Conf. USA Media poll

[jkflamebo]

Predicted Order of Finish

East
1. UCF 65
2. Southern Miss 52
3. Memphis 43
4. Marshall 35
5. UAB 28
6. East Carolina 25

West
1. Tulsa 61
2. UTEP 60
3. Houston 55
4. SMU 39
5. Tulane 20
6. Rice 17

[SMU Football Blog]

I haven't seen one publication that lists the order any differently-SMU 4th in the West.

Pay attention to the rankings in the East. What to the top three have in common with each other and the bottom three have in common with each other? None of the top three have SMU on their schedule.

If Bennett is going to get it done, this is the year. SMU has a week nonconference schedule and plays the three weakest teams in the east.

[that's great raplh]

didn't preseason polls have tennessee ranked 3rd last year?

oh, that's right - pre-season polls don't mean a thing

[LakeHighlandsPony]

UTEP looked awful against us last year. I don't get that one.

[MrMustang1965]

UTEP looked awful against us last year. I don't get that one.

How about...SMU KICKED THEIR A**!!!!

[DiamondM75]

...and our preseason expected record last year was 1-10 and last in the West.

[MustangIcon]

I believe that is actually the CUSA Coaches Poll.

To be honest, SMU is ranked right where we should be in the pre season poll. Tulsa won the west last year. UTEP and UH both return senior QBs who have been for the most part very succesfull in their career and both potential longshot Heisman candidates this season (although we dominated both of them last year!!!). We should be ranked 4th in the West, but I could easily see us finishing above that and beating out one or more of those 3 teams.

Blog, I think you make a great point about our schedule. Tulane, Rice, Ark St. and N. Texas are all probably considered to be in the bottom 20% of D1-A. Sam Houston is D1-AA and would be considerd to be even less competitive than those teams listed above (apologies MM65). Then I would say that ECU, Marshall and UAB would certainly not be considerd much better than us. Thats not even looking at the fact that we have Tulsa and UH at home this year. Not to be too super sunshiney this early in the week, but I think we will be favored in more games than we will be underdogs. I am not sure if we have been able to say that in a while, even if we do have a very weak schedule.

[LakeHighlandsPony]

I would rather go into the season with opposing coaches having a low opinion of us than the pre-season favorites.

[Roach]

I believe that is actually the CUSA Coaches Poll....

That's true, although in some cases, coaches have a staff member or their sports information director vote for them. I don't know how many, if any, C-USA coaches do that, but that might be the case here. Hard to say.

The fact that DeMyron Martin, Justin Rogers, Adrian Haywood and Joe Sturdivant -- or at least some combination thereof -- aren't on this list is shameful. Not saying all should be on there, but I find it hard to believe that none of them made the list.

[EastStang]

Didn't the same coaches pick UAB and UTEP to win their divisions last year? Just checking?

[Sam I Am]

Compared to last year, SMU has gained a measure of respect in the pre-season poll. This year I look for us to win against the lower teamsn, and maybe win a game against a higher team. This is a 7-4 year if we just play according to form without any wishful thinking.

[ALEX LIFESON]

We play 12 games this year!!!!!!!!!!!

[SoCal_Pony]

We play 12 games this year!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, but one is in New Orleans during Hurricane season. Maybe Sam was including the Katrina Factor

[PonyPride]

Dude, that's pretty dark.