PonyFans.com

Are SMU fans and in particular worst in the country?

We talk about it year in and year out...nothing changes...

Sunny 70 degree afternoon
2:30 Kick
Coming off big win
Good opponent
Striking distance of 1st Place
Student "Bar Platform"
Dickerson Bobbleheads

and no one shows up?

Student platform has now officially backfired due to LESS STUDENTS showing up. I counted 22 fans at start of 2nd half.

I am not sure that these sorry students and fans would show up if we were 8-0 heading into HC game vs. Houston.

I give up --- JOKE.

Maybe we could try playing consistent, exciting, competitive football several seasons in a row...
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SMUer wrote:Maybe we could try playing consistent, exciting, competitive football several seasons in a row...
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Get out of here with that reasonable thinking. This fan base should be rabid and every home game should be a sell out despite getting killed every week for 30 years.

We aren't the worst but there is a ZERO chance we ever follow TCU to the P5-it ain't EVER happening and the biggest difference is the lack of a fanbase

I would argue the few true fans SMU has are actually among the better fan bases in all of college football. We've now played 30 seasons since the death penalty with very little true success in that time frame, yet we still have a football base of about 8,000 who support the program. If any other school had suffered through the misery we have in that time frame, they would likely be drawing the same kind of numbers.

Rather than term this SMU FANS, the question should be whether SMU students and alumni as a whole are among the most disinterested in the country and even that is hard to say. As an example and for a simple comparison of numbers...SMU has about 11,000 students whereas UCF now has 68,000. Relatively speaking, SMU puts 10,000 in the stands so UCF (by the most simple comparison) should draw at least 60,000 (they don't always fill their 42,000 seat stadium and that's for a program that hasn't lost in 2 years). I know UCF has a lot of commuters so maybe not a fair comparison, but I'm just arguing that size matters. Could play that same game with plenty of the larger public schools.

There are plenty of schools our size that out support SMU in football, but there are others who show as poorly as we do, so I would argue we are not the WORST, but we are definitely at the lower level of support for this program. I've always thought TCU is a fair comparison and as Stallion points out, they simply smoked us at what was a critical time so we now pay the price for our administration's short sightedness.

Considering SMU's management of the football program since the death penalty, I think we probably have the best fans in the country. And I'm serious. Athletic programs are like products that manufacturers sell, you make a bad product and no one's going to buy it.

Out of curiosity, when was the last time Rick Hart talked or met with students from SMU about things they could do to get them to the stadium? I've never heard of him going and speaking to student organizations or meeting with greek life to get their opinions or things they'd like to see from our sports, and I graduated in 2016 and went to all the football and basketball games. I know Mustang 11 used to get to throw out their suggestions, but their suggestions are different from other organizations. And it makes a big difference when you can voice your suggestions to the man in charge, rather than his 10th person down the line.

Remember the innovative and aggressive, ticket campaign SMU employed for this season.......neither do I.

When I was there, students went to support their classmates, dorm mates, and friends. No need for special attention or invitations.

The outside community is an entirely different animal, but the students should be going to support their friends. My goodness, it is 3 hours out of a week.

I overhear SMU students ridiculing the football team more than supporting it.

That’s a shame. Wish they understood the effort being put in regardless of results.

mrydel wrote:That’s a shame. Wish they understood the effort being put in regardless of results.

My freshman and Sophopmore years, I lived in the dorm where most of the Freshman football players lived. They made life more hell than pleasent. They didn't do anything to interact with anyone besides girls and they were loudly obnoxious like they were hot s**t cause they played football. On Multiple occasions, they all got kicked out of the dorms during finals week because they would be up til 4am partying and yelling. I went to games because I liked football, not because they deserved my support.

Charleston Pony wrote:I would argue the few true fans SMU has are actually among the better fan bases in all of college football. We've now played 30 seasons since the death penalty with very little true success in that time frame, yet we still have a football base of about 8,000 who support the program. If any other school had suffered through the misery we have in that time frame, they would likely be drawing the same kind of numbers.

Best comparison:

Rice has suffered through pretty much the same misery as we did in terms of bowl drought - escalating bad conference membership, etc. (as well as NCAA tourney drought) and the 1-8 Owls of CUSA are outdrawing SMU playing UAB, Prarie View, and UTSA (though I don't really trust their numbers)

ALEX LIFESON wrote:Remember the innovative and aggressive, ticket campaign SMU employed for this season.......neither do I.

Billboards
Radio
Bobbleheads
Stables
Stables w/food and a DJ

All but Stables mostly Brad Thomas & privately funded. Stables privately funded.

The goal was 25000 per outside of HBU. 700 HS band students rsvp'd & expected for band day turned into what looked like 250. TCU, Navy should've been low bars. As SMT said, 26,000 dist last week.

The better answer, I think, would be that no resources or effort are being put in. Alarmingly, both are/were and the outcome is the outcome. Weather didn't help the first two, and I guess there is an inverse correlation between how many dogs one sees on the Blvd (ie great weather) and attendance in the stadium.

SMUer wrote:Maybe we could try playing consistent, exciting, competitive football several seasons in a row...

Just keep waiting....this is all supposed to happen in 2-3 years!

Look...here is an article from 2000 alluding to all the good things just around the corner!

https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/horse-play/