Montana State announcing SMU added to 2013 schedule

[mrydel]

Did you catch the post on their board saying that Dickerson is their guest speaker at their spring banquet?

[couch 'em]

Gotta give some respect to a town named Booze-Man

[tristatecoog]

Solid financial hit by SMU to make this move. Must be trying to get one more win to be bowl eligible. Risky move if you don't get six wins. BU would take this so they can schedule a one and done or two for one in Waco. They get a greater chance of win too and more revenue. Aggy isn't giving up a high chance at a win and a HOME game -- big payday.

Hope Ponies get six wins. Montana State is a much worse draw than BU for that game and potentially for season tickets or game plans.

[mrydel]

That is also the name of one of Arkansas' US Senators. A good conservative against whom I played high school football.

[horsemanx]

Solid financial hit by SMU to make this move. Must be trying to get one more win to be bowl eligible. Risky move if you don't get six wins. BU would take this so they can schedule a one and done or two for one in Waco. They get a greater chance of win too and more revenue. Aggy isn't giving up a high chance at a win and a HOME game -- big payday.

Hope Ponies get six wins. Montana State is a much worse draw than BU for that game and potentially for season tickets or game plans.

Yeah. If this gets us from five to six wins it's worth it.

If it gets us from three to four wins it's a disaster.

[Treadway21]

We just lost 10-15k in attendance with this move.

[Stallion]

12-17k with high side probability.

15,000
$65 tickets, parking and concessions per ticket(guesstimate-could be higher for premium game)
--------------------
$975,000 plus any buyout of NDSU ($100,000)

[East Coast Mustang]

I was pissed at first but now I get why we did it. You need one or two (at least) easy Ws on your schedule, unless you're in the Sun Belt. Going 0-4 to start the season would not have been good and put us in a real bind going into BE play.

[East Coast Mustang]

That's assuming, of course, that MSU is an "easy W"

[Mustangs35SMU]

That's assuming, of course, that MSU is an "easy W"

We're coming off a season that involved a loss to Tulane.......there is no easy W (unless the game is in Hawaii of course).

[CenTXpony]

"I was [deleted] at first but now I get why we did it. You need one or two (at least) easy Ws on your schedule, unless you're in the Sun Belt. Going 0-4 to start the season would not have been good and put us in a real bind going into BE play." ECM

I agree with the idea of dropping one of the 4 non conference games for a "sure win," however I really wish that it would have been A&M that we were dropping and adding a Texas based I-AA team, or someone like UNT as well. (I know it was out of our hands concerning the A&M game).

However, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to schedule 2 major conference bottom dwellers (someone like Kansas, Colorado, Boston College, Illinois, etc.) TCU (a quality opponent), and a lower level Texas school (Texas State, UNT, UTSA, SHSU). Assuming we pulled out W's in 3 of those 4 (wishful thinking), I think would catch the attention of recruits, and attract a few more fans because it's an opponent from a major conference. Not saying that would be the ultimate solution, however I think it could be a step for long run improvement. I think it would be a tough but manageable schedule, not too weak but not too strong. I think we all can agree that scheduling the Aggies, Bears, Techies, and such bring much higher attendance to Ford, but I don't think getting humiliated by them necessarily helps in the long run. If we were to actually beat teams like A&M, Baylor, or Tech then sure it would pay immediate dividends, but I truly believe getting slaughtered by them unveils where we're really at and deters recruit's interest. I think if we can beat a few teams from AQ conferences year in and year out (even though they're teams that don't make bowl games) then we'd see noticeable improvement each year, though it wouldn't be the immediate improvement that many of us want, I still believe that route would get us to where we want to be quicker as opposed to gettin walloped by the big dogs early in the season, and finishing 7-5, 6-6, or any record that's around the .500 mark. Once we can do that, then schedule stronger opponents and try to duke it out with them. Many of you may think it's cowardly, but how many times do we need to get our faces smashed before we have brain damage?

[Mustangsabu]

Wow this is BS why of all the teams did we cut Baylor... Hell if we cut the aggies we would have a better chance at a better record and we could of had more home games since those are the only games we can win... I bet no one but a measly 5k fans at the most shows up to this game...

We cut Baylor because we couldn't cut A&M. We have the best shot at Texas Tech, and TCU is our rivalry game. All this moaning and feigning outrage. It makes sense. If we couldn't drop the Aggies this was the only way to go.

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[West Coast Johnny]

How much is this costing SMU? Every season ticket holder got a $15 credit ($150,000). You have to pay Montana State for a one & done ($450,000). How many fans would Baylor bring to Ford? 15,000 fans at $50 per butt-in-seat = $750,000 - total cost of this financial boondogle of $1.35 million? What about next year when season ticket holders who got treated to the bait & switch are asked to "pony" up again....

[PK]

How much is this costing SMU? Every season ticket holder got a $15 credit ($150,000). You have to pay Montana State for a one & done ($450,000). How many fans would Baylor bring to Ford? 15,000 fans at $50 per butt-in-seat = $750,000 - total cost of this financial boondogle of $1.35 million? What about next year when season ticket holders who got treated to the bait & switch are asked to "pony" up again....

Ahhhh...but the coach is happy.

[East Coast Mustang]

not to mention how much more we could stand to lose if MSU is our sixth win and makes us bowl eligible...how much did we lose on Hawaii Bowl last year, any figures?