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I like that this is the 3rd different writer that covers ( or that CAN cover SMU) SMU in the DMN. We haven't had type of coverage for years.
We were so lucky that the DMN didn't show the empty bleachers this morning too!

Sefko's great to have. A benefit of the NBA disaster going on.

couch 'em wrote:Would live beer sales.......but it wouldn't boost attendance. It's a cultural problem not an alcohol problem

I would sit in the stands instead of the club if they sold beer. it would work on me.

i got along just fine with my flask the last few years before getting upstairs.

They have those plastic sacks at the liquor stores with vodka or whiskey out now that works great! its about 2.5 ounces each and you can put many of them in your pockets for friends and family alike.

By CHUCK CARLTON

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/colleg ... evancy.ece

Staff Writer

[email protected]

Published: 16 October 2011 09:36 PM
Related

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SMU Mustangs football statistics, leaders

Darius Johnson continues to rise to the occasion for Mustangs

Big East's vote to add SMU, three others could be as early as Monday

Top 25 polls: Baylor, Texas out; SMU getting votes

While realignment ushered in fear for some, all the moving parts and uncertainty equaled opportunity for SMU.

Now, the Mustangs are on the verge of achieving the big-picture goal they targeted in August. Barring a last-second snag or glitch, SMU will be one of the half-dozen schools receiving Big East bids this week, maybe as early as Monday.

The Big East is expected to vote on raising exit fees Monday and then to target expansion.

If that occurs and SMU gains membership in all sports, the Mustangs will have done much more than upgrade their conference. They will have joined a league that’s an automatic qualifier for the BCS, college football’s version of the Willie Wonka golden ticket.

Besides more conference revenue and greater media exposure, teams in AQ BCS conferences have direct access to the national title mechanism. In short, SMU football will become more relevant.

Twenty-four years after the school lost the first of two full seasons to the death penalty, SMU will be returning to big-time football.

Consecutive bowl appearances under June Jones put SMU back on the radar. Strangely, so did the ESPN 30-for-30 documentary Pony Excess on the death penalty saga. The bad — and good — of SMU’s football history got a close-up.

More than once, athletic director Steve Orsini had talked about a “lost generation” of fans who didn’t know about SMU’s football history and how good the Mustangs had been. They got a primer.

SMU will give the Big East presence in a top-five TV market. The Mustangs and Houston, which is also expected to receive a bid, should provide a Texas beachhead.

In return, SMU and the schools will give the Big East greater football stability.

SMU played the realignment game in a smart way. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with Texas A&M’s migration to the Southeastern Conference, the Aggies pursued the bid with single-minded determination.

After more than two rounds of conference realignment dating to 2010, Missouri still hasn’t learned how to get its act together.

In a meeting with The Dallas Morning News editorial board in August, SMU left no doubt about its strategy. While school president R. Gerald Turner and Orsini emphasized the Big 12, they also indicated they wanted an automatic qualifier conference, period.

They mentioned the Big East, where TCU was headed at the time. They talked about the openings realignment could create.

While other schools were coy or undecided, SMU drew national attention and headlines. No matter the improbability of a Big 12 bid, SMU was at least in the conversation. SMU was also persistent.

Texas A&M’s flirtation with the SEC made the Atlantic Coast Conference nervous, and it poached Syracuse and Pittsburgh from the Big East. When A&M eventually left, the Big 12 needed a replacement and picked TCU. The Big East was left with six football playing schools, half of the desired number.

SMU had already taken the steps to make sure it would be in the conversation.

Despite the geographic inaccuracy of the name, the Big East is a good fit. Outside of Boise State (if the Broncos join) and West Virginia, SMU can be competitive with other football members.

As athletic milestones go, this will be one that will have impact for years to come.

While other schools were coy or undecided, SMU drew national attention and headlines. No matter the improbability of a Big 12 bid, SMU was at least in the conversation. SMU was also persistent.

Worth repeating. Thank you Steve Orsini.

ponyboy wrote:

While other schools were coy or undecided, SMU drew national attention and headlines. No matter the improbability of a Big 12 bid, SMU was at least in the conversation. SMU was also persistent.

Worth repeating. Thank you Steve Orsini.

Thanks SO? Really? Where are the fans? Where are the marketing dollars? Why don't people come from the 'Vard to the game? It's too hot outside, why can't he build an indoor air conditioned stadium? Why can't he get us into the SEC? Ridiculous. All he does is sit around and play angry birds on his phone. The outrage that he would even go out into public and say we want to better our conference affiliations.

In all seriousness, he has done a wonderful job. Never could I have imagined us making the move to an AQ after all the god-awful seasons we have had over the last 10+ years.

ericdickerson4life wrote: All he does is sit around and play angry birds on his phone.

Not his fault, that's addicting.

jtstang wrote:

ericdickerson4life wrote: All he does is sit around and play angry birds on his phone.

Not his fault, that's addicting.

Shouldn't you be somewhere embracing C-USA?

I live embracing C-USA, but if the Big East deal falls through you can bet I be on here reminding everyone else to do so too.

jtstang wrote:I live embracing C-USA, but if the Big East deal falls through you can bet I be on here reminding everyone else to do so too.

Yeah, I guess I'll have to then. But many on here will just go back to their SEC crack dream.

couch 'em wrote:Would live beer sales.......but it wouldn't boost attendance. It's a cultural problem not an alcohol problem

I agree with you it is a cultural thing. Me being a parent can tell you that SMU you is a wounderful school, but not the must comfortable of atmospheres. When you come to a football game and people ask you to sit down, people come dressed like they're going out to dinner or something rather than a football game with high heels, dresses, khaki shorts and their pink shirts(and everyone on here wants to talk about uniform colors where are those colors represented in the school colors). And to top it all off the crowd that does come sits on their hands and very rarly cheers. What a welcoming football environment!!!! I sure hope all this talk is true that the fans will come out with a move to an AQ conference. I'm just speaking from a parents point of view who just happens to make 95% percent of ALL the games and get to see other schools in our conference pack their house, that play the same schools we play and aren't in a AQ conference yet.

Proud Dad10 wrote:

couch 'em wrote:Would live beer sales.......but it wouldn't boost attendance. It's a cultural problem not an alcohol problem

I agree with you it is a cultural thing. Me being a parent can tell you that SMU you is a wounderful school, but not the must comfortable of atmospheres. When you come to a football game and people ask you to sit down, people come dressed like they're going out to dinner or something rather than a football game with high heels, dresses, khaki shorts and their pink shirts(and everyone on here wants to talk about uniform colors where are those colors represented in the school colors). And to top it all off the crowd that does come sits on their hands and very rarly cheers. What a welcoming football environment!!!! I sure hope all this talk is true that the fans will come out with a move to an AQ conference. I'm just speaking from a parents point of view who just happens to make 95% percent of ALL the games and get to see other schools in our conference pack their house, that play the same schools we play and aren't in a AQ conference yet.

I agree with most of your post except other schools packing their house. I think it will take a couple of more years to have really good attendance. Moving to the Big East will help and also the kids graduating from here on out will be used to a better brand of football and be more inlcined to comes to games after graduating.

Proud Dad10 wrote:

couch 'em wrote:Would live beer sales.......but it wouldn't boost attendance. It's a cultural problem not an alcohol problem

I agree with you it is a cultural thing. Me being a parent can tell you that SMU you is a wounderful school, but not the must comfortable of atmospheres. When you come to a football game and people ask you to sit down, people come dressed like they're going out to dinner or something rather than a football game with high heels, dresses, khaki shorts and their pink shirts(and everyone on here wants to talk about uniform colors where are those colors represented in the school colors). And to top it all off the crowd that does come sits on their hands and very rarly cheers. What a welcoming football environment!!!! I sure hope all this talk is true that the fans will come out with a move to an AQ conference. I'm just speaking from a parents point of view who just happens to make 95% percent of ALL the games and get to see other schools in our conference pack their house, that play the same schools we play and aren't in a AQ conference yet.

Most schools we play all have 30K+ student bodies to draw from...

Its going to take some time, more winning, marketing, giveaways, you name it...but it will get better...

I understand the frustration, I am at most games and feel the same way, but there is a trade off for players..sure you can go and play in packed house at ECU, or USM, but you dont get one of the best degrees in hhe country and you dont get personal meetings with guys like Gerald J, or Carl Sewel.