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McIlhenny & Meredith be ranked ahead of Chuck Hixson in the "Greatest SMU QB of All-Time" poll on the SMU Athletics web site? Futhermore, Ramon Flanigan is right on Hixson's heals for #3....very distrubing. God love Ramon, but hey....his two to five yard passes..boring...and how many W's did he generate? Lance, very exciting time for SMU football, GREAT memories, LOVE Lance...but best ever?? Maybe he should win "Good Guy Who Came Along at the Right Time" award...and Dandy Don...CAREER stats wise, way down on most "All Time" SMU QB lists..and besides, '57-59, basically .500 teams...NOW, let's talk about CHUCK!!! 1968..1st in the nation..'69, 2nd...'70, 4th...consistent, NATIONALLY!! 1968, baby...8-3, W's over Auburn, NC State, add ran u., Rice, Tech, aggies..OU in the Bluebonnet..how GOOD was THAT season!!? Chuck just needed "a little D" here fellas type support...he PUT up the #'s, consistently..he threw the ball DOWN FIELD, he played hurt....he ALWAYS was #1 in the SWC!!! Most SMU Passing Catergories = CHUCK!! MORE W's than Don, More W's than Ramon...Lance, more W's, but, heck..Eric, Craig, John Simmons, Harvey, etc., etc....LONG LIVE CHUCK HIXSON.....SMU's #1 ALL Time GREATEST QB....

Ah yes, if Hixson had a stong defense to give him better field position...what might have been.

Long live Robert (Crash) Popelka!

Perhaps Dandy Don is leading in the poll because he went on to have a fairly good pro career after leaving SMU.

I beg to differ. Don Meredith has the career(.61%) and season(.696%) completion average. He was a better QB than Hixson in just about every category you could name. I saw every home game Hixson played and he was largely a product of an innovative offense designed by Fry. He easily led Hixson in yards to completions as Hixson often dumped the ball off on short passes. As far as athletes Meredith was clearly superior-he just played on poor teams. Meredith was a 2 time All American. McIlhenney until I think the last few seasons of the SWC won more games than any QB in history and I think he had the best winning percentage. I know he missed one start so I think his All-Time record was 34-5-1. He ran HIS offense to perfection and better than Hixson ran HIS offense. Anybody who saw the difference in the way McIllhenney ran the offense in comparison to Ford knows that McIllhenney was the straw that stirred the drink. They say he couldn't pass but he lead the SWC in Passing efficiency and he bailed SMU out of numerous situations with clutch passes. I think he was much better than Hixson. Jerry LeVias and Hayden Fry's offense made Hixsom appear much better than his actual physical talent as was borne out when Hixson couldn't make it in the NFL. Meredith on the other hand was a First Round Draft Choice and excelled in the NFL. The last two years of Hixson's career SMU struggled to 3-7 and 5-6 records.

[This message has been edited by Stallion (edited 08-25-2003).]

Meredith vs. McIlhenny is like comparing apples to oranges. Like DKR said about the wishbone, the QB pitch is the "pass" of that offense. Meredith was the foremost passer at SMU, for sure. Lance had an all star cast and made them better.

i always wondered why hixson never made the pros...i remember him as a kid as my dad brought me over for my one smu game a yr from texarkana!!!

he was unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!

Meredith was a career 61% completion VS. Chuck's 58%..Meredith was 12 yards per completion, Chuck, 11...pretty durn close, overall. Chuck had almost 3x the career COMPLETIONS V. Don, yes..Don had more rushing yards v. CH, but with some of your logic, I guess Ramon's better than Don?? Chuck v. Don..more yards, more W's, more completions, more plays, more total O, more bowl games, and a % / yards per that was dangerously close....Long Live Chuck, but we LOVE Don...

Dandy Don was a shade better than Hixson in my opinion. I saw them both play a lot. Don was picked all America his senior season and when the team didn't perform as everyone expected, I remmeebr Sorts Illustrated publishing a cartoon shoinwg the offensive line casually lying on the ground as Meredith fled for his life, one of the linemen saying "Let Meredith do it" SI called it "The Failure of the Star System". I have never seen a football player that could so energize a crowd like Meredith could. Just by trotting out on the field he made the standsgo wild. Everytime he touched the ball it broght you to your feet in excitemnet..What an athlete!

My Typing! awful! Sorry about the typos!

Just a question, why wasn't Mike Livingston included in the poll? He led us to a Cotton Bowl, I believe. He had a decent pro career, started for the Chiefs for a couple of seasons.

I THINK the poll was in reference to their COLLEGE careers, NOT what they did in the pros...my point on Don, sort of..Don was GREAT at SMU, had his 1959 season will go down as one of the best, even though SMU was 5-4-1 and was a bit maniac depressive that season...Don ONLY threw about 180 some odd passes that year, but, hey, completed 105 on 'em...I'm looking at career, not season, SMU years, not pro career...Mike Livingston started in '66 - '67 and was #4 in the nation in 1967..I still say Hixson...CAREER leader in almost evry QB catergory & had success on the field, ie: 1968....

Mac White was really the starter in 1966 who lead SMU to the Cotton Bowl although Livingston did play significant minutes. Livingston was not a world beater in College but a quality QB. He started in 1967 but even that year the team had limited success between the great years of 1966 anf Hixson in 1968. The greatest win out of I think 3 in 1967 was an unbelievable national televised game in College Station when 3rd string midget Inez Perez at 5 ft 7 in. came in at QB and engineered a last second comeback punctuated by a diving catch by Jerry LeVias in the corner of the endzone. It was one of Levias' greatest games as he made clutch catch after clutch catch. The Aggies went on the beat Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.

[This message has been edited by Stallion (edited 08-26-2003).]