The Tragedy of It All
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:02 pmWhen you opened the sports section of the Dallas Morning News on Sunday morning, November 19th of last year, you saw the following in huge font on the front page:
"THAT'S SIX! SMU 34, Tulsa 24.
University Park -- SMU coach Phil Bennett refused to call Saturday's 34-24 come-from-behind victory over Tulsa the breakthrough the program has waited for. But with bowl hopes hanging in the balance, with a 24-7 halftime deficit, with every bit of history since the 1987 death penalty and 22 bowl-less seasons working against SMU, it did a funny thing. The Mustangs played perhaps their best half of the season. Perhaps their most meaningful in years. They played a complete, dominating second half, scoring 27 straight points and shutting out Tulsa. The dramatic reversal made SMU (6-5, 4-3 Conference USA) bowl eligible for the first time since it went 6-5 in 1997."
There was a huge picture of Blake Warren busting across the goal line. Justin Willis was compared stat by stat to Colt McCoy. There was a listing of all five CUSA bowl tie ins.
SMU, of course, would go on to lose the next week against Rice -- after two first downs at the Rice one -- and would not be invited to a bowl.
11 months after the Tulsa win, look at where we are now. It's a real tragedy.
I am SICK of losing.
"THAT'S SIX! SMU 34, Tulsa 24.
University Park -- SMU coach Phil Bennett refused to call Saturday's 34-24 come-from-behind victory over Tulsa the breakthrough the program has waited for. But with bowl hopes hanging in the balance, with a 24-7 halftime deficit, with every bit of history since the 1987 death penalty and 22 bowl-less seasons working against SMU, it did a funny thing. The Mustangs played perhaps their best half of the season. Perhaps their most meaningful in years. They played a complete, dominating second half, scoring 27 straight points and shutting out Tulsa. The dramatic reversal made SMU (6-5, 4-3 Conference USA) bowl eligible for the first time since it went 6-5 in 1997."
There was a huge picture of Blake Warren busting across the goal line. Justin Willis was compared stat by stat to Colt McCoy. There was a listing of all five CUSA bowl tie ins.
SMU, of course, would go on to lose the next week against Rice -- after two first downs at the Rice one -- and would not be invited to a bowl.
11 months after the Tulsa win, look at where we are now. It's a real tragedy.
I am SICK of losing.
