Arkansas State? Fire Copleand

[huntnfish]

I have no problem scheduling a winnable game for SMU, but Arkansas State? No history, no crowd following and no one cares.

Simple solution that actually makes sense:
Play Texas A&M, Texas Tech or Texas every year- money game, good exposure, history, good crowd

Play two of the following schools each year -North Texas, TCU, Baylor, maybe Tech- winnable games with history, close travel and better crowds

But that makes too much sense for Copeland, what a joke. Once again the man is not held responsible for his actions.

[Stallion]

I think you answered your own question-you list TCU(6 straight losses), Baylor(8 straight losses), Tech (10 straight lossess). It ain't winnable if you've lost 24 straight games to those teams. Geez is that depressing-not to mention humiliating. I'm grudgingly accepting this distateful game because its Division 1A and Copeland did an excellent job with the rest of the schedule. Folks 2006 MUST be the year we turn this around-if not I'm not sure Bennett's going to be around when we do. ASU fits right in with a Cinderella Story Syndrome for 2006. I think he picked the right year for the game-that's for sure.

[jtstang]

I doubt you'll ever see SMU and Texas play again in football.

[Dooby]

No, dude. This post is a joke. Let us rip on a guy for stuff that matters or at least for actually bad decisions. I am [deleted] Copeland, too, but this is ridiculous. There is simply no reason to believe this is a bad deal. Copeland is trying to schedule winnable games.

Who do you think is responsible for scheduling UNT? Baylor? Even TCU?

You either mention Texas Tech in both paragraphs or you mean La. Tech in the second. I remember the LA. Tech folks in 2002 (Bennett's first win, BTW); they had maybe 1,000 people in the corner, including their band. Official attendance for that game was 14,836, below the average for 2002, which was 18,292. And are the games close? They beat us last year 41-10. In 2004, the attendance was 13117, which is 4,500 less than at the SJSU game that year.

If you want to complain about attendance or the gate receipts, the simple resolution is to friggin win football games. These games are going to be early in the year like most nonconference games, and attendance will be fine. If we can get 17k to SJSU for the second home game, we can do the same for Ark. State. Attendance drops every season towards the end because we lose and have bad records dillweed.

If Copeland cured cancer, you'd hate him for hurting the pharmacutical industry.

[Water Pony]

Give me U. of Arkansas instead.

[SWC Grey Hair]

Texas State is also being added to 2006 home schedule since we can play 12 games. How far down can we go?

[gostangs]

You guys are a bunch of nimrods!! how far down can you go? - how bout 3 wins in the last 2 and a half yrs - This is exactly the kind of schedule we need to get some W's and pull ourselves up as a program - should have done it several yrs ago - win a few games early and we have 25,000 of our fans toward the end of the season, instead of rented fans early and nothing to show for it but injuries and empty seats later - GOOD JOB COPELAND!!! - SCHEDULE THREE MORE OF THESE EVERY YEAR TILL WE GET A CHEAP BOWL!!!

Then with the resulting better recruits we can take on a better OC schedule - we have tried the other way - any doubts about the results of that bright idea??

[youngalumpony]

AMEN gostangs, hey I'll come right out and say it, as an athletic director I dont like Jim Copeland. But one of my biggest complaints is that we've been playing the tech's, ok state's and a&m's of the world. It's amazing to me that there are still people that are so out of touch that they think we still play on the same competitive level as those teams, I'm sorry but we dont. I would love to schedule 3 Arkansas State's, lets actually play teams we have a chance of winning, and gain some confidence into the games that really matter. BTW SWC Grey Hair, Texas State is a good idea, now you're catching on....

[SWC Grey Hair]

I guess the old guys need to move aside and let the young ones have their day by beating the Texas States and Arkansas States of the world. I can stay home and just enjoy the memories of when we thought playing Tulane, Memphis, and Southern Miss were gimmies. Now we are just trying to get back to where we can compete even with them. To play Texas State is an embarrasement for any SMU fan over 45. I am not for playing TT and A&M every year but how about Ole Miss, even Cavan should have beaten them. Oh well, I will leave it to you guys to get a thrill out of travelling to Ark. State and Texas State. Maybe we can play Highland Park and get a win.

[DiamondM75]

If you think about it, Texas State would be a great team on our schedule. There are a lot of Texas State (Southwest Texas State) alums in the Dallas area. We would probably draw about 22,000 to a game like this, and have a great chance at a W.

[ClassOf81]

I guess the old guys need to move aside and let the young ones have their day by beating the Texas States and Arkansas States of the world....

No, no need to "move aside" at all. This is the approach Kansas State took when they were perhaps the worst D-I team in the country. Schedule some Cub Scout troops. Pick up a few wins. Get the players feeling like the hard work is worth it.
The only difference is that once KState started pounding those teams by 80 points, they kept scheduling them. Hopefully, we'll get to the point where we can just roll teams like that, at which point we bump the caliber of our OOC opponents up a notch or two or three. But scheduling ONE game like this is great. Two would be tolerable, although not ideal. I think one tough game against a former SWC opponent is important, as is a game like this, with the third game being against a team somewhere in between.
Don't give up, SWCGH, you're needed here as much as the rest of us. This, like Coach Bennett's plan to (hopefully) redshirt all (or at least most) freshman recruits every year, is all part of the growth process for the program.

[huntnfish]

Stallion and the rest of you knuckleheads:

Notice I said winnable- if we can't consider North Texas, TCU and Baylor as winnable, then we do need to drop football and become a basketball, swimming, tennis and soccer school.

There is a difference b/w winnable and supposedly easy games, lets stick with winnable- those easy games will not help our pathetic attendance record or draw any respect or interest. Plus the winnable games I mentioned have history and a much better crowd component.

Texas State (or any Div I-AA) is the stupidest idea I ever heard, ask Texas A&M when they lost to one of the Div I-AA Louisiana schools a few years ago how smart that was. These Division I-AA schools get up for the bigger schools and play that much harder, where the bigger schools just take it for granted. There is no upside to play a school like this- especially if you do lose, and remember there are serveral Div I-AA schools which could beat us.

Many of you guys deserve Copeland.

[MrMustang1965]

Texas State is also being added to 2006 home schedule since we can play 12 games. How far down can we go?

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Are you serious or is this a tongue-in-cheek statement? TEXAS STATE???? One of the WORST teams in the Southland Conference (Div. 1-AA)? Please tell me you're joking.

[MrMustang1965]

Texas State (or any Div I-AA) is the stupidest idea I ever heard, ask Texas A&M when they lost to one of the Div I-AA Louisiana schools a few years ago how smart that was. These Division I-AA schools get up for the bigger schools and play that much harder, where the bigger schools just take it for granted. There is no upside to play a school like this- especially if you do lose, and remember there are serveral Div I-AA schools which could beat us.

Yeah, just look at Sam Houston State (Southland Conference, Div. 1-AA). Playing Texas Tech in Lubbock and the University of Houston in Houston in 2005. And you don't think the Bearkats would love to come to Dallas and play SMU, too? This is the team that made it to the semi-final game of the NCAA Div. 1-AA playoffs last year and has almost the entire team returning this year but with a new HC.

[gostangs]

hey huntnfish -

what don't you understand about he last 15 years? What you are talking about has been exactly the plan for that period of time, and even the most relentless nostalgia buff could see by now it does not work for us. What Copeland is doinng is exactly what has been done by virtually every doghouse program that got itself off the floor - be patient with the one or two EASY win OC schedule for a few years, (by the way, the rest of the CUSA schedule is not easy for us by a long strectch), be glad we are building our own fans with some wins and get ready for a better program. It is the ONLY way SMU is going to get this done.