Here Comes Another Measuring Stick Game

[Stallion]

OK can the skeptics and Cheerleaders all agree that after 8-35 next weeks game is another important measuring stick for where this program is going and whether Bennett is the man for the job. Let's compare SMU loses to ECU at home and ECU lost all its games 2 years ago too. They have apparently passed us. Tulsa should never beat SMU but Steve Kraigthorpe seems to get the job done and they are headed to another bowl game with some of the worst facilities in Division 1A. UTEP-oh geez we got passed by them years ago. Now Rice-Bennett is 0-3 against Rice and really has looked dumbfounded in trying to stop their offense. Rice has the longest losing streak in Division 1A. I've got to believe and sincerely hope that SMU's front 7 defense can stop the Owls. We better because if Bennett goes 0-4 and 8-36 there should be some real questions raised about the direction of the program under Bennett. I think this is probably the last winnable game. Does any program in America keep a coach who goes 8-38? It could be a must win for Bennett.

[Hoop Fan]

100% Must Win. Homecoming against a winless team and we have a bye week to prepare. It will be disgraceful if we dont take care of business and get that one.

[abezontar]

be prepared to see us disgraced...I have zero hope that we will win another game this season

[Pony_Fan]

Surely this team can beat Rice. Then again, SMU is good at breaking streaks for other teams...the losing ones.

[Charleston Pony]

considering the fact Rice hasn't even sniffed a win this year and that SMU has 2 weeks to prepare for this game, I would say it's a MUST WIN for this coaching staff.

[Pony_Fan]

More I think about it, SMU doesn't have must wins and Bennett isn't going anywhere w/ the contract extension and athletic budget lack of funds.

[Charleston Pony]

you are probably right that this coaching staff will return next year regardless of how we finish, but if Bennett is going to be the guy to turn this thing around, it has to start soon and that means a win over Rice. We have to get back to the point where a win against Rice is one "you can count on".

Next year with the soft non-conference schedule and so many guys returning is the year Bennett better find 5-6 wins.

[PG Pony]

There's no reason why SMU should lose to Rice - we should be favored by at least a TD. They are very one-dimensional and we have the D to stop them. If we can only getting Romo going we will be fine.

[abezontar]

There was no reason we should have lost to ECU, Marshall, Tulsa and Baylor, we lead in all four games, and yet gave it away in the 4th quarter. If Bennett was going to be the guy to turn it around then we should have won those games, and been prepard to kill our non-conference opponents next year. As it stands we are still timid and don't believe in ourselves, and so we stand a fair chance of losing to the D-1AA schools we play next year. We are going to be embarassed just like UTEP was two years ago when they lost to a D-1AA opponent. I only hope we can experience the turn around they did.

[that's great raplh]

i agree - we gotta beat rice...

[SoCal_Pony]

Some of this board have succumbed to tired clichés…seriously, how can a game late in the season by a coach who is 8-35 lifetime be considered ‘MUST WIN’. Late season ‘Must Win’ games are reserved for teams seeking championships, national titles and bowl games, not SMU.

That said; Rice is having a truly memorable season. Defense is yielding 48+ points a game and their average margin of defeat is almost 4 TDs.

So SMU should win this game and when we do, will the Sunshiners please refrain from telling us we are now ‘putting all the pieces together’ that this is the ‘Romo / offense / running game I was expecting all season’, that we have ‘come together as a team’ or that this is ‘a building block we can carry into next year’. It will simply be a game in which a bad team defeated an even worse team, period.

I do have one question though…if PB does lose to Rice, will he really, really be telling us how his friends begged him not to take the job? Me…I thought that was a c*s* comment.

I suspect PB will hang around another season before being fired. That means he will have collected over $2M from SMU. Did his friends beg him not to take the $2M? People on this board have asked ED to return his monies for disparaging SMU (ridiculous IMO)…will they now demand same of PB???

[ALEX LIFESON]

Rice is beyond terrible, I can't imagine how we could screw this one up! Southlake could hang 50 on these clowns. My goodness...it is SHOCKING to see how low, some of you guy's expectations have dropped! It is pathetic, how low our self esteem has fallen! With the low level of competion on our schedule, we should EXPECT to win at least eight games a year! Thank the power brokers for that one! If you don't expect much.................you won't get much!

[LA_Mustang]

There is one certainty about SMU football.....EVERY TIME we as fans get really excited and set expectations for a game, we end up disappointed. That’s just the way it is....and I have now adopted the jt philosophy – expect us to lose every game and when we do, you wont be disappointed. If we somehow win, you will be pleasantly surprised. That is a pathetic way to be a fan, but that’s what SMU football has come to.

[smupony94]

Raplh is flying in from NY to see SMU win

[smupony94]

More specifically to see SMU beat Rice. And yes this is his first SMU game at Ford so please gome to the Blvd and make it to the game