contend for the title, but I don't think thy will be any sort of attendance boost.

[Charleston Pony]

One of the reasons CUSA is not a BCS conference is that none of it's members have HUGE fan followings. Memphis has good home support as does ECU, USM and Marshall. I think Marshall travels as well as any school in the conference and has great home support, but again...they play in a 35k seat stadium, which is tiny by BCS standards. Bottom line is that I don't expect any of the cross-over opponents to bring large crowds on the road. Not much different than the WAC in that respect, although 1,000 visiting fans will far exceed the 100 visiting fans we'd see in WAC games against western teams.

With Memphis only 400 miles, the question is: "how many SMU fans will make that trip?" I would expect only a couple of hundred.

Suggestion for all of the "out-of-towners"...when you make your plans to travel with the Mustangs, contact SMU and buy tickets from the allotment given the school. Then you will be sitting with SMU fans who make the trip from Dallas. I've always tried to do that in the past and it's worked out pretty well.

[Mustangs35SMU]

With Memphis only 400 miles, the question is: "how many SMU fans will make that trip?" I would expect only a couple of hundred.

Well it depends if we are winning. If we are a losing team (such as last year) I much rather sit here on the board and talk to you guys and listen to it on the radio than go and watch it live. But if we are a winning team I rather go watch with all the fans are the game..that is if its an away game...

I go to home games even if we are losing *aka last year*

[GoRedGoBlue]

ECU provides us a an opportunity for an easier win
Marshal gives us some credibility should we beat them (we should be taking stride next year - if the plan goes well)

[that's great raplh]

UCF would have been nice - we get a lot of students from FL...SMU v Florida in the orange bowl

[EastStang]

I almost always buy tickets from SMU's allotment for the reasons cited above. But if SMU could try and build a crowd for some of these out of state games, it would really make a statement to the conference. We have a national alumni base, lets use it. Believe it or not there are also Methodist Churches with SMU alums (or SMU sympathizers) as pastors who might like to bring a crowd of kids to some of these games. It doesn't hurt to help your conference mates get a crowd. You know every Mormon Church in the DFW area will be sending their faithful to their game with TCU in 2006.