SAM HOUSTON STATE v SMU - PREDICTIONS?

[westexSMU]

Hey, enough said about SHSU.....Our 1st opponent TEXAS TECH scored 80 against SHSU last year. I just hope Coach doesn't start talking about beating Tech to the press like he did before the A$M game. Instead, we just need to shut up and be ready to play.

[Sam_Houston]

Tickets are now on sale for Sam Houston State fans for the Bearkats' game against the Mustangs. Get ready, Ponies. We're bringing a LOT of Sam Houston State fans to Ford Stadium in September! We're looking forward to it! It'll be a sea of bright orange (not the burnt variety!) on the visitor's side! At least ya'll cut us a better deal on ticket prices than the 'Horns did! Sheesh!

Here's the official news release from the Sam Houston State web site. By the way, nice pic of Ford Stadium on our web site, too! Any idea which game that picture was taken at? Looks like it was a sellout crowd!

http://www.gobearkats.com/athletics/road_tickets.html

June 28, 2006

Orders for tickets in the Sam Houston State section at both the Bearkats' road games against NCAA Division I-A opponents SMU and Texas are now being accepted by the SHSU athletic department.

In order to sit in the Sam Houston State section at both contests, tickets must be purchased through the Bearkat athletic department. There will be a $5 handling fee for each order.

Tickets for the Sam Houston State-SMU game on Saturday, Sept. 16, are $15 each. The game will be played at Gerald J. Ford Stadium on the SMU campus in Dallas. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Tickets for the SHSU-University of Texas game on Saturday, Sept. 30, are $45 each. The game will be played at Darrell Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Kickoff time has not yet been announced.

For more information or to place your ticket order, contact the Sam Houston State athletic department at (936) 294-1729 or contact the Bearkat ticket office by email

[ALEX LIFESON]

I hope you guy's bring 15,000!

[MrMustang1965]

I hope you guy's bring 15,000!

Alex: that's almost HALF of Ford Stadium! Will the Mustang faithful fill the other half?

[smu diamond m]

15000 people? That's a friggin' bunch. I'll just have to yell that much louder

[ALEX LIFESON]

That would leave 17,000 seats for SMU fans to fill. How many times have we put 17,000 actual butts in there?

[mrydel]

That would leave 17,000 seats for SMU fans to fill. How many times have we put 17,000 actual butts in there?

Not since smoking was allowed.

[Sam_Houston]

I've taken the liberty of copying a post from meeks82 at www.katfans.com about SMU's attendance woes. Will anyone on this board confirm or refute this information?

meeks' post:

SMU's attendance figures largely trended downward until the final game of the season against UTEP. The largest crowds were in the games against TCU and Baylor. That's not a real surprise since both schools are fairly close to Dallas. The conference attendance figures probably represent the most accurate trend of attendance by SMU fans. I looked up the numbers on their website and they averaged 18360 overall. If I remember correctly, that's not too much higher than the I-A threshold. It's at least in the danger zone. In conference the average was significantly lower at 14957, only about 5000 above our own 9632. I think the Rice game's attendance figures were probably boosted by their fans coming up to Dallas for the game. I only say this because SMU was at their low point of the season coming into that game with a 2-6 (1-4) record. As far as comparing the attendances of their road games with their home games, only Houston could match their low figures. I know the Houston game is just one game, but it would not be naive to infer from that game's attendance that SMU also does not travel well. I know that our campus is closer to UH, but the attendance for our game against them beat the SMU game by about 1000 and I'd say at least a third of the crowd was wearing orange, maybe even as much as 40% if I remember correctly. It's not like they just didn't show up this year because of a bad team. They're used to having a losing program at SMU and last year's team was one of the best teams they've had in quite some time, finishing with a stellar 5-6 (4-4) record. I think our attendance figures would probably have been much close to SMU's if we had batted .500 in conference play last season. I think it's interesting that the Baylor game brought in 7000 more than did the TCU game. Even though the Baylor game was the season opener, more should have come out for the TCU game. I mean they are SMU's rival. If at anytime in the future, SMU drops down to I-AA, they would surely be welcome in Southland. Our next school to make the move up to I-A should be Texas State, who averaged 12875 last season (including playoffs). That's still probably a while off but Houston and SMU would both be welcome in Southland and it just might come to that. In case anyone is interested, here are the official numbers of SMU, SHSU and Texas State.

2005 SMU Mustangs 5-6 (4-4)
DATE--------------OPPONENT---------W/L---SCORE-----ATTEND
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sep 03, 2005-----BAYLOR--------------L-----23-28------29538
Sep 10, 2005-----TCU------------------W----21-10------22416
Sep 17, 2005-----@ Texas A&M------- L------8-66------75128
*Sep 24, 2005-----TULANE--------------L-----10-31------15681
*Oct 01, 2005-----@ Marshall-----------L---13-16(OT)---25218
*Oct 08, 2005-----@ UAB---------------W---- 28-27------23255
*Oct 15, 2005-----ECU------------------L------17-24------11715
*Oct 22, 2005-----@ Tulsa--------------L------13-20------22502
*Nov 05, 2005---- RICE----------------W-----27-7--------15236
*Nov 19, 2005-----Houston-------------W-----29-24 14650
*Nov 26, 2005-----UTEP----------------W-----40-27------17194
* denotes conference game

2005 Sam Houston State Bearkats 3-7 (2-4)
Opponent.........................Date.........Score...........Att.
Bacone...........................9/1............W 77-7...........8,177
@Houston....................... 9/10...........L 10-31........15,631
@Texas Tech...................9/17...........L 21-80........50,180
Missouri St......................9/24...........Canceled
Northwestern St..............10/8............L 6-10.........10,610
@Nicholls St....................10/15..........L 17-37..........1,137
Stephen F. Austin............10/20..........W 52-24.......11,052
@McNeese St..................10/29..........L 26-31..........9,631
Southeastern LA. ............11/5...........W 35-18.........7,235
@Northern Colo. .............11/12.........L 3-24............5,424
@TxSt-San Marcos...........11/19.........L 23-26*......15,226
*overtime

2005 Texas State Bobcats 11-3 (5-1)
Sep 03, 2005.....DELTA STATE..................W 32-25...........10014
Sep 10, 2005.....SOUTHERN UTAH.............W 34-0.............10002
Sep 22, 2005.....at Texas A&M..................L 31-44...........72741
Oct 01, 2005.....SOUTH DAKOTA STATE.....W 42-12...........12781
Oct 08, 2005.....at Southeastern La. ..........W 30-15..........6374
Oct 15, 2005.....OKLA. PANHANDLE ST. .....W 75-7............13787
Oct 22, 2005.....#22 NWLA........................W 31-16..........13852
Oct 29, 2005.....at Nicholls.........................L 29-32 OT......3865
Nov 05, 2005.....MCNEESE STATE..............W 49-7............11904
Nov 12, 2005....at Stephen F. Austin..........W 38-21...........8779
Nov 19, 2005.....SAM HOUSTON STATE......W 26-23 OT.......15288
I-AA Playoffs:
Nov 26, 2005.....#6 GEORGIA SOUTHERN...W 50-35..........10000
Dec 03, 2005.....#10 CAL POLY..................W 14-7............15411
Dec 09, 2005.....#7 Northern Iowa..............L 37-40 OT.......15712

Notice the Nicholls State games. Only 1137 showed up against SHSU and 3865 showed up for Texas State. That's pretty pathetic, especially considering that they were a playoff team last year. Can somebody please explain why they are still I-AA or at least still in our conference. We can't have dead weight like that dragging us down and tarnishing our reputation. Besides, they're usually not competitive in any sport. Their athletic department's budget is significantly lower than the rest of the conference.
The requirements to become or remain I-A is an average of actual or paid attendance of 15000. To remain I-A, a school cannot average below 15000 for two consecutive seasons. I think that under the old requirements, schools would be placed on a ten year probationary period if they failed to meet the requirements in consecutive season. If at any time in the ten year probationary period a school again failed to meet the requirements, they would lose their I-A status. I'm not sure if the probationary period is still in effect or if it's just cut and dry. In any case, SMU is safe for now, as they met the 15k requirement. Houston and Rice did not. They appealed to the NCAA for an exemption due to the impact of Hurricane Rita, but apparently the NCAA has no bylaws to award an exemption for that particular circumstance.

"b. Waivers of Division I Bylaw 20.9.6.3 – Division I-A Football Attendance Requirements. The subcommittee engaged in a lengthy discussion regarding requests for relief of Bylaw 20.9.6.3 from the University of Houston and Rice University. The subcommittee considered the effects of multiple hurricanes with regard to each institution’s ability to meet the Division I-A football attendance requirement. The subcommittee noted that no current legislative waiver provision exists for such relief, but that both institutions may remain in compliance with Division I-A football attendance requirements by averaging 15,000 in actual or paid football attendance during the 2006-07 academic year. Further, the subcommittee agreed to continue to monitor each institution’s progress and also agreed to consider similar requests next year, if necessary, provided any request for relief includes additional historical information demonstrating the direct impact of the hurricanes on football attendance."

http://www1.ncaa.org/membership/governa ... ership.htm

See ya'll in September!!!

[ALEX LIFESON]

Blah blah blah! just bring a bunch of ticket buying folks! have a good one.

[SMU Football Blog]

[mrydel]

11,715 for ECU seems inflated.

[smu diamond m]

I think he is being a bit asinine if he seriously think we will be going to DIAA, and put Texas State in our place. We have attendance issues, that's obvious, but we still bring in 6k more than Tx St. That's a lot of bodies, and hopefully this year will help attendance greatly.

[Sam_Houston]

Just some of what we're bringing to Dallas on Sept. 16. Looking forward to playing the Mustangs!

2006 All-Southland Conference Preseason Football Teams Released

SHSU's representatives are Lance Hancock in the offensive line, Blake Martin at tight end and defensive lineman David Branch. All three were voted to the first-team.

Hancock (6-5, 290) is an Academic All-Southland pick two years in a row with 3.18 grade point average. He has started 31 games for the Bearkats during the past three seasons at offensive tackle. Last year as a junior, he started all 10 games at offensive tackle, blocking for an attack that ranked third in the SLC in passing yardage.

Branch (6-2, 265) is a three-year letterman who has totaled 108 tackles during his career. He was named All-SLC honorable mention after starting every game and leading the Bearkats in tackles for loss (13) and sacks (7) as a junior in 2005.

Martin (6-2, 236) was a solid performer at tight end who was one of the Bearkats' top receivers last season. As a sophomore, he started seven games and ranked third on the squad in receiving with 25 catches for 268 yards.

[FordtoTolbert]

If SAM brings 250, I will be stunned.

[Sam_Houston]

If SAM brings 250, I will be stunned.

Hope you've got your smelling salts.