New AD Notepad - Please Read

[Water Pony]

I agree that the status quo and the BCS' Golden Rule ("he who has the Gold rules"), needs to be challenged.

Wish we were speaking from a position of strength. Kudos to Tulane for challenging it, but the concessions to date are baby steps.

[Charleston Pony]

I really don't see the 15k attendance requirement as a problem. I assume we will draw close to 30k for TTech this year, leaving only about 45k needed for the other 4 home dates. Homecoming should pull close to half that number, so the usual palty crowds or the rest of the schedule will get us to the 15k.

By next year, this team will be much more competitive and should have no problem averaging 15k, although I don't foresee any difficulty buying a ticket at Ford on gameday.

As for the JUCO issue, I really don't think we will ever see SMU using half it's roster spots for JUCOs. Being a private school, we don't have the degree options that the public schools have and that will always put SMU at a disadvantage. The fact is that our pool of recruits will always be lower than our public counterparts. It appears things have been relaxed enough that Bennett can at least go out and address critical shortcomings, as he did with the QB position this year. The main area the JUCO issue hurts us in on the OL and DL. We've been getting killed in the trenches the past several years as our 18-19 yr olds line up againt 21-22 yr old guys. As BUS says, it's critical in this year's recruiting class that we bring in more beef to develop as redshirts and be ready to play by their 3rd year in the program.

A couple of wins are critical this year to keep everyone believing it will get done.

[RGV Pony]

I found Bennett's WAC press conference interesting with regard to admission standards, admin. support, and JUCOs. He outright stated that he didn't see SMU ever being heavily laden with JUCOs...mainly skill positions, an OL here or a DL there. What's more, he didn't say that this position was because of tough admission standards...in fact, he asserted that SMU is now level with nearly everyone. If that is the case, there's a lot of room for optimism.

[PonySnob]

What's wrong with making our admission policies more along the lines of what TCU uses? They seem to get much better caliber athletes, win more games in one year than we can in 3 or 4 seasons. In addition, they avg well over 30K per home game and that number is not inflated by playing Big 12 teams that fill 80% of the stadium.

[Mustangs35SMU]

PonySnob....get this in your head.......WE ARENT FREAKIN TCU!

[EastStang]

I saw a few midweek games at TCU on television. They sure had a lot of people masquerading as empty seats. An East Carolina game at AMC looked like a year end game at Ford. EMPTY. They use tickets purchased just like SMU used to do for years. They have had larger crowds recently, but nothing like 30,000 average BIS. Last year they had pretty good crowds because they were undefeated until the played USM. If they lose to TT early watch for them to have much smaller crowds this year.

[PonySnob]

Yes, I know that we are not TCU and while I am very glad about that on a lot of things. However, it is somewhat disturbing how a school very similar to SMU can make a true committment to fielding a competitive football team that wins games, is ranked in the top 25, and goes to bowl game after bowl game and yet all SMU fans ever get is "wait until next year". The SMU faithful have been waiting now for almost 15 years after football started back on the Hilltop and yet and everybody can be hopeful for is 1 or 2 wins. WE WON THAT MANY GAMES IN 1989! What is TCU doing that is so wrong that SMU can't do the same so that the few fans remaining can be proud of the team when it is on the field not just in the classroom. Even UNT has been able to establish their program so that their fans expect to win more games than they will lose and go to bowl games - unlike many SMU fans who are once again hoping for 2 or 3 wins and waiting until next year. There cannot be anymore waiting, the time to start winning is now as this program is definately on life support and it's only a matter of time until the plug has to be pulled!

[Mustangs35SMU]

Can I be the one to pull the plug on you?!

[jtstang]

The SMU faithful have been waiting now for almost 15 years after football started back on the Hilltop and yet and everybody can be hopeful for is 1 or 2 wins. WE WON THAT MANY GAMES IN 1989!

Great point--in fact we won more in '89 than last year.

[KnuckleStang]

JT, I don't see what's so "great" about that "point." Any SMU fan knows our record in 1989. We beat two I-AA teams (NTSU may have been newly D-1, I don't remember, but they freakin' blew at the time). The UConn win was by 1 or 2 points on the last play of the game. It is an apples-and-oranges proposition to compare last year's team (as bad as it was) with a team with 80-some freshmen on it. If we had played VMI or Prairie View A&M last year, sure, we would have beat them. In any event, please don't encourage Ponysnob. You, I can handle. That boy gives me a headache.

[PonySnob]

A win over Prairie View or VMI would not have been a sure thing the way this team played last year, with the exception of KK.

[jtstang]

Okay, but only because I like your website. Ya'll should all come down for a game and try to book a gig somewhere close so we can check out the band.

[KnuckleStang]

Will do, JT. Last two years, we've only been able to make the trip to SMU separately. But when we do, prepare to be horrified, and don't say I didn't warn you.

[Mustangs35SMU]

A win over Prairie View or VMI would not have been a sure thing the way this team played last year, with the exception of KK.

Did you go to any games last year?! Cause if you did you would know that our team was better than 0-12...

[jtstang]

Will do, JT. Last two years, we've only been able to make the trip to SMU separately. But when we do, prepare to be horrified, and don't say I didn't warn you.

Looking foreward to it. Incidentally, congrats on the Hizza. Surely recognition like that will get you a steady stream of Safeway openings for the next three months.