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playing like minded privates like Tulane and Tulsa right? Somebody forgot to tell Tulane they arent supposed to have a bunch of big nasty football players.

I always thought this was going to be a tougher league than the WAC, top to bottom (us being the bottom). It does amaze me how much bigger the opposing teams lines are. I was especially surprised by Tulane today. Those guys were Big-12 size. That is a good team. Their QB had a rocket for an arm. That catch in the 4th by the WR was an NFL catch. This is a team that should compete for the C-USA title.

Also I saw one of their players outside the locker room after the game. I told him, Good game. He had the most pleased look on his face. After all they have been through I actually felt good for him and Tulane.

Tulane does operate differently than we do. I know that they are able to get players in that we can't. Kind of crazy, considering how highly they are ranked academically compared to SMU.

it's called "special admissions". You do that for guys who can help bring attention to your university, but you also have to have programs to keep them eligible. SMU is supposedly quietly making strides in that direction, but there apparently are still too many pinheads who just don't get it. As I sit and watch the advertising that comes for all these schools playing on TV I can't for the life of me understand how we can have leadership that doesn't understand this. I thought SMU was supposed to have a good business school??? We undestood this siple concept 30 years ago when I was at SMU. Pye didn't and now we have too many pinheads running SMU. It's what Division I colleges and universities do, folks.

Nacho wrote:
Tulane does operate differently than we do. I know that they are able to get players in that we can't. Kind of crazy, considering how highly they are ranked academically compared to SMU.

You must have us confused with TCU. To get in at Tulane as an athlete, you need a 22 or above on the ACT. There are 7-10 "special admissions" per year, but those need to be fully NCAA qualified (no partials, no props, like TCU does) which means a score between 18-22.
No JCs.
Our stringent rules the same reason you have your rules - our 1986 basketball disaster.
Don't look to us for help in liberalizing - we're [deleted] about the same things you are. We may be in a little better shape than SMU personnel wise, but I suspect that means we handle restrictions better: we go to a bowl every 3-4 years, and recently win 5 or so games the in others (kind of like yall did under Rossley). That's it. And prior to 1997, we were winning 2 games a year.
One thing this coach does do is handle the restrictions well. He has 2 constraints: the admission restrictions and high graduation rates. He recruits good students, BUT also has a lot of program turnover. But when the good students leave, they get their degrees because they are good students . So it doesn't hurt our graduation rates as badly as it otherwise would and we get to see a lot more players through our program. (USM has been an expert at this for years - they try out linemen for 2 years, and encourage the ones who can't make it to leave). That way, yoiu get large recruiting classes an up-close look at more players.
Good luck the rest of the season.