Athlon: SMU a Big10 target

[gostangs]

ohio state is not way above us - they are just barely above us - statistically the same. we will likely pass them in a year or so. Northwestern, Michigan and wisconsin will all be harder to pass.

It does not surprise me that a TCU poster would not want to talk about academics, however the reason it came up is that it seems to matter to big10 - but it is only the AAU thing they care about for some strange reason. Nebraska was but then lost it. That is why they will go for UVA, NC and GT in the ACC - they are all AAU (which is consistent 50M a year in research dollars - we are around 30).

they wont go for us because we don't deliver enough of our market, and we are not AAU. Houston is even less so on both counts.

[CoxMustangFan]

Nothing like an academics discussion on a football message board.

Yeah, I hate it when we let the central mission of colleges get in the way of college sports. For Big 10, it matters...

Which is why Maryland and Nebraska got in, right?

When they require AAU at the time of admission, yes. They have few options.

[Cougar King]

I'm going to go on a limb and say we're somewhere on everey P5 conference's wishlist. Some higher than others of course.

[ReedFrawg]

It does not surprise me that a TCU poster would not want to talk about academics,

I could care less when visiting football forums. Academic smack talk gets old...and fast. Academics (AAU notwithstanding) are not a reason to keep SMU out of the BIG - SMU would fit in just fine. That being said, the BIG is beyond a pipe dream.

[SMU2007]

It does not surprise me that a TCU poster would not want to talk about academics,

I could care less when visiting football forums. Academic smack talk gets old...and fast. Academics (AAU notwithstanding) are not a reason to keep SMU out of the BIG - SMU would fit in just fine. That being said, the BIG is beyond a pipe dream.

Agree on both points.

[PoconoPony]

A team that cancels out on Baylor because the schedule is too tough is not Big 10 material.

[Mustangs_Maroons]

Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio State, Northwestern, and U. of Chicago are all way ahead of us in both undergraduate and graduate education. All of them out perform us in research. Their academic prestige is incredibly high and they often represent a mecca in graduate education.

Some of the rest of the schools, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State are around our level, in many areas they're below us (but also above us in others) but let's not pretend like we're actually a Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Duke, or USC. We've got a long way to go and have to catch up because the university's stubborn liberal arts focus (and I say this as an ardent liberal arts guy). Luckily for SMU, being a private institution might allow the school to catch up to other universities that are dependent on state funding who art hurting.

There's no way we get invited to the B10, even though it's fun to dream. To your point above though, only UChicago, Northwestern and Michigan are "way" ahead of us in undergraduate education. We need to improve our focus as a research institution and graduate programs (which most of the B10 schools have a significant advantage on us), but it is tough to compete against the vast amount of funds that go to large public schools like Wisconsin, Ohio State, etc. We need to put our funds to better use to attract top-notch faculty and invest in research, etc. We should focus on improving our career opportunities, incoming student profiles, etc, so that we can compete for more of the top high-school candidates. We need to strive to get invited to the AAU (Tulane already is) and try be to DFW what Rice is to Houston, and we have a long way to go. Hope SMU realizes this.

Michigan is among the top 5 public universities academically in the U.S., behind only Berkeley for sure and in line with UCLA and UNC.

[SMU2007]

Everyone focuses on our scheduling deficiencies rather than our team's deficiencies. We had no choice but to cancel the game as we couldnt be competitive against our scheduled opponents.

[ponyte]

The Big 10 could use expanding into a growth market like Texas. Recruiting and potential for expansion into new markets might be very advantageous. The Big 10 getting its head handed to it every SEC game probably has the programs interested in getting the bigger faster players from the Texas, Florida recruiting areas. Academics might sound great to university presidents but the Big 10 is an athletic conference first. Athletic considerations will take precedent. So the potential of a Texas school added to the conference might be an incentive for the Big 10 to look beyond the Rust Belt. Texas doesn’t play well with the other kids in the sandbox and A$M is in the best conference in the land. TTU might be a possibility but doesn’t have huge market demographics and doesn’t open up the Dallas/Houston recruiting markets. The Big is light on private schools so could handle another private school. That said, at this point, I think the Big 10 and a Texas school are down the road possibilities.

[MustangStealth]

We need to strive to get invited to the AAU (Tulane already is) and try be to DFW what Rice is to Houston, and we have a long way to go. Hope SMU realizes this.

Maybe that was why we strong armed the Big East into taking Tulane... now we can pressure them to get us into the AAU!

[Mustangs_Maroons]

We need to strive to get invited to the AAU (Tulane already is) and try be to DFW what Rice is to Houston, and we have a long way to go. Hope SMU realizes this.

Maybe that was why we strong armed the Big East into taking Tulane... now we can pressure them to get us into the AAU!

We'll need Tulane and 46 others (requires 3/4 approval from the 62 universities currently in AAU).

[gostangs]

they will let us in if we hit 50 million in research. we have a lot of work to do on that front.

[birddogger]

We may be lesser than a few of the B1G schools, but U.Chicago ain't one of them.

[CalallenStang]

We may be lesser than a few of the B1G schools, but U.Chicago ain't one of them.

Um...what?

[couch 'em]

That's the craziest most insane thing seen on PF in quite some time