For folks upset with the nonconference schedule...

[jtstang]

Good lord folks, we ARE the cupcake now! That's why Arkansas State wants to play us. Whatever this scheduling will do to our already poor attendance will take care of itself.

Whoever said the attendance rule has been revoked is wrong, and we'll be lucky if its not enforced to push us out of Div 1 in the next couple years. As some of you are fond of whining about the death penalty, it won't be the first time the NCAA has "selectively" enforced its rules against little old SMU.

[Dooby]

I think Stallion is right in that this is an age deal. I don't care if we beat ASU. Yes- we played some cupcakes in the past. It didn't matter as much because we thought of TCU and Rice as breathers on a schedule with Ark, UT, A&M, Houston, TT and, yes, even Baylor who was pretty good then. Now we play those cupcakes as part of our conference or regular schedule and you guys think that is too tough. Please don't make me play those tough old Owls and Frogs. They are among the elite of football.That speaks volumes about who attends SMU today and their expectations for sports. We are going to "excuse" ourselves to D-2.

Losing and the fact that nobody goes to our games is what is going to bounce us out of Div. 1-A. Ark. State is 1-A, which is a fact people keep on this board seem to be forgeting. Losing by 30 to OSU says nothing; beating another Div. 1-A program at least says something.

I get the feeling you are talking down to me. What a waste of time. I do not take responsibility for the fact that we stink. I only admit that we do stink, which seems awfully hard for some people here to admit. Two years ago, we didn't win a single game. People need to come to terms with that.

Not to praise what our neghbors to the West did too much, but they had a plan. They were in a bad conference and they lost miserably in it. They went and got a good coach and they scheduled soft IN THEIR BAD CONFERENCE (what a coincidence that they scheduled Arkansas State). They got some wins and got to a bad bowl. They got some more wins and kept going to bowl games and managed to get into a better conference. They kept it up, and had what appears to be the only real problem with scheduling soft, which is it hurt their bowl rankings. That is a problem, I would like to have. I don't know why what is good for other schools is too good for SMU. Maybe if we got some wins, we could get out of this conference, too.

[gostangs]

From one who is old enough to remember the SWC glory days - I think Dooby is dead on correct here. Not to say we should not also continue taking action to play on an equal playing field regarding recruiting/admissions. It is not either or Stallion, - it is both - I think you can look at those same relatively newly successful programs and see that they responded to what was needed on recruiting/admissions, as well as soften their schedule.

I don't care what OP and Stallion think - this is the right way to go for now, and even if it is not at least we are trying something, instead of the same old 0-4 september. Put yourself in the shoes of a coach trying to sell SMU to an 18 year old - they don't give a flip about 1983 - when you can point to wins to show progress that is when they will listen and start coming to SMU.

[Stallion]

Its simply wrong to state that TCU turned their program around simply playing an easy schedule. They made definite commitments across the board and in all sports. TCU made the exact COMMITMENTS SMU refused to make-the ones I've been pointing out here for 6 years. Is this the new excuse? Can't lay it on Cavan or Dement so now the schedule with teams like Tulsa, TCU, Rice, UH, ECU, UTEP, UCF, San Jose, Nevada and Tulane is just too much for our little Ponies. I call [deleted]! I've already said I don't care if we play an extra cupcake in 2006 but this ain't K-State or Arkansas and SMU doesn't have the same reasons or benefits from playing those games. SMU will not get huge paydays playing these games because of large season ticket bases- it will erode the desire of the alumni to buy season tickets and it WILL LIKELY get a coach fired in the future. In addition, replacing the TCU's, BUs, TT and A&Ms with ASU, TSU or other bottom dwellers will hurt our chances to recruit top talent. Playing these games routinely will result in more 5,000 real attendance figures that all that go to the games know exist. Any recruit that sees that will immediately cross SMU off his list if he sees that. Go ahead and do it in 2006 maybe even in 2007-as I've said Dooby at least 5 times-but SMU fans will generally not support these games PERIOD. Plus they are simply unneccessary since our schedule is already a walk in the park. If College Football at SMU has been reduced to any more SMU/Cal-Northridge games in front of 4,000 friends and family just go ahead and put a Howitzer to my head and pull the trigger.

[OldPony]

Let me give you a real disaster scenario. We lose to ASU. Then where do you go to scedule a W. I'm sure many of you don't care what the old guys think. Next time you're at a game though , look to see how many of the few die hards in the stands are gray.
What we are saying is that if you think Rice is a good team (either sport), then we are doomed to failure. Go 4-0 against ASU's of the world and see how much respect it gets you. It would probably land you in the ESPN bottowm 10 for scheduling those teams. If Bennett is really recruiting as well as UNT, TCU or Rice, is that too tough of a schedule to play? ASU and their ilk does nothing for attendance, nothing for respect and nothing for morale.

[me@smu]

Hate to point it out, but we already reside in ESPN's bottom 10 and have for the past few years. I don't really think there are too many teams that we can point to and say it is an easy W for us anymore.

You know maybe ASU is the exact level of talent that we need to play for the next few years and hopefully with some wins, we will recruit the talent to take on the next rung up.

As for attendance, I think the diehards will be slightly put off by scheduling easier teams, we don't need to worry about them, they won't leave the team or they wouldn't be called "diehards". The average student and fan will be far more intrigued by a program that wins period. Look at teams like LSU - no offense to arkansas state, but ASU was scheduled to be an easy win. And attendance at that game was still 90k despite the fact that every person walking into that stadium knew who would win.

[Dooby]

To everybody: Well, duh.

If we lose to Ark. State (ASU is Arizona State), we are in deep doodoo. But that won't make us a worse team, it will only show how bad we really are. But at the same time, losing to OSU, has the opposite problem- it doesn't show how good we are. And again, confidence-building is worth something.

Stallion, I know what TCU did. I grew up in Fort Worth and probably spend more time there today than everyone else on this board put together. They raised money; they spent money; they made the right decisions. And to use Stallion's favorite punchline, "They were committed." None of which could be said of SMU.

No one is going to keep supporting this team if it keeps losing, no matter who we play. We do not field a football team solely to provide an easy metroplex game for OSU or Texas Tech and collect gate receipts.

I keep pointing out that SJSU blows and they have no local fan base. Yet, somehow it was the second most attended game after TT. If people won't stand for playing the likes of Arkansas State, why did they show up for SJSU? Because it was the second home game of the year and people were not yet sick of losing. This seems to be a great paradox that the attendance-hawks cannot comprehend. Call me crazy, but I think losing has an affect on attendance.

I would love for you to find the post where I said scheduling Ark. State would lead to TCU-like success. I only pointed out in this thread that (i) other division 1-A head coaches that turned their programs around gave this advice and were quoted as such in the DMN; and (ii) listed several programs that we are in the same conference with or are our rivals that have also scheduled Sunbelt competition and/or I-AA teams and hten went to bowl games.

And another thing, which nobody here seems to want to mention: Bennett wants these games. Plain and simple. We know Copeland didn't originally; we had Northwestern and Wake Forest on the schedule and 18 months ago he talked about scheduling UT. Our coach wants them, so he gets them.

We need the administration to do all of the things necessary to make this a good football program again. Some of those things have been done. Some are yet to be done. This is one of those items that must be done, in my opinion.

[Dooby]

And another thing, this really is the stupidest debate on this forum since the Josh McCown thing that went on for 6 pages. If we aproach that, I am gonna borrow Stallion's howitzer when he's finished.

[OldPony]

You're right Dooby. Its a stupid debate. BTW- Your post was the longest(:

[Dooby]

You're right Dooby. Its a stupid debate. BTW- Your post was the longest(:

And that means I am the winner.

[youngalumpony]

I completely agree with your argument Dooby, but I don't think this is a stupid or unimportant issue for this program right now, we need to put games on the nonconference schedule early that we can win, or at least one or two, so we can actually know what its like to win going into conference play. At least next year's nonconference is better than its been in awhile, because Baylor at home is at least a winnable game, and a game the team really needs to come out strong in. BTW Stallion, I don't think the fact that you're old and I was 3 the last time SMU won a conference title and went bowling qualifies me as a "little turd," but if it does I'm glad to be one.

[gostangs]

Sorry Dooby - i agree with you on this isse (and so, apparently, does Stallion if you read what he is really saying), but if post size determined the winner, Mean Green Gem would have won every debate on the board, which is clearly not the case.

[BrianTinBigD]

Some important things to keep in mind:

If Arkansas won a national championship then according to the NCAA we are 3 time champions. http://www.ncaa.org/champadmin/ia_football_past_champs.html#NCF
Jonesboro State Technical College is a D1 program. It may be one of the most pathetic D1 schools around, but it is still D1.

Where can we go from Jonesboro State Technical & Beauty College? Division 1-AA is where the really easy wins are. Look out Columbia!!!

Dooby's wife realizes that after the 1st tailgate of the year, it is all down hill. Plus the ugly "Sand Aggie, go back to your Trailer Incident" in 2004 was the absolute highlight of the year for her.

Dooby's wife also realizes that she is just not enough woman to compete with Big Kathy.

Plano football sux. However, if you could combine Plano with East and West then nobody would even know who Southlake Carroll is.

Nickel Beer night is an idea that is not past its prime. You want big crowds? You want the student body to turn out? You want Greek participation? You want the support of the Metroplex? Bring back this long lost promotion.

Schedule as many patsies as we can get. Baptist U, NTSU, Fort Worth State, and Jonesboro State Prison, Technical & Beauty College are all toss ups right now. We need Prairie View A&M(Not Texas A&M), TWU(not NTSU), UTA just as soon as they decide to start up their program, and Dallas Madison or some other guaranteed win. Maybe a game with a Division 2 NAIA school. Then if we squeeze a few wins out of conference we can have a winning record.

Bowl Eligible? Tell me who on this board is looking forward to a trip to Shreveport, Mobile, Detroit, Boise, Charlotte, or Fort Worth for some lamea** bowl. We get good enough to play in the Holiday Bowl or some bowl in Hawaii or Florida then I am in.

Now that I have ranted for a while and scattershot all over this fine thread, I will now head off to bed knowing that I have wasted a few minutes of your life that you will never get back.

Dooby if you are still paying attention to this post tell Jason we have a road trip to plan on 9/17/05.

Long Live Blackie Sherrod!