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Will 2006 be the best season for SMU post DP?

We are 15 years removed from the time it should have taken to recover from the death penalty. It can no longer be an excuse and I will not refer to it anymore in reference to SMU's football fortunes. Our future is based on equal recruiting basis, good coaching, good facilities and the need for fan support marketing. None of that directly involves the death penalty. It can be accomplished now if the school wants to. The sooner we quit bringing up and living under the excuse of the death penalty, we will crawl out of this abyss that was dug in response to the death penalty, not because of the death penalty.

I agree! It is time to put the "death penalty" behind us and move on!

When the 1989 team graduated and beat Houston and Arkansas, the DP curse should have been broken then and there in 1992. Despite the huge self-imposed restrictions, SMU could have continued to progress and should have been completely restored within one decade post-DP. If the ponies have a 7-4 record this year, it will long overdue.

Of course, one way to help bury it in the past is if WE STOP BRINGING IT UP OURSELVES. You don't hear Steve-O talking about it, or Coach Bennett. The school is moving past it. We, as fans, have to do the same. I propose a moratorium for every PonyFan prohibiting any of us from mentioning it again.

Could not agree more. It has become our crutch. Time for a faith healing.

Amen - no more mentions ever by PonyFans.

The topic of this thread is best season post-DP. If you want to forget the past, don't read or respond to the replies on this thread. As for forbidding discussion about failures, the sun sets everyday. Learn to live with the dark as well as the light, sunshiners.

what is the death penalty everyone keeps talking about?

The NCAA imposed penalties against the SMU football program that cancelled the entire 1987 season and would have allowed only 7 games in the 1988 season. At the time the SMU had nine teams and SMU would have played 8 conference games. The NCAA purposely restricted SMU to only 7 games to create a problem for the SWC as an object lesson. The SMU administration chose not to play a football season in 1988 because of the complications imposed by the NCAA. Furthermore, the NCAA allowed all football players still on scholarship at the end of 1986 to transfer to other Div. 1-A schools and retain their full eligibility for the 1987 season. So for two years, SMU did not play football. In 1988 we were allowed to enroll 15 players on scholarship who were red shirted and used in the resumption of football in 1989. A second class of true freshmen scholarship players were admitted and used in Septebmer 1989. It took SMU four years to begin to have a full complement of scholarship players, but we hardly ever came close to having 85 men on scholarship at the same time until recently.

Sam I Am wrote:The NCAA imposed penalties against the SMU football program that cancelled the entire 1987 season and would have allowed only 7 games in the 1988 season. At the time the SMU had nine teams and SMU would have played 8 conference games. The NCAA purposely restricted SMU to only 7 games to create a problem for the SWC as an object lesson. The SMU administration chose not to play a football season in 1988 because of the complications imposed by the NCAA. Furthermore, the NCAA allowed all football players still on scholarship at the end of 1986 to transfer to other Div. 1-A schools and retain their full eligibility for the 1987 season. So for two years, SMU did not play football. In 1988 we were allowed to enroll 15 players on scholarship who were red shirted and used in the resumption of football in 1989. A second class of true freshmen scholarship players were admitted and used in Septebmer 1989. It took SMU four years to begin to have a full complement of scholarship players, but we hardly ever came close to having 85 men on scholarship at the same time until recently.

Did you really just answer his question?

not only that - but he also sent it to my personal email!

thanks sam i am - but i was only joking

that's great raplh wrote:not only that - but he also sent it to my personal email!

thanks sam i am - but i was only joking

I should strap on my lollerskates for that one.

Sorry to have been so droll about the DP, but it has sure been a long painful comeback since 1989.

Sam I Am wrote:Sorry to have been so droll about the DP, but it has sure been a long painful comeback since 1989.

With only one winning season since 1989, it's hard to say that the comeback has been completed!