The Sad Truth

[Nacho]

beware of trolls

[SoCal_Pony]

Lol. Independent?! Now I've heard it all. It comes down to this:

Small school, terrible attendance, no national appeal or even regional appeal.

Major conferences will not see past this.

SMT, didn't YOU propose SMU go independent last year?, either way, I can't see it.

I do agree that this time its different and therefore stakes are enormously high. If Baylor, K-State and the like go BCS and we are left with the NTSU and Ark St of the world, IMO it is over for SMU football. They would not be able to draw 8,000. I for one would certainly never go.

I once told Turner this. While Ford was under construction I said 'If you don't change the Model, how will it feel presiding over a $60M mausoleum?'

[reddevil]

I think the other issue is Texas Recruiting. If you want to recruit in Texas do you want to play games in Lubbock and Waco, or Dallas, Ft. Worth and Houston? Obviously games against UT are hyped all over the state, but if UT is not on the menu, why would you choose TT or Baylor over SMU or UH? I think that is why Baylor, TT, ISU are having hissy fits right now. UT looks at TT as the annoying little brother who cries, "can I play, too". Baylor and ISU have no real reason for AQ status. It all depends on what conferences are expanding, how much they expand and what their goals are. We may end up in the only second tier conference with the likes of Baylor, ISU, UH, AFA, Boise, UTEP, Memphis, Tulsa, USM, UCF, and ECU. And if TT is homeless add them and take out UTEP.

No schools are getting kicked out of the AQ club in order to accept schools that are currently not members of an AQ conference.

[SoCal_Pony]

I think the other issue is Texas Recruiting. If you want to recruit in Texas do you want to play games in Lubbock and Waco, or Dallas, Ft. Worth and Houston? Obviously games against UT are hyped all over the state, but if UT is not on the menu, why would you choose TT or Baylor over SMU or UH? I think that is why Baylor, TT, ISU are having hissy fits right now. UT looks at TT as the annoying little brother who cries, "can I play, too". Baylor and ISU have no real reason for AQ status. It all depends on what conferences are expanding, how much they expand and what their goals are. We may end up in the only second tier conference with the likes of Baylor, ISU, UH, AFA, Boise, UTEP, Memphis, Tulsa, USM, UCF, and ECU. And if TT is homeless add them and take out UTEP.

No schools are getting kicked out of the AQ club in order to accept schools that are currently not members of an AQ conference.

Do we know this to be a fact? What if SMU and Baylor got into a bidding war. Even W. knew where to place the winning bet.

[reddevil]

I think the other issue is Texas Recruiting. If you want to recruit in Texas do you want to play games in Lubbock and Waco, or Dallas, Ft. Worth and Houston? Obviously games against UT are hyped all over the state, but if UT is not on the menu, why would you choose TT or Baylor over SMU or UH? I think that is why Baylor, TT, ISU are having hissy fits right now. UT looks at TT as the annoying little brother who cries, "can I play, too". Baylor and ISU have no real reason for AQ status. It all depends on what conferences are expanding, how much they expand and what their goals are. We may end up in the only second tier conference with the likes of Baylor, ISU, UH, AFA, Boise, UTEP, Memphis, Tulsa, USM, UCF, and ECU. And if TT is homeless add them and take out UTEP.

No schools are getting kicked out of the AQ club in order to accept schools that are currently not members of an AQ conference.

I can't see a conference kicking someone out of conference, but don't think for 1 second that SMU wouldn't come out on top of Baylor if they were on equal footing (which is where BU will be when the Big 12 crumbles).

Let's not pretend that this is a Baylor v. SMU contest. If the Big 12 crumbles, Baylor has a lot of worries and could be in a worse position than us.