Our two old buddies are close to the top

[mrydel]

I heard they are going to Starkville

[lwjr]

So is Game Day going to Waco. No. 3 Baylor v. No 9 TCU or is GameDay really just the SEC Game of the Week for third straight week. Auburn at Mississippi St.?

SEC network = ESPN

[AusTxPony]

Why do we keep asking WHY? For Baylor, it's coaching period. They enjoyed BCS status/money for years yet couldn't succeed. For TCU, it's coaching and entrance into the P5. We had the coach for several years, yet didn't have the cajones to fire him after he left us for ASU. Give us a coach of Briles caliber and the cache of Big 12, then we should be right there as well, faster than Baylor was. This new head coach can be our answer to them. We have the opportunity to play in the access bowl (granted being better than many more teams than TCU and Baylor) if this new coach can match up with Briles and Fatterson. It can be done but the margin of error is razor thin.

[Big12Mustang]

So is Game Day going to Waco. No. 3 Baylor v. No 9 TCU or is GameDay really just the SEC Game of the Week for third straight week. Auburn at Mississippi St.?

If not in Waco it would be in Dallas for Texas OU

[mrydel]

It is in Starkville

[East Coast Mustang]

So is Game Day going to Waco. No. 3 Baylor v. No 9 TCU or is GameDay really just the SEC Game of the Week for third straight week. Auburn at Mississippi St.?

If not in Waco it would be in Dallas for Texas OU

How dense are you?

#2 at #3 in Starkville.

[ALEX LIFESON]

No doubt that our Imperial President see's what has happened at TCU and Baylor, I just fear he won't do what is necessary. In his 19 years, ZERO football and basketball championships.....ZERO.

[SMU89]

No doubt that our Imperial President see's what has happened at TCU and Baylor, I just fear he won't do what is necessary. In his 19 years, ZERO football and basketball championships.....ZERO.

Assuming no repeats, only 19 schools can make that claim. Think be in top 25.....or how many times in those years bottom 10?

[East Coast Mustang]

Turner deserves blame for the state of the football program from when he took over in '95 until the hiring of Jones in 2008. He is not an impediment now. Our alumni are still willing to pay top dollar (relative to the rest of our conference mates) for a coach who can get us to the top of the AAC and in contention for Top 25 rankings.

Also, basketball is just a little over a month away

[DFW2012]

It's infuriating to see Baylor and TCU, two teams that were just barely less miserable than us in the mid and late 90s, somehow both top 10 teams in a power 5 league while we're the butt of jokes. The winner of that game is likely (still lots of season left though) to win the Big 12 and maybe play in the Playoff. We'll be lucky to win 2 games. And we're in a downward spiral?

IMO, as long as Turner is here, we'll never take the steps required to become competitive in football. He doesn't see the dividends football success can pay (ask TCU, whose applications and rankings have sky rocketed in the past 5-7 years) and who has rebuilt literally their entire campus. Turner has done a great job at academics and fundraising, but imagine how much better it would be if we were just good at football and getting the kind of exposure Baylor and TCU get? He's never going to do what it takes to be competitive.

/rant

[Big12Mustang]

So is Game Day going to Waco. No. 3 Baylor v. No 9 TCU or is GameDay really just the SEC Game of the Week for third straight week. Auburn at Mississippi St.?

If not in Waco it would be in Dallas for Texas OU

How dense are you?

#2 at #3 in Starkville.

If you are going to insult me, why reply? You just love bullying on people.

[GoMustAAngs2007]

It's infuriating to see Baylor and TCU, two teams that were just barely less miserable than us in the mid and late 90s, somehow both top 10 teams in a power 5 league while we're the butt of jokes. The winner of that game is likely (still lots of season left though) to win the Big 12 and maybe play in the Playoff. We'll be lucky to win 2 games. And we're in a downward spiral?

IMO, as long as Turner is here, we'll never take the steps required to become competitive in football. He doesn't see the dividends football success can pay (ask TCU, whose applications and rankings have sky rocketed in the past 5-7 years) and who has rebuilt literally their entire campus. Turner has done a great job at academics and fundraising, but imagine how much better it would be if we were just good at football and getting the kind of exposure Baylor and TCU get? He's never going to do what it takes to be competitive.

/rant

I am neutral on Turner as he inherited a huge mess of an athletic department and has done a great job with fundraising. However, I agree on your last point about applications, rankings, and exposure. I will count myself among the "end gamers" who do not see this ending well for SMU if these trends continue. It may take a while, but think of it this way - with the amount of exposure Baylor and TCU are getting from Big XII and top 25 football, which will happen first - SMU catching Duke in the academic rankings or Baylor and TCU catching up to SMU?

Unless we become world beaters in basketball over the next decade, I would bet on the latter.