Hey Look there are all 1.800 SMUFans that Give a [deleted]

[SMU_Alumni11]

I agree with you Stallion. That is why I always advocate for keeping the coach, whether it is PB, JJ, MD, etc. We have the coach we deserve as a fan base. If our bowls are minor league they are at least AAA, whereas our minor league fans are A if not rookie league. Everyone here says that if we start regularly beating our non-conference opponents that Dallas and our fans will care, but history proves otherwise and I am still not convinced anything will change. On that token I do not that fans in general are fairly stupid and there is usually a significant lag time between results on the field and butts in the seats. Win big and the next year or two the fans will show up even if you start losing. Start winning and the fans will not show up until subsequent seasons.

What history shows that we actually beat a real team that matters? Didnt someone post that the average team we have beaten is worst than us which is bascially 108th team in the nation... yeah thats really going to drive fans. Had we beaten AM and TCU Baylor last year and beat our conference I guarantee you we would have fans in red and blue filling the stands against the tech game... of course we would lose them all after the butt pounding players got from these past 4 games...

[RepublicanPNY]

Give TCU 10 + years of losing and a few years of mediocrity with JJ then tell me how well they travel. I'm a loyal fan but I didn't make the trip to Fort Worth because I knew we were going to lose. I don't like wasting my time to likely see another fan base celebrate at my teams expense.

As consumers we have options and the product on the field has not warranted blind support. I didn't go to basketball games in the past because I didn't see a serious commitment to winning. Now that we're signing 4 & 5 star players I'll be there.

[Junior]

we were supposed to be 1-3 right now. we're 1-3 right now. let's panic after next week, not this week.

[SMUer]

Try 20+ years of vomit-football then then 4+ years of pathetic offense, terrible fundamental football. Couple that with an Admin. that seems in no hurry to go anywhere fast. Add a sprinkle of some of the most embarrassing moments a fan can endure ("all out", ineptitude at the 1 yard line at Rice, losing to winless TCU to miss bowl, backwards-rolling onside kick, etc). THEN see how well they travel. Those of you who were fans in the 1990s are saints. YOU deserve the statue, not June.

[East Coast Mustang]

If it were a later kcikoff there would have been a lot more SMU fans. Getting our fanbase up and awake at 9am and getting them over to Ft Worth is asking a lot

[SMUer]

We only have ~15,000 actual fans...out of about 40,000 Dallas SMU alumni (pretty good really). Only about 10% of those showed up for a 11am game, on a day it was supposed to rain, when there was little hope we'd win. I'm not surprised at the numbers. If we had non-alumni, Dallas fans that embraced, that total would be doubled or tripled and everything would look okay. As it is, Dallas doesn't give a f@!k about SMU...so it's up to the loyal 15,000. I think it's a lot asking +50% of those fans to show up for a game like last weekend. It's a beat-down to pay $50 to watch your team get bludgeoned at 11am, in the rain. I went, but I'm a glutton for SMU punishment.

[ponyinNC]

We only have ~15,000 actual fans...out of about 40,000 Dallas SMU alumni (pretty good really). Only about 10% of those showed up for a 11am game, on a day it was supposed to rain, when there was little hope we'd win. I'm not surprised at the numbers. If we had non-alumni, Dallas fans that embraced, that total would be doubled or tripled and everything would look okay. As it is, Dallas doesn't give a f@!k about SMU...so it's up to the loyal 15,000. I think it's a lot asking +50% of those fans to show up for a game like last weekend. It's a beat-down to pay $50 to watch your team get bludgeoned at 11am, in the rain. I went, but I'm a glutton for SMU punishment.

if you're not going to give the people a good product to watch with a real chance to win every game, you cannot be offended when the people do not show up. Period.

SMU'er - I was like you for the last ten years - a glutton for SMU punishment. Road games in the rain against Navy - they beat us soundly without even throwing a pass. Away games at Kyle Field trying to talk smack with the Aggie fans that knew they would cream us that day. I watched our basketball team play Stanford in the NIT back in the Sasser days ( we lost by a lot!) Etc.

Then my daughter was born this year - and I haven't spent as much time watching the games or traveling. When the game is over in the first half, as it was against TAMU - I simply changed the channel. Or played with my daughter. Or went out for a walk. Same thing in the second half against TCU. I simply watched the UCF - USC game instead (it was way better).

I feel like this is happening to more and more SMU alumni. If you can't give me a REASON to watch or at least a reason to care, why should I even bother??

[malonish]

I turned the channel (Closed the internet stream ) for the first time. I see myself doing that more often in the future.

[PonySnob]

I enjoyed the game on TV..........

[Stallion]

which is why SMU will soon be locked out of Big Time College Football. There are all kinds of excuses for SMU fans -some even good excuse- but those excuses won't make a difference when the music stops. There is just not a strong football culture among SMU's alumni, friends and families

[smusportspage]

which is why SMU will soon be locked out of Big Time College Football. There are all kinds of excuses for SMU fans -some even good excuse- but those excuses won't make a difference when the music stops. There is just not a strong football culture among SMU's alumni, friends and families

Totally agree Stallion. Now, let's fix it. I am not so sure firing the present coach helps all that much. It would be a change for sure. Just not sure if Coach Saban came here it would even be enough. Given the current landscape, could he and his posse recruit the athletes to come to SMU that we desire? I think it is a tough sell in more ways than one.

[LakeHighlandsPony]

I remember when Pat Sullivan was coach at TCU and they were getting stomped week after week. TCU fans do not travel when they suck either.

[ponyinNC]

which is why SMU will soon be locked out of Big Time College Football. There are all kinds of excuses for SMU fans -some even good excuse- but those excuses won't make a difference when the music stops. There is just not a strong football culture among SMU's alumni, friends and families

It may be a chicken or the egg scenario - honestly, which comes first? The attendance, or the winning?

I think you can make an argument either way - but in reality, winning MUST come first. You get people invested in your program by winning. Consistent winning. Then people believe in your team. Then more people come out , more casual fans. Winning and attendance beget more winning and greater attendance.

Stallion is right - our problem lies in the fact that we have, on the whole, too many disinterested students/alumni. But why is that?? Oh yes, because we haven't WON in 25 years. We are still new to this whole bowl thing, this whole 6-7 wins thing.

We need to win first. That is it - plain and simple.

[PlanoStang]

Why should SMU fans care enough to support a program that doesn't try?

Give us a break

How old are you 12

[Lebanese4Life]

we were supposed to be 1-3 right now. we're 1-3 right now. let's panic after next week, not this week.

God i hate when people say that.

were we expected to get blasted in all three losses too?