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I'd love to add UTEP as an quasi-annual out of conference game. They bring a good crowd here and there. They would love games in state, AND we might be competitive against them. They are probably the one WAC school I will miss the most.

Of course, Bennett wants to knock the little froggies off future schedules.

If Bennett wants to knock TCU off of the schedule because he knows that SMU can't beat them, should SMU not also stop playing Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and at the moment all of the other teams that we play?

No because there is no way-and I'm serious that we would meet NCAA Minimum attendance standards without those games.

Stallion is right, plus, as we improve and our teams beats Big 12 competition, this strength of schedule will help accelerate our progress. We have to improve the hard way, "earn it".

:showoff:

Bennett came in here saying he wanted to play two Big XII teams every year because it will help in recruiting and will provide a measuring stick to determine how our "talent" matches up with those we'd like to compete against. If and when we reach a level where those games with TTech, OSU and TCU are toss-ups, we will be able to say we've arrived.

The other side of the equation, as Stallion points out, is that we need to retain our I-A status and that means averaging 15k butts in seats. As long as we are fielding uncompetitive teams, we won't get those numbers in the WAC or in CUSA because in both leagues, we are pretty much dependent on our own fans showing up in those numbers. Nobody in the WAC or CUSA travels in significant numbers (Marshall does, but they are too far from Dallas and won't be coming but once every 4 yrs). Playing TCU and Big XII teams is critical because we need to offset those 7-10,000 crowds that show for all too many of our conference games.

All this dependance on visiting team fan support is meaningless if, god forbid, we actually managed to string a few winning seasons together. Call me crazy, but I'd like to think we could average 15,000 if we won consistently. In fact, I'd be embarassed if we didn't. Of course, there aren't exactly a lot of teams we could point to and say they are "wins" waiting to happen right now.

historically, at least during the "modern" era of SMU football, we've shown we can draw close to 20,000 fans to watch a winning product. I'm confident that if Bennett can put together a team that competes for CUSA championships, we could sellout Ford for meaningful games and do no worse than "around 20k" no matter who we played. We had close to 20k this year for UTEP and that was a respectable crowd in Ford.

We had maybe 12,000 for UTEP.

I recall that we had something like 25-28,000 for Navy last year at our first game of the season.

And what about the rumor that Conference USA wants to permit Army and Navy to play four games a year with the private schools in the conference while qualifying for bowl consideration? Great idea! It will improve attendance, TV exposure and offer a great, recurring rivalry for Tulane, Rice, Tulsa and SMU.

:thumbupcool:

its Ken Pye's dream come true-The Conference of Low Expectations which is where this program is headed. SMU, Tulsa, Rice, Tulane, Navy and Army WOW!

<small>[ 11-07-2003, 06:53 PM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>