SMU Fans Are Easily the Worst in College Football.

[Stallion]

14-6 with 12:00 in 3rd Q with a chance to beat their first Texas BCS school in 32 tries and SMU fans sit on their hands while the Baylor crowd comes alive to pull the victory out. SMU fans are just plain Division 1-AA. Has it really been so long since we been in a big game that you forgot how to support the team? Pathetic-I'm embarrassed.

[virginiapony]

You're right! We need to teach a class to all the idiots in the stands that don't know when to cheer.

ie: Baylor has the ball. Third down. Third quarter. CHEER!!!

SMU has the ball. Third down. ANY quarter. DON'T BE AS LOUD AS YOU CAN YOU IDIOT FANS!!!

AND THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BAND: LEARN THE GAME!!! DON'T PLAY THE FIGHT SONG AFTER OUR PUNT GETS BLOCKED!!! I'VE BEEN HERE FOUR YEARS AND IT'S NEVER CHANGED!!!

[No Cal Pony]

I hope that is relly not the case. I had a hard time with the game tonight. But I am thankful for duke football, although they get to make it up in basketball.

Maybe the faculty and administration have finally won? Maybe SMU has gotten so used to being lame that is okay. So very sad. Never mind about Coach Bennett. Turner, the Trustees, and everyone at the top takes blame. Hang 'em all.

I love my Ponies, but my heart sinks.

[Hoop Fan]

it is pathetic and frankly its worse than five years ago and much worse than 10 years ago. I guess not winning a truly meaningful game since the Kansas game to open Ford in 2000 will do that to an already passive fan base.

[MrMustang1965]

SMU fans are just plain Division 1-AA.

I invite you to attend a Div. 1-AA game, Stallion...hell, I'll buy your ticket! Fans of those teams are LOYAL and LOUD! Unlike a lot of SMU fans.

[regis]

Loud is one thing. Abrasive and obnoxious is another. Dare I say there are too many of the latter. You know who you are....

[couch 'em]

Pathetic-I'm embarrassed.

Pathetic is a university that hasn't given something for people to rally behind for two decades. And they wonder why nobody has loyalty to SMU. I'm embarassed to admit that I went here, whenever the topic of football comes up. Does the university not realize that a bad football team reflects badly on the whole university?

[Stallion]

you know that's 100% right but in case some of you were wondering I really am an SMU fan. Isupport the team on the field until the closing gun despite my criticsm of the school administration. We had some Tulane/LSU fans one including a young lady whose Dad played at SMU. She was standing and yelling all game and was told to sit down. I loved it she shot back and told that where they were from they were taught to support the team. She said they should be better fans-couldn't agree more-she was shocked at the pathetic fan support.

[dcpony]

Pathetic-I'm embarrassed.

Pathetic is a university that hasn't given something for people to rally behind for two decades. And they wonder why nobody has loyalty to SMU. I'm embarassed to have gone here. I wish I went to a real school.

Couch em I definitley share your frustration but you should transfer. I didn't go to SMU for the football team. I went to SMU to get an excellent education. You're an idiot if you based your decsion to go to SMU because of the football team.

[Charleston Pony]

Stallion is dead on with this one. I just don't understand. I think it has a lot to do with the "Buffy & Jodie" syndrome, i.e., too many spoiled rich kids at SMU. If we cant win...they'd prefer whine & cheese to supporting their classmates. If you don't support the team while in school, you're probably even less likely to support them after graduation.

The truth is that our lack of a quality fan base may be one of the biggest hurdles our coaches have to overcome in recruiting. Most kids know that if you go to SMU, you will play in front of family and friends unless you are contending for the championship...and I'm not convinced we could pack the house even for a championship caliber team.

Last time I remember a crowd at Ford rising to the occasion was the gaol line stand against Kansas 9-2-2000 (of course I will admit I don't make the 1200 mile trip to attend many games). I was proud of the noise we made that night and will always remember the woman in front of me glaring at me for whistling as she covered her ears. She wasn't happy about having to stand up and exert any energy that 107 degree night.

[PonySnob]

Stallion is dead on with this one. I just don't understand. I think it has a lot to do with the "Buffy & Jodie" syndrome, i.e., too many spoiled rich kids at SMU. If we cant win...they'd prefer whine & cheese to supporting their classmates. If you don't support the team while in school, you're probably even less likely to support them after graduation.

How many schools have had one winnning season since 1989 and regularly pack their stadium? The problem is that SMU is not committed to playing Div 1 football. How is it that TCU can go to Norman and beat OU and yet every team that has a long winless streak of somesort, always has it end against SMU. It appears that once again, SMU has hired a coach that is not a D-1 headcoach as this team did not look any better than the team of Cavan players that Bennett inherited when he came to the Hilltop.

[Roach]

Stallion is only partly dead-on. I also am amazed week in and week out at the quiet crowds at the times when the team most needs a loud swell of enthusiasm. When I stand up and scream, some fans actually look at me like I'm crazy or I'm distracting them from a nap.

However ....

Before the game, I went down to The Boulevard to visit with friends (and donate to the Red Cross fundraiser). I was standing there talking to an old fraternity brother who I hadn't seen in years when a few dozen Tulane football players walked up The Boulevard. SMU fans applauded and cheered. I got chills. If you'd seen the looks on some of the Tulane guys' faces, you would have felt the same way. The Tulane guys clearly appreciate the way SMU has offered its help, but some of them looked stunned that our fans were cheering for them. One guy had tears rolling down his cheeks. I saw several fans invite the Tulane players over to sample some of their tailgating food, etc. The fans treated those young men like they were our own.

I hope that when we play the Green Wave Sept. 24, EVERY PonyFan gives those young men a standing ovation. Sports will never change what that school and the surrounding community have gone through, but merely concentrating on football has to be tough for those guys. I want the Ponies to win, of course, but I want Tulane to finish second in the conference.

As annoyed as I was with the lack of noise in Ford Stadium, I was extremely proud of the PonyFans yesterday.

[Charleston Pony]

PonySnob: I assume you are young. ask anyone who was around when SMU fielded quality teams and they will tell you our fan support was still weak. And yes, there are other schools who support losers better than we do. I've been blown away at the support South Carolina has for it's football program, which in their history has won only one conference championship and has a losing record overall. I watched them sell out every home game in a season where they went 0-11. Admittedly, they have perhaps the best fan support of any program in the country and that's why a guy like Spurrier was willing to risk his legacy with them. If SMU had more fan support, my guess is that recruiting would have gone a little better and we wouldn't be as sorry as we are today. It's not the whole problem...that's for sure...but it remains a big part of SMU's problem. Actually, your "handle" probably says all that needs to be said.

[Roach]

.... this team did not look any better than the team of Cavan players that Bennett inherited when he came to the Hilltop.

Oh please. I'm as disappointed as you are that we lost, but you can't look at this team and say it's not growing, in terms of the athletes on the roster. In Coach Bennett's first year, we would have been killed by Baylor. Yesterday, we did a lot of things wrong and still almost won. Yesterday was a perfect example of how we still need to get bigger, not just more mature (well, both, actually.) Baylor was not a good team yesterday, but simply wore us down at the end. That's it. When both teams were fresh, we were the better team, and made a few mistakes that kept us from taking a big lead early. I would even contend that we have more talent, overall, than Baylor, or at least equal talent. Our defensive line played its collective heart out yesterday, but when they kept rolling out the 300-pounders and banging away with Mosley, our front got worn down. That was the game. Our passing game was on the blink, we had a couple of turnovers, and we still had chances. I'm thrilled with the athleticism and speed (hello, Jessie Henderson!) that Coach Bennett has recruited in recent years, but we need to collect some more Chase Smiths and David Allisons and players of that ilk .... and that size.

[MrMustang1965]

I had the pleasure of meeting Tulane's head coach and several asst. coaches yesterday at Special Delivery's tailgate party. Nice guys and very appreciative. I also met a few football players. All of them were very gracious.

I also found out that some of the sororities on campus have invited the Tulane football team to their houses for dinner in the next couple of weeks. That's nice.

Just wondering: have the sororities at SMU ever invited their own SMU FOOTBALL TEAM to their houses for dinner!!!!!???? Or does it take a catastrophe of Biblical proportions for that to happen?

I'm gonna get this off my chest, too...walking down The Boulevard yesterday was like being on Harry Hines Blvd. Maybe it's 'in fashion' to look like a two-bit slut these days. A lot of the co-eds I saw looked like they were cruising for a two-dollar job. Disgusting. It's not the 'family atmosphere' that I particularly care to bring my 12-year old stepdaughters to anymore nor their friends.

That's my two cents worth...because I'm getting so disgusted with things at SMU that I'm beginning to wonder why I even give a damn anymore.