SMU 38 Nevada 20 We're 3-7

[Sam I Am]

I thought we would win only 2 games this year. Now we've two games in a row. The offense has found itself. I am not going to get carried away and predict a win over UTEP on the road, but we will be ocmpetitive in El Paso.

[PerunaPunch]

It's been a WACky year in the WAC. UTEP has beaten a couple of scrub teams to pad their record, but they also beat Fresno and La Tech, who pretty much dominated us. Right now they're strugglng against Rice, and they beat SJSU by 18 I believe.

So what are our chances? I like the way the team is having fun and playing with some confidence. Makes all the difference IMHO. We had some fubles and picks that went against us tonight, but rather than letting those things deflate the team (as those things have been in the past), the team consistently responded. And we won.

Any predictions? I don't think UTEP is as good as their record suggests, but they still must be a pretty solid team.

[UConn/SMU]

If I had to put a number on it, I'd say winning depends 50% on attitude and 50% on having the bigger, stronger, faster athletes. I think the program is making (slow) progress in both areas.

It was fun to sit in the cold rain/drizzle tonight and watch this game unfold. I believe we can safely say the program has bottomed out and is slowly on the way back up.

[Lamont_Cranston]

Next weekend in El Paso will not be a cakewalk. But the Mustangs have a chance. I saw heads up ball tonight. A few mental mistakes but also some clutch play making along the way, too! Keep it up, Mustangs!

Anybody know if Southwest Airlines has special fares to El Paso next weekend?

[PK]

The team is finally coming together and their maturity is starting to take hold. Like last week, this was a fun game to watch (and what part of winning wouldn't be) despite the wet weather. I wish our fans weren't such pansies...it's just a little liquid sunshine. I'm sure glad I didn't miss it. The only problem I had was trying to keep BUS from blocking my view. Next year is going to be even more fun...hope the students figure that out soon. Those empty student section seats across the way are a disgrace.

[Charleston Pony]

those are the most memorable games, i.e., the ones you sit through miserable conditions and come home feeling like a drowned rat, but when the team wins, it definitely makes for a memorable evening. I don't get to many SMU games since I'm now living 1200 miles away, so all of them are memorable...but the last time I sat through conditions like last night was the homecoming game agaist Rice in the Cotton Bowl back when Josh McCown was our QB.

Great job by those of you who came out to support the guys. You are SMU's true fans. As Copeland says in the most recent "notepad", we are a small private school and will never have the numbers of State U, but it's great to have the 1500 hard core fans we do. BTW, I thought Mustang Club membership was more than the 1,700 they were talking about at halftime last night. For some reason, I thought there were more like 3,000. Pretty sad...that 1700 represents what...maybe 2-3% of our living alumni? Let's hope this team can beat UTEP to finish really strong and that Jimmy Tubbs has a really successful 1st year and that some of SMU's "closet fans" actually start coming our again to support the program.

[jtstang]

It was nice to get another win, but the attendance was, as usual, pathetic. If anyone still believes the "official" attendace numbers are accurate, you are beyond hope--the announced "official" attendance was 10,206. I estimate there were about 3,500 in the stands last night. I still think we will squeak by the attendance requirements without going on double secret probation.

[VarsityShop]

re: BTW, I thought Mustang Club membership was more than the 1,700 they were talking about at halftime last night. For some reason, I thought there were more like 3,000. Pretty sad...that 1700 represents what...maybe 2-3% of our living alumni?

Your right Charleston Pony it is pathetic more SMU Alumni and Fans can't "Pony Up" and become members of the SMU Mustang Club! For Christ's sake you can become a member for as little as 50 bucks!

People like Stallion that gloat about they are not supporters of the Mustang Club and then Stallion sits there last night rejoicing the win. Why can't people like that help? It's a damn shame!

[jtstang]

I left the Mustang Club because of their idiotic season ticket seat assignment plan, which stuck my group of 11 season tickets on the east side of the stadium in the student section. I was ticked off that they favored the blue hairs, giving them the prime seats on the west side when they never went to the games. The only reason I joined was to improve my seat assignment, so when they couldn't do that for me, I lost my incentive. Now I pay for game tickets individually ($1 yesterday, with two cans) and sit on the 50.

[Charleston Pony]

While I continue donating at a paltry "Pony" level, I hear you, JT. As much as I complain about our lack of support for the program, it's a two edge sword. The great thing about our lack of fans is that anytime I want to come to dallas, I know I can not only get into a game, but I can get in and get a nice seat. Because of my job change, I wasn't able to make it this year, but last year I came to the UTEP game and sat at the 50 yd line in the east stands. I did pay full price, though. That's part of contributing to the program, but I don't fault anyone who shows up at any price to support the Stangs.

[Stallion]

1,700 and I'm to blame? Haven't missed a home game in 40 years which is about 25 years before Kenneth Pye decided to play Ivy League Football. Sounds to me that the SMU fans are making a pretty strong statement that they will not support SMU's decision to play Ivy League Football. People like you better spend a little longer time trying to understand why a Division 1A school has a financial support club with only 1,700 supporters. You can not remain in Division 1A without getting the support of thousands of supporters exactly like me. Fact is-as if said from Day 1- SMU will either play on an even playing field or they will drop down to Division 1AA which is fine with me if SMU is unwilling to commit to winning. Can't run a program with 1,700 supporters. The day that I feel that SMU has made a Commitment to compete on an equal playing field in Division 1A then the check will be in the mail. In fact, I've already discussed with several Mustang Club members the proposed changes that are being discussed now-. If they pass then and they have addressed the remaining obstacles to a competitive program then that day may be sooner than later and I'll be loudly touting the changes and the need to financially support the program. You may not like it-I really don't care. Either do the thousands of others that have had enough.

[PK]

I left the Mustang Club because of their idiotic season ticket seat assignment plan, which stuck my group of 11 season tickets on the east side of the stadium in the student section. I was ticked off that they favored the blue hairs, giving them the prime seats on the west side when they never went to the games. The only reason I joined was to improve my seat assignment, so when they couldn't do that for me, I lost my incentive. Now I pay for game tickets individually ($1 yesterday, with two cans) and sit on the 50.

JT, I understand you're being ticked off, but the main purpose of the Mustang Club is not seating priority. It is to finacially support the Athletic Department. Butts in the seat is obviously now an important consideration too, but the seating assignment system was put in place to encourage people to donate more and be more involved. Wish you would reconsider your position...you can still move to the empty blue hair seats, but also do more to finacially support our teams. Either way keep coming to the games...we need all our fans to show up. It was sad last night to realize how many of our fans are truely "fair weather" fans. It was their loss though, as they missed a really fun game (winning is fun!).

[Charleston Pony]

Stallion is right when he says 1700 financial supporters won't get it done if we are going to be competitive at the I-A level, unless of course each one of them is giving more than $1000/yr and several are givng at the scholarship level. I look at Clemson's IPTAY program (was originally I Pay Ten A Year but now is Thirty). They have 20,000 members (basically the number of students on campus). What does SMU have...a total of about 9-10,000 students? Hey, even if we could mirror the 5-6,000 undergraduate enrollment and have everyone contributing at least $50 it would be huge for the athletic program. I know Clemson encourages students to join at the $30 level so they can get tickets to the games (and not have to stand on the grassy hill behind the endzone). Again, if seats at Ford were hard to come by, it might make a difference in M-Club membership, but I think Stallion is right when he says more people might get interested in supporting the program if/when they see we are serious about competing at the highest levels. If that was to happen, it might not be hard at all to raise money to finish Ford Stadium and the room Bennett wants to use to entertain recruits...or to remodel Moody much faster than is likely to happen, or how about upgrading Wescott for our nationally prominent soccer programs?

[Diehard Pony]

I left the Mustang Club because of their idiotic season ticket seat assignment plan, which stuck my group of 11 season tickets on the east side of the stadium in the student section. I was ticked off that they favored the blue hairs, giving them the prime seats on the west side when they never went to the games. The only reason I joined was to improve my seat assignment, so when they couldn't do that for me, I lost my incentive. Now I pay for game tickets individually ($1 yesterday, with two cans) and sit on the 50.

JT seating priority at SMU is done just like they do it everywhere else in D-1 (one of the few things that is on a level playing field, I guess). They use a point system based on the amount donated to the Mustang Club, the number of season tickets you buy for football and basketball, and the number of years you have made contributions and bought season tickets. My understanding it is that of all these elements, the heaviest weighting is on Mustang Club donations

[PerunaPunch]

I thought the heaviest weight was the number of year you purchased tickets.