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There's a new poll on the PF.com homepage (number of wins this season)

well, it's just a poll and I'm not betting, so I will go with my heart and say this team will find a way to improve on last year and win 4 games. Of course, my brain keeps telling me these guys could be much improved and still only win 3 games. I'm counting Baylor, ECU and Rice as must wins this year if we are going to find 4 wins. Other than those games, I'm hoping we can either upset Tulane, TCU or UTEP at Ford or sneak up on Tulsa or Houston on the road. I don't think we will fare too well at either UAB or Marshall and I'm not expecting much against the Aggie$

I'm voting 4-5. I WANT to vote 6-7, but .... I'll be thrilled with 5, satisfied (for this year) with 4.

Since 3 wins is Bennett's personal best at SMU, I'll consider SMU a better team when we win 4 games this year.

How sad is that SMU fans have such low expectations that they are happy with a 3-4 win season. SMU has got to be the best place to be a head coach or athletic director as it is one of the few schools where alumni have any kind of expectations regarding the football and mens basketball teams.

I just have to repeat myself here:

To get some perspective on the upcoming season I thought it would be nice to check out last seasons Sagarin ratings and see how we would stack up against this seasons opponents.

If we are the same as last season we would go 3-8 (beating Tulane, ECU, and Rice, the latter by .5)

If we improved by 3.5 points we would go 5-6 (adding Baylor and TCU)

If we improved 8.5 points we would go 8-3 ( adding Marshall, Tulsa and Houston)

If we improved by 14 points we would go 10-1 (adding UAB and UTEP)

Of course this assumes an average performance by all teams and no change in our opponents. But the point is, given the level of our opponents, we are not that far away from very interesting results.
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I figured we could improve by 7 points and picked us to win 6. That would allow us to pick up Houston as well.

PonySnob wrote:How sad is that SMU fans have such low expectations that they are happy with a 3-4 win season. SMU has got to be the best place to be a head coach or athletic director as it is one of the few schools where alumni have any kind of expectations regarding the football and mens basketball teams.

Well, do tell, what are your expectations?

I think 12-0 is quite likely.

OldPony wrote:I think 12-0 is quite likely.

So that includes winning the C-USA championship game, right?
I like it!

THE BEAVER: Gee Wilikers! that sounds SWELL Wally!

Good thinking, Stallion.
By all means, discourage any optimism while there's still a zero in the loss column.
While you're at it, maybe you can talk folks out of attending games or wearing SMU gear, too.

Otto, I think he was pulling your leg, but Stallion is our "curmudgeon"

BTW, I am thinking 6-5, which would be a wonderful season given our recent past. And I am an optimist or sunshiner to some. I don't go to "assume the worst school" of fans, even when evidence (recent past) suggests it.

Well I hope we win 5 or more games this year, but I can also tell you I would rather go 0-11 and role the dice that both Copeland and Bennett get fired, with the additional role of the dice that a new AD will prompt meaningful changes, than have a 3 win season like last year with a similar recruiting results.

Since we have zero commitments to date, I can only assume there are players waiting to see how we perform before making any decisions about SMU. That fellow pony fans…makes this Baylor game the most important one to date for Phil Bennett.

winning season and a bowl game

Put down the glue Raplh. Better season but not bowl.