Turnarounds abound

[RGV Pony]

I can anticipate the responses I'll get, but I'd like to hear them nevertheless. Two years ago, ECU was arguably on a par with SMU as worst in the CUSA. Now, they hang with a top 5 team in WVU (SMU vs a barely top 25 team last year=66-8), and get credit from no less an authority than Stallion on playing so well. No word of a learning curve or "we're the youngest team in the NCAA" from Skip Holtz.

Rice goes from being an option team that is...well, Rice...to beating last year's CUSA champ on the road, and hangs tough with a UCLA team who had Notre Dame dead to rights, also on the road. We are up in arms about Sanders' 6 straight games with a TD; Rice has a guy with 10 straight. No word on whether or not Rice is waiting on getting 'more athletic' guys in there to compete. Or why they're doing this despite being a private school with no fan base and an empty stadium in a non-BCS conference (sound familiar). In fact, I'm concerned about the last game of the year, boys.

Tulsa and Kragthorpe. They sucked. Now they don't. Was it five years? Six? Two? Private school, non-BCS conference, built-in recruiting DISadvantages.

This one may be a stretch, but damn Rutgers is turning around. Yes, I know they are the state U in NJ, but how many decades was it when everyone else couldn't pull off a turnaround?

Craig Erickson brings a terrible, terrible Idaho team to at least be competitive on the road in the Big 10 (vs. Mich St) and stay on the field with Boise St.

I'm looking for the time when other programs look at SMU and say, "well, they were able to turn things around b/c of being in Dallas, having $$ falling out of the sky (bball practice facility $$ was available for the asking), they have a great campus and kids want to go there. After the BCS schools, they have the finest facilities and have the finest education to offer in Texas. That's why they are winning." Might this ever happen? It's getting old watching positive results at other programs with less.