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Just thought I would include this. I was desperately looking for past weeks or the preseason rankings, but can't find them anywhere. I know SMU has risen substantially. One way of looking at this is to say we are in the middle of a stretch of playing 5 of our toughest 6 games in a row.

Yeah, we are really going to regret the loss to Washington State.

13 TCU
48 Houston
51 Navy
60 Tulsa
74 Marshall
77 East Carolina
82 SMU
111 Stephen F. Austin
114 UAB
116 UTEP
118 Washington State
136 Tulane
158 Rice

Interesting. It appears we have several opponents well within our range. There is potential for 4 more wins (or more). And yes, there is potential and history for 4 more loses (and more). Still, this is much better than it has been is a couple of years.

I may be wrong, but as far as I can tell, Sagarin is still including his preseason rankings in his formula. That should end after this week. Again, I may be wrong, but when that happens, SMU should bump up a little bit, East Carolina should drop a little and Rice should drop like a rock.

I love football and the unknown. Going into the year we were hoping for a win at WSU but hardly anyone gave us a chance against the preseason CUSA favorite East Carolina. Who would have thought it would be our offense struggling but we would find a way to win anyway. That is why you try to win every game and expect to win every game and hopefully at the end of the year it all plays out with a bowl and championships. It is only going to get better and we are so young! Experience, adding a few recruits and a coaching change or two can make all the difference.

Dooby wrote:Just thought I would include this. I was desperately looking for past weeks or the preseason rankings, but can't find them anywhere. I know SMU has risen substantially. One way of looking at this is to say we are in the middle of a stretch of playing 5 of our toughest 6 games in a row.

Yeah, we are really going to regret the loss to Washington State.

13 TCU
48 Houston
51 Navy
60 Tulsa
74 Marshall
77 East Carolina
82 SMU
111 Stephen F. Austin
114 UAB
116 UTEP
118 Washington State
136 Tulane
158 Rice

If your "D" plays withthe intensity they played against us you will be fine and definitely make a bowl. Outside of our games with Utah (they hate us for some reason), the Skillet game this year was the hardest hitting game we have been a part of in the last 5 years or so. Your "D" showed up with a big attitude and brought the wood. Got old watching our guys getting helped off in the first half. A little more experience and depth and this rivalry will be where it needs to be as in NASTY! Most fun I have had at a skillet game in a long time. Keep it up. Can't wait til next year's game. Our players wanted blood after the game. Rivalry is back!

froglicious wrote:If your "D" plays withthe intensity they played against us you will be fine and definitely make a bowl. Outside of our games with Utah (they hate us for some reason), the Skillet game this year was the hardest hitting game we have been a part of in the last 5 years or so. Your "D" showed up with a big attitude and brought the wood. Got old watching our guys getting helped off in the first half. A little more experience and depth and this rivalry will be where it needs to be as in NASTY! Most fun I have had at a skillet game in a long time. Keep it up. Can't wait til next year's game. Our players wanted blood after the game. Rivalry is back!

Thanks man for sharing that with us...I'm glad your players feel that way. It will make the next game all that more fun and interesting. Great bulletin board material too.

Long live rivalries!

Updated Sagarin:

11 TCU
36 Houston
50 Navy
65 Tulsa
79 Marshall
80 East Carolina
81 SMU
82 Southern Miss
84 Stephen F. Austin
106 Central Florida
118 Washington State
119 UTEP
122 UAB
139 Tulane
140 Memphis
168 Rice

I wonder what we would be if we had beaten Wash St. and Navy and sitting at 5 and 1?

BIGHORSE wrote:I wonder what we would be if we had beaten Wash St. and Navy and sitting at 5 and 1?

Probably the mid 60's

BIGHORSE wrote:I wonder what we would be if we had beaten Wash St. and Navy and sitting at 5 and 1?

Thinking about that is going to kill me for the rest of the season. So close.

This is what Sagarin's ratings would predict for SMU using the current Predictor and the current home field advantage of 3.5 points:

SMU (3-3): 66.41

at Houston (75.25 + 3.5 = 78.75) 12.34 point LOSS for SMU
at Tulsa (72.55 + 3.5 = 76.05) 9.64 point LOSS for SMU
vs. Rice (49.08 - 3.5 = 45.58) 20.83 point WIN for SMU
vs. UTEP (58.17 - 3.5 = 54.67) 11.74 point WIN for SMU
at Marshall (65.52 + 3.5 = 69.02) 2.63 point LOSS for SMU
vs. Tulane (50.29 - 3.5 = 46.79) 19.62 point WIN for SMU

So there it is. We go 6-6 with only the Marshall game being close.

Dooby wrote:84 Stephen F. Austin
168 Rice

SC Pony wrote:This is what Sagarin's ratings would predict for SMU using the current Predictor and the current home field advantage of 3.5 points:

SMU (3-3): 66.41

at Houston (75.25 + 3.5 = 78.75) 12.34 point LOSS for SMU
at Tulsa (72.55 + 3.5 = 76.05) 9.64 point LOSS for SMU
vs. Rice (49.08 - 3.5 = 45.58) 20.83 point WIN for SMU
vs. UTEP (58.17 - 3.5 = 54.67) 11.74 point WIN for SMU
at Marshall (65.52 + 3.5 = 69.02) 2.63 point LOSS for SMU
vs. Tulane (50.29 - 3.5 = 46.79) 19.62 point WIN for SMU

So there it is. We go 6-6 with only the Marshall game being close.

We'll beat Marshall.

Clearly I have too much time on my hands because I decided to go through the whole conference's schedule and project final standings based on the current Sagarin. I did not bother with home field, just gave the win to the higher ranked team. Given that there are 5 teams ranked within 6 of each other not using homefield clearly made a difference but they would all have been close anyway, I just thought it might be interesting.

The biggest surprise to me was Marshall winning out, they benefit from not having to play Tulsa or Houston this year.

East
Marshall 7-1 9-3
ECU 6-2 7-5
UCF 4-4 6-6
So Miss 3-5 5-7
UAB 3-5 4-8
Mem 1-7 2-10

West
Hou 7-1 11-1
Tulsa 7-1 9-3
SMU 5-3 6-6
UTEP 4-4 5-7
Tulane 2-6 4-8
Rice 0-8 0-12

Dooby wrote:Updated Sagarin:

11 TCU
36 Houston
50 Navy
65 Tulsa
79 Marshall
80 East Carolina
81 SMU
82 Southern Miss
84 Stephen F. Austin
106 Central Florida
118 Washington State
119 UTEP
122 UAB
139 Tulane
140 Memphis
168 Rice

UH 36??? The loss to UTEP must have destroyed them because they have beaten 2 current top 25 teams (one was #5 in the country on the road at the time) and miss. st. on the road. To me they are without a doubt a top 25 team in the country.