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casper's ideal schedule- SHSU, UTSA, Tex. St., Trinity U. (in S.A.), denton school for the stupid, Austin college, Abilene CC., UT- arlington, and SFA. All just a bus trip away. He could dramatically reduce expenses and the CofC would not need to help fund a coach- we could just have 'student' coaches or alternate years with a coaching staff selected from ponyfans.

No expectations, no prestige and we can then watch all of our old conference mates on TV on Sat. instead of going to the blvd.

redpony wrote:casper's ideal schedule- SHSU, UTSA, Tex. St., Trinity U. (in S.A.), denton school for the stupid, Austin college, Abilene CC., UT- arlington, and SFA. All just a bus trip away. He could dramatically reduce expenses and the CofC would not need to help fund a coach- we could just have 'student' coaches or alternate years with a coaching staff selected from ponyfans.

No expectations, no prestige and we can then watch all of our old conference mates on TV on Sat. instead of going to the blvd.

Look at TCU's schedules when they were building up their program 10 years ago. They weren't playing 4 BCS teams OOC each year

redpony wrote:casper's ideal schedule- SHSU, UTSA, Tex. St., Trinity U. (in S.A.), denton school for the stupid, Austin college, Abilene CC., UT- arlington, and SFA. All just a bus trip away. He could dramatically reduce expenses and the CofC would not need to help fund a coach- we could just have 'student' coaches or alternate years with a coaching staff selected from ponyfans.

No expectations, no prestige and we can then watch all of our old conference mates on TV on Sat. instead of going to the blvd.

Much easier for JJ and crew to recruit since they don't have to go after any 3,4 or 5 star players and can continue with the 2* no BCS offer players as well as the ever popular "diamond in the rough" recruits.............

ECM- unfortunately we don't have 10 yrs to build a program, maybe 5 at the most. In reality I suspect that the train has already left the station and we missed it.

Re: No expectations and no prestige. What was a reasonable expectation for this year's OOC schedule? 1-3. What's the prestige in hovering near the basement after losing big and going 1-3?

An easier OOC schedule will allow the team to gel and for any true DIRs to shine before we start conference play. Why risk season ending injuries playing games we cannot win? Play an easier OOC, win the conference and play the hard team in a meaningful bowl at the end of the season.

Don't get me wrong. I want to see SMU field a top 20 football team year after year. But while we're rebuilding, I think a softer OOC is the way to go. Once we can be competitive, we should be playing TAM, TT, Baylor and UT.

I am ok with the future schedules. TCU and Baylor and a couple of locals. That should work. with that we then need to work on dominating our conference. I just do not like backing out of games like we did with Baylor and substituting a non-drawing team.

MV pony wrote:Don't get me wrong. I want to see SMU field a top 20 football team year after year. But while we're rebuilding, I think a softer OOC is the way to go.

Seems like after 6 years, we still shouldn't be "rebuilding". How long did TCU have to "rebuild" after they fired Sullivan?

In my opinion, our non-conference schedule this year (and last year and, potentially, next year) does not provide our team with the best opportunity for competitive success throughout the course of the season. I have spoken with several of our student-athletes about this and they agree.

We have football players that don't want to play "too many" B12 teams!?! Because they might get hurt!?! What wussies. Suddenly everything I see on the field makes a lot of sense.

MV pony wrote:Re: No expectations and no prestige. What was a reasonable expectation for this year's OOC schedule? 1-3. What's the prestige in hovering near the basement after losing big and going 1-3?

An easier OOC schedule will allow the team to gel and for any true DIRs to shine before we start conference play. Why risk season ending injuries playing games we cannot win? Play an easier OOC, win the conference and play the hard team in a meaningful bowl at the end of the season.

So you want to hide DITR scrubs behind a weak schedule (still doesn't guarantee 4-0/3-1) and you think that season-ending injuries only happen in games "we cannot win"? How about we stop collecting DITRs, get some real players and start beating the teams that people in this town want to see.

sbsmith wrote:
So you want to hide DITR scrubs behind a weak schedule (still doesn't guarantee 4-0/3-1) and you think that season-ending injuries only happen in games "we cannot win"? How about we stop collecting DITRs, get some real players and start beating the teams that people in this town want to see.

We are in year 6 of a major rebuild- we SHOULD NOT have to be playing second tier teams so we can win or even be competitive. The obvious problem is that our $2 million man has crapped the bed when it comes to recruiting and hasn't done the job he was hired to do.

most schedules are made 5-8 years out. When the schedule was made Baylor was in the desert, TCU was non-BCS, Texas A&M was an after thought. Tech was pretty good. You want to cancel these schools at the last minute for a home game then don't be surprise if they permanently cancel you especially when we take 1,000 to A&M and 1,800 to TCU.

I don't have a problem with easing the toughness of the OOC schedule. SMU just isn't ready to compete at the level of Tech, A&M. Keep Baylor & TCU on the schedule, until SMU has both the players & coaches that are ready to have SMU compete at a higher level

We aren't ready to compete because our $2 million coach was too busy sunning on the island and playing golf instead of trying to recruit players that could build this program to a competitive level with our former conference mates. Face it- TT and TCU are not giant killers. Those are teams we should have beaten over the last few years (yes, virginia I know we beat TCU once).

Having Baylor and TCU on the schedule going forward is good. If we beat them it will raise eyebrows and impress the people we need to impress to improve our lot in college football.