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For the first time during this mess, SMU is starting to get media chatter. And it all seems to stem from comments that Dallas-area Rep. Dan Branch gave to the DMN late Saturday.

@richardjustice: State Rep. Dan Branch tells Dallas News if Aggies leave he hopes Big 12 will add SMU or UH.

@slmandel: If SMU ends up in a BCS conference from all this, June Jones' miracle work knows no bounds.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/colleg ... big-12.ece

Houston, a state school and former Southwest Conference member, was mentioned by state Rep. Dan Branch along with SMU. While Houston would be competitive in football, it would need to upgrade its facilities.

And on the hearings the lege will hold Tuesday:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/colleg ... aggies.ece

Branch said he wasn’t trying to scuttle the move, just determine the details and impact on the state of Texas and its colleges.
“I’m trying to keep an open mind,” Branch said. “If a bid is extended that makes sense for A&M — that doesn’t have undue consequences on the other Texas schools — I’m keeping an open mind. I don’t have any predisposition. My only predisposition is to have something that is a value-added opportunity for the state of Texas.”

Dan's the man.


Let him know you want value-added for the state of Texas too.......

http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/me ... strict=108

This is great, but I'm sure Houston is above us in the pecking order. However, we have big time connections on the Higher Ed committee in the state legislature. Big time. People who care about the future of SMU. I'm not saying it'll happen, but it's possible.

Im glad some one in Big D is throwing our name out there.I cringe every time i UH name on the radio down here

Rather than being "a welfare case" and hoping the Big 12 or others "ask us to join their conference....why doesn't the Mustang nation rise from the ashes with donations to the athletic department along with contacts to the news outlets around the nation that SMU is ready for the bigtime and their fans and supporters are pledgings tens or even hundreds of millions to back up their desires. That would be much more attractive than the jealousy and bad-mouthing Houston, TCU, Rice and others. The time to step up is now...tired of being second class from a first class university!

Please extrapolate on SMU's many connections on the Higher Ed committee. We're such a small school in comparison to the other major college football universities, plus half our students are from out of state. Having a law school helps, of course. Seems like in the past we've had more connections in the White House than in the state government.

My understanding is there are a lot of U of Houston alumni in the state legislature who will be pushing hard for UH's inclusion, just as they did last summer when the Big 12 was leaking water.

Dan Branch - SMU
Appropriations Chair - SMU

Better than nothing.