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all those days are booked for SMU.

If OSU rumor is true, open dates are August 28th, September 18th, or October 23rd. I am pretty sure we prefer the two earlier dates.

According to footballscoop.com, Troy State (Div. 1-A ind.) is looking for opponents both home and away.

The only two teams playing on August 28 will be USC and Virginia Tech in the Black Coaches Association Football Classic. This is a "pre-season" game and actually will be the last one as the NCAA decided to do away with them (pre-season games do not count against the 11 game schedule). This is also why the idea that OSU wanted to drop us to play a cupcake game before UCLA is wrong - unless they move the UCLA game.

That's good info.

I never understood why the Black College Coaches' classic always features two white coaches.

Careful what you wish for: Troy State went in last year (or maybe it was the year before) and won AT Mississippi State.

Personally, I'd like to see the players object to this move. I want players on my team who WANT to play the best. Even if we get clobbered, the players can learn from playing a top-tier team, and would be better-prepared the following week. (However, I also don't want to see SMU get whipped. I guess there's some logic on both sides of the argument.)

We need to be very particular about who takes OSU's spot on the schedule.

I'm not wishing for Troy State; just pointing out they need opponents for away (and home)games.

In my mind, there are two good reasons for scheduling tough non-conference opponents. For one, you want to challenge your team. The other is that you need the money and consent to being a punching bag on the road or you need the butts in the seats to keep the attendance up at home.

With regard to the first point, I have had enough of losing. Given our current streak, I think we are sufficiently challenged by playing Texas Tech and TCU non-conference in addition to Boise State.

With regard to the second point, I hope that someday we don't have to consider the second point. I don't think the actual money is a real concern anyway, just the ticket sales.

Originally posted by Smoo Power:
The only two teams playing on August 28 will be USC and Virginia Tech in the Black Coaches Association Football Classic. This is a "pre-season" game and actually will be the last one as the NCAA decided to do away with them (pre-season games do not count against the 11 game schedule). This is also why the idea that OSU wanted to drop us to play a cupcake game before UCLA is wrong - unless they move the UCLA game.

And when is the UCLA game? Neither OSU or UCLA has their 2004 Football Schedule posted. There are two weekends in September prior to the one that we were scheduled for (the 18th). So the UCLA game could be on the 11th with an open date on the 4th. I have no idea, but I don't think you do either unless you have a source we aren't privy to.

we are trying to get a deal done with Grambling. This would give us a chance for a win, a sixth home game, and would help us in our home attendance efforts. WIN WIN WIN!!!!

"Tentative" (for what that is worth) 2004 OSU schedule and "Tentative" (for what that is worth) 2004 UCLA schedule have same date-Sept. 4th.

Once you start moving other games around, it starts to get messy.

Grambling would be perfect-it also would attract some positive publicity-sign 'em up. I couldn't imagine a better opponent for a big September recruiting weekend either. Remember if it counts as an SMU home game you can entertain recruits on an unofficial visits. Last year, we had some of our biggest targets like McClinton in for the OSU game and they backed off after that debacle. Several top recruits specifically mentioned they attended that game and noted SMU wasn't very competitive.

<small>[ 01-08-2004, 03:40 PM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>

Now Grambling won 9+ games last year, right? Maybe we she go a step down & schedule Prairie View A & M instead?

Cast my vote for Grambling as well. Last time we played them, the game drew over 50,000 at Texas Stadium and was the talk of the town that week. It would almost guarantee a packed Ford Stadium and my guess is that a lot of Dallas people who have probably never been on the SMU campus would attend.