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One way to look at it is the SMU Mustangs are two plays away from being 5-1 this season.

Another way to look at is the reality that SMU coach June Jones and his team are living.

The Mustangs are 3-3 (2-0 in Conference USA) coming into this Saturday's game against the Houston Cougars at Robertson Stadium. The Mustangs suffered their second overtime defeat of the season this past Saturday, 38-35 against Navy. In position for its best start since 1986, SMU frittered away a 21-7 lead.

"It's frustrating," Jones said. "You feel bad for the kids. We're still getting better."

With victories at UAB and at home against East Carolina, SMU is at the top of the C-USA West standings. To hear Jones tell it, though, the Mustangs are stepping up in class the next two weeks with road games against UH and Tulsa.

"We're going to have to play a whole lot better the next two weeks to even have a chance to win," Jones said.

• • •

Some 4,500 tickets remain for this Saturday's homecoming game against SMU, UH assistant athletic director/ticket operations Mike Rea said on Monday evening.

"We're going to have a strong crowd," Rea said. "I don't know that it's going to be a Texas Tech crowd, but it's going to be a strong crowd."

The Cougars drew a record Robertson Stadium crowd of 32,114 for a 29-28 victory against Texas Tech on Sept. 26. This is the 17th-ranked Cougars' first home game since Case Keenum scored the winning touchdown in the final minute.

• • •

The Mustangs went 1-11 in Jones' first season at the hilltop. Jones arrived at SMU with the credibility of having gone 75-41 at Hawaii. His final Hawaii team went 12-1 and played in the Sugar Bowl.

His first SMU team went winless in C-USA play.

"I've been in those situations before," Jones said. "What you've got to do is keep the players believing and playing together and putting the team before everything else. Everybody is going to try to divide the team, and you've got to make sure you don't divide from inside out."

• • •

SMU has lost the past six times it has gone into overtime and is 1-10 overall in games that have gone past regulation.

CA Mustang wrote:Wow, at least one UH fan is upset! (From the page linked above)

The little horses are a natural enemy for us. Their fans do things like wave their wallets to taunt us and rationalize losing to us by saying things like, "That's okay, 'cause you'll be working for me someday." They have a tradition of destroying our property and the first thing their team did last time they were in town is stomp on the UH at midfield. Everything we are proud of at U of H - our work ethic, our diversity, our global and metropolitan worldview - SMU is the antithesis of.

CalallenStang wrote:What the heck is a "metropolitan worldview?"

CA Mustang wrote:Wow, at least one UH fan is upset! (From the page linked above)

The little horses are a natural enemy for us. Their fans do things like wave their wallets to taunt us and rationalize losing to us by saying things like, "That's okay, 'cause you'll be working for me someday." They have a tradition of destroying our property and the first thing their team did last time they were in town is stomp on the UH at midfield. Everything we are proud of at U of H - our work ethic, our diversity, our global and metropolitan worldview - SMU is the antithesis of.

couch 'em wrote:

CalallenStang wrote:What the heck is a "metropolitan worldview?"

They know they'll have to go to Mexico to get into grad school.

CA Mustang wrote:They have a tradition of destroying our property and the first thing their team did last time they were in town is stomp on the UH at midfield. Everything we are proud of at U of H - our work ethic, our diversity, our global and metropolitan worldview - SMU is the antithesis of.[/i]

CalallenStang wrote:

CA Mustang wrote:Wow, at least one UH fan is upset! (From the page linked above)

The little horses are a natural enemy for us. Their fans do things like wave their wallets to taunt us and rationalize losing to us by saying things like, "That's okay, 'cause you'll be working for me someday." They have a tradition of destroying our property and the first thing their team did last time they were in town is stomp on the UH at midfield. Everything we are proud of at U of H - our work ethic, our diversity, our global and metropolitan worldview - SMU is the antithesis of.

What the heck is a "metropolitan worldview?"

CA Mustang wrote:...our global and metropolitan worldview...[/i]