Herman Challenges UH Fans

[SoCal_Pony]

That is simply not the case.

I was at Texas Stadium in 1983? when we played Rice.

We were probably a Top 10 team in the Nation, had already had multiple years of Pony Express success and I doubt there were even 25,000 fans in attendance on that nice fall day.

So winning alone (and we are talking G5, not P5 level winning) did not guarantee butts in the seats back then, so I can't see how one would say it would now.

[Stallion]

in 1984 playing against Arkansas at Texas Stadium for a Co-SWC Championship on the last weekend of the season after being the Winningest program in the Country over a 5 year period SMU drew a little more than 28,000

[Pony81]

I too attended the games Stallion mentions and they were about half full.
so we didn't draw at the height of our success.

So my hope is that the casual fan didn't want to hassle with going to Texas Stadium, fight traffic and have the bad sight lines of Texas Stadium.

So my hope - and it my be a case where hope triumphs experience - is that the BLVD creates a good vibe that will bring people in and the smaller more intimate stadium will make the atmosphere much more electric. Like Moody. Put our crowds in AAC and it's a yawner. So I hope a smaller collegiate stadium and atmosphere will trump the pro stadium.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

It's hard to compare the 80s and today. The sports landscape is totally different.

Let's start winning 10 games a season and see what happens.

[Pony Boss]

It's hard to compare the 80s and today. The sports landscape is totally different.

Let's start winning 10 games a season and see what happens.

Thank you. Was about done with reading these comparisons about what happened 35 years ago. SMU was way smaller back then too, right? How did TCU and Baylor draw in those years? And not a fair comparison since TCU had their stadium at home.

[Pony Boss]

Look at it proportionally. How many students did SMU have in the 80s? 2,000-3,000? That's rice level, and that 28,000 is great if the school was that small.

[whitwiki]

Also Dallas was smaller

[Charleston Pony]

Look at it proportionally. How many students did SMU have in the 80s? 2,000-3,000? That's rice level, and that 28,000 is great if the school was that small.

enrollment was similar in the 80's to what it is today. Those numbers dropped after the death penalty and have been coming back slowly since that time. Our reality is that we are a small private school with a small local alumni base and with the competition for entertainment dollars in DFW we may never be able to fill a larger venue than Ford. I do think the additional on campus housing will help improve student attendance and hopefully alumni support in the future, but it will be years/generations before SMU realizes those benefits attendance wise

[Charleston Pony]

Look at it proportionally. How many students did SMU have in the 80s? 2,000-3,000? That's rice level, and that 28,000 is great if the school was that small.

enrollment was similar in the 80's to what it is today. Those numbers dropped after the death penalty and have been coming back slowly since that time. Our reality is that we are a small private school with a small local alumni base and with the competition for entertainment dollars in DFW we may never be able to fill a larger venue than Ford. I do think the additional on campus housing will help improve student attendance and hopefully alumni support in the future, but it will be years/generations before SMU realizes those benefits attendance wise

[Pony Boss]

So you're trying to tell me SMU's college football product will always be inferior to every other entertainment option on the DFW metroplex on any given Saturday. And TCU can fill up theirs with 45k every Saturday even against Iowa State, being in the same metro area, with a similar size of alumni and student base. Okay, that makes sense...

[Pony Boss]

It just doesn't make sense to me, you are all making it seem as if SMU is this special case and can never be as appealing. I doubt Chad Morris left his gravy train of a job in Clemson to come to a forever inferior product, with a 20,000 fanbase limit, that will never be P5, and will never win more than a lower tier bowl. Career suicide is what that seems. Just asking the questions no one seems to be asking...I get that things have been a certain way forever, but doesn't mean they always will be. Bet you anything tcu and baylor never were as appealing as they are now. Never filled a stadium with more than 30k of their fans until now. Again, don't buy that SMU football will always be an inferior option.

[Stallion]

What we are saying is that SMU fans and students are apathetic about college football

There have been studies that count the percentage of student body attendance in recent years that I posted on ponyfans that show that TCU and Baylor are in the Top 10 in the country in percentage of student body in attendance. I don't know what it is-I suspect it has a lot to do with the fact that a lot of SMU students are not from Texas or didn't grow up following either the school they eventually attended or even Texas football. In the past TCU and especially Baylor had a lot more Texans in their student body and they also benefit from the Baptist church connection

[Pony Boss]

What we are saying is that SMU fans and students are apathetic about college football

There have been studies that count the percentage of student body attendance in recent years that I posted on ponyfans that show that TCU and Baylor are in the Top 10 in the country in percentage of student body in attendance. I don't know what it is-I suspect it has a lot to do with the fact that a lot of SMU students are not from Texas or didn't grow up following either the school they eventually attended or even Texas football. In the past TCU and especially Baylor had a lot more Texans in their student body and they also benefit from the Baptist church connection

Apathetic about college football would mean they don't follow SEC or Big 12 teams either. Did they take into account the horrible period of suckage and bottom 10 football from 1989-2008?

[Stallion]

This is old (2006) but kind of more interesting because it was BEFORE TCU was in Big 12 and before Baylor reemerged as a strong program-this is a 50 year problem for SMU-and apathetic student result in apathetic alumni

Percentage of Student Body Attendance:
SMU 13%
Baylor 44%
TCU 58%

http://www.smudailycampus.com/news/smu- ... attendance

Go to a Baylor opener and watch the Baylor Line (freshman) its amazing. Go to a TCU game and compare the student section which stretches almost the entire length of the east side bottom bowl to SMU's student section even adjusting for a marginal size difference

[Pony Boss]

Excerpt from Stallion's link proving my point. Sucky football = sucky attendance...

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Some SMU students prefer to follow other football teams.

“If Oklahoma’s playing a Top 25 team, I’m watching the Oklahoma game on TV. If it’s anyone else, I’m at the SMU football games,” said sophomore Casey Wolf.

Some students point to SMU’s lack of success as a factor for low attendance, but Chase explained his side.

“It’s kind of disheartening for all of the football team,” he said.

“We’re working so hard to get better and it seems like no one’s behind us,” he added. Chase gave as an example the Marshall game two weeks ago. Going into the game SMU was 4-3, the best record the team had seen early in the season since receiving the death penalty from the NCAA in 1987.
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