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When he was hired, Coach Bennett talked about following Miami's lead: private school in a metropolitan area, decent academic standards, many sports with which to compete for the sporting entertainment dollar.

Apparently, he aimed for the wrong school. He should have SMU copying Florida State. Did you see what FSU pulled this week? The Seminoles headed to Clemson last night, so the FSU administration CLOSED SCHOOL for Thursday and Friday because they didn't want students getting into traffic accidents, etc., coming back from the game.

Are you kidding? Cancelling school for a football game? And a Clemson game at that? Great idea. No need to interrupt the students' four-day drinking binge with something silly like going to class. No need to keep them in Tallahassee when they could stay up in Clemson, get liquored up for four days and pick fights with Tiger fans after trash-talking boils over.

FSU plays Miami next week. Certainly the students need a full week to get down to Coral Gables safely, because these are the Hurricanes. If they get a couple days off for Clemson, then they deserve a week for the #1 defending national champions. For god's sake, be careful going to Miami to start your bar fights, kids, so don't worry about class next week.

Then, after a bye week, they get Notre Dame. No school gets as much national attention as Notre Dame. Kids: take the rest of the semester off. If we're going to win the national championship, we need you well rested for the bowl game.

See you back in class in January.

Higher Authority:
Good point, but Florida State didn't travel to Clemson they played at FSU. That even makes it a better point. They wanted to spark some school spirit, so they cancelled school on Thursday and Friday.
At SMU, you would have all the professors screaming that "This is not an athletic institution, we are an institution of higher learning."
In response to that, I would like to borrow a line from "The Program". "I have never seen 75,000 (35 at SMU) people show up to watch a damn Chemistry experiment"

Very good points,Shaqfu, and High Authority.I can't add anything to that. Nuff said.

Oooops. I mean Higher Authority. Sorry.

I happened to be at ASU during the Super Bowl in '96. No school for one week. Good times.

My mistake - I did read that the game was in Tallahassee. I guess I thought Clemson because there was a statement about traffic, or something. The fact that it was in Tallahassee makes it even more unbelievable. That's a state-funded university? I'm sure the drama majors and the political science majors and the physics majors - who presumably picked the school because of the academic programs and who may or may not be football fans - are VERY proud of that decision by the FSU administration.

Higher Authority:
I am just taking a wild guess here, but were you one of the people that were complaining about the location of the new football stadium? The fact that they put the stadium at the front of the University, and that could portray the wrong image. Just wondering.

I am a student at SMU right now. Even if they did call off school for a game, nobody would go. The school has a pathetic attendence at football games and a few days off would only encourage students to leave town and/or party. I go to every game, but it is hard to convince others to do the same.

I am a student at SMU right now. Even if they did call off school for a game, nobody would go. The school has a pathetic attendence at football games and a few days off would only encourage students to leave town and/or party. I go to every game, but it is hard to convince others to do the same.

SHAQFU:
Good point - no, I wasn't one of those who objected. Frankly, it never occured to me that the location would be an issue, and besides, that's where I (and everyone else) expected it to be, since that's where Ownby Stadium was.

And I trust you know that I was just being cynical. They could put Ford Stadium in the middle of Central Expressway if they like. But I doubt we'd ever see SMU shut down for a day or two, even if the Ponies were playing a big game.