Not the coaching, it is the scheduling

[Billy Joe]

Non-conference schedule way too hard. Next year's is brutal too. We must ease up on the non-conference schedule. It does more harm than good playing BCS teams that have had bulit in advantages over us for 20 plus years. We should be 3-1 going into conference play and not 1-3. Team morale is low and fans are already losing interest. Attendance will be much lower with a team with a losing record midway through the season than a team with a winning record. People in the AD's office that are responsible for this mess should be fired or kicked really hard in the groin area.

[RE Tycoon]

The favorite argument of JJ apologist's. Why don't you "fans" man up and have some pride in playing relevant teams. If we ever hope to be relevant ourselves, we need to play and beat these teams. Avoiding quality teams is not the path to where we want to be.

[SMUer]

I bet if we dropped to FCS we'd be 4-0!

[Stallion]

He's RIGHT the Schedule was too tough because the recruiting was too POOR over the last 4-5 years . TCU on the other hand has 70% winning percentage against BCS schools over more than a decade. TCU recruits BCS level talent and has for 14 years now-SMU does not. It starts with the recruiting-and that's where June Jones has failed despite an incredibly easier admission policy

[Treadway21]

Yes make OOC schedule easier with teams no one in Dallas wants to watch. Great idea. The good news is by playing TCU, Baylor, and A and M is that we really know how far away we are from being a top 25 team. We had a reality check and it is not pretty.

[SMU 86]

Yes make OOC schedule easier with teams no one in Dallas wants to watch. Great idea. The good news is by playing TCU, Baylor, and A and M is that we really know how far away we are from being a top 25 team. We had a reality check and it is not pretty.

We have to think wins more than attendance. JJ did say on TXA 21 that the job of the AD is to get the team to 4-0 in OOC.

[GiddyUp]

catch 22 - scheduling is done years in advance. I imagine Copeland thinking was attendance at that time over wins.

Certainly needs to lighten up and drop A&M for next year at least. Play TCU and UNT, then NM State or Ark State, something like that. Texas State would probably beat us.

[PK]

We have to think wins more than attendance.

But it is the attendance that has JJ upset. Wins for the sake of winning is meaningless if no one gives a [deleted] about who we are beating. JJ needs to man up and hit the recruiting trail looking for BCS quality players.

JJ did say on TXA 21 that the job of the AD is to get the team to 4-0 in OOC.

Silly me...I thought that was the coach's job.

[RGV Pony]

Yeah, just think of that poor coach at ULM and the hell he has been through this year with that murderers row schedule.

[Vitale]

Acknowledging the strength of schedule has nothing to do with being an "apologist" any more than disagreeing with comments about the schedule automatically make someone a "hater." They're opinions.

What is not a matter of opinion is that the Mustangs are exactly where many felt before the season that they would be at this point: 1-3. I did, and was concerned about the possibility of 0-4. By all accounts, Baylor, A&M and TCU all should have won, considering the level of each program. Sure, SMU could have won one or more of those games, but it would have taken an exceptional performance and probably a few mistakes by the opponent. That's not bashing June or GG or Zach or Peruna or the band or anyone else. It is what it is. The team is better than it was, and not as good as we want it to be. We hoped we'd win more than one game at this point, but not many of us expected it. I didn't.

Beat UTEP!

[Treadway21]

Yes make OOC schedule easier with teams no one in Dallas wants to watch. Great idea. The good news is by playing TCU, Baylor, and A and M is that we really know how far away we are from being a top 25 team. We had a reality check and it is not pretty.

We have to think wins more than attendance. JJ did say on TXA 21 that the job of the AD is to get the team to 4-0 in OOC.

It isn't just attendance it's relevance. Agree with Giddyup and drop A and M especially going into a tougher Big East, but we need to play teams Dallas cares about (and our fan base cares about) to increase visibility to the casual fans. No one cares about us beating Tulane and Rice or really even Houston. They do care about us competing with A and M, Baylor, and TCU.

[redpony]

JJ commented that he expected to be 2-2 at this time. Obviously he felt we could beat one of the BCS teams.

[Rebel10]

Acknowledging the strength of schedule has nothing to do with being an "apologist" any more than disagreeing with comments about the schedule automatically make someone a "hater." They're opinions.

What is not a matter of opinion is that the Mustangs are exactly where many felt before the season that they would be at this point: 1-3. I did, and was concerned about the possibility of 0-4. By all accounts, Baylor, A&M and TCU all should have won, considering the level of each program. Sure, SMU could have won one or more of those games, but it would have taken an exceptional performance and probably a few mistakes by the opponent. That's not bashing June or GG or Zach or Peruna or the band or anyone else. It is what it is. The team is better than it was, and not as good as we want it to be. We hoped we'd win more than one game at this point, but not many of us expected it. I didn't.

Beat UTEP!

It is not so much that we lost the games it more of how we lost the games. You sound like that Ikus poster and other JJ to the death supporters.

[SMU 86]

He's RIGHT the Schedule was too tough because the recruiting was too POOR over the last 4-5 years . TCU on the other hand has 70% winning percentage against BCS schools over more than a decade. TCU recruits BCS level talent and has for 14 years now-SMU does not. It starts with the recruiting-and that's where June Jones has failed despite an incredibly easier admission policy

Sure JJ does go after under the radar players so we have to manufacture wins by scheduling to that talent level. Then maybe schedule one decent team with 2 week break before we play them. That would always get us 3-1 or 4-0 in OOC. Then you only have to win 2 or 3 conference games and you are in a bowl. We have to schedule OOC game more towards our recruiting than attendance. Scheduling for attendance did not do anything for us this year. In fact it hurt more than it helped. Again, we need to schedule to manufacture OOC wins.

[Samurai Stang]

Yes make OOC schedule easier with teams no one in Dallas wants to watch. Great idea. The good news is by playing TCU, Baylor, and A and M is that we really know how far away we are from being a top 25 team. We had a reality check and it is not pretty.

We have to think wins more than attendance. JJ did say on TXA 21 that the job of the AD is to get the team to 4-0 in OOC.

Yes! And similarly, the conference schedule is too difficult. Competing against CUSA teams is too much to ask of any coach. For maximum results, SMU should drop directly to Division III.

At last, SMU has a coach who is open about wanting to win with minimal effort on his part. As loyal supporters, it would be wrong to expect anything more.