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well travelled pony wrote:

sbsmith wrote:

MV pony wrote:At the U of A and later at LSU, it was never a question of if you where going to the game but a question of how early you were leaving for the game. This question was the same for both greeks and non-greeks. People cheered and the team was motivated. The coach was god. That's why Sabin is at the U of A and would never come to SMU.

Probably a better idea to compare us with some private schools. What private schools have that type of atmosphere?

USC has a pretty good game day experience. Stanford too. Nearby me, even Wake forest does pretty well. Duke is aweful. Terrible stadium.

Go Ponies!

Wake draws well for their enrollment

TCU is probably the best comparison for SMU. Both private schools in the DFW area, competing with Dallas' professional teams for entertainment dollars. We got a late start, but no reason we shouldn't be looking to at least accomplish what they have in football. I think we are on our way in hoops and will blow by TCU in the next couple of years. As for football??? Did we wait too long before ddeciding to compete?

I hope we didn't wait too long, but there is probably some realignment to come. We ceratinly need to be ready. I hope all leagues will see us in a package with Houston, though I read somewhere that the PAC doesn't. I find that hard to believe, since they are very education centric and SMU is a fine academic school. The ACC is also serious about academics. If they are raided deep enough, I could see them making a move for Memphis, UH and SMU. Taking a step back at this point is not an option. We must win in football and Bball and market Dallas full bore.

We didn't just start too late-we are not improving in the most important area as fast as TCU. TCU's attendance in 6th year of Franchione/Patterson regime-TCU was in the Metro Conference with no home opponent within a thousand miles so somewhat analogous to what we will be seeing. SMU's schedule is actually better with Baylor and Tech, plus BCS schools that have had some prominent seasons in recent past. Do we break 22,000? This is the greatest obstacle SMU faces and we don't have a decade to remain in Pony Denial about it and show more progress

TCU 2004 Attendance

Navy 35,688
Vandy 37,192
Army 39,282
UAB 28,927
Louisville 33,681
Cincy 42,161

FW Bowl 36,422

Looks damn tough to me.

Since we had trouble with Rice and Tulane last year..

Charleston Pony wrote:TCU is probably the best comparison for SMU. Both private schools in the DFW area, competing with Dallas' professional teams for entertainment dollars. We got a late start, but no reason we shouldn't be looking to at least accomplish what they have in football. I think we are on our way in hoops and will blow by TCU in the next couple of years. As for football??? Did we wait too long before ddeciding to compete?

A major difference between us is the support TCU gets from its hometown newspaper, the FW Startlegram. We don't get nearly the same level of support from the DMN.

H-E-B Mustang wrote:

Charleston Pony wrote:TCU is probably the best comparison for SMU. Both private schools in the DFW area, competing with Dallas' professional teams for entertainment dollars. We got a late start, but no reason we shouldn't be looking to at least accomplish what they have in football. I think we are on our way in hoops and will blow by TCU in the next couple of years. As for football??? Did we wait too long before ddeciding to compete?

A major difference between us is the support TCU gets from its hometown newspaper, the FW Startlegram. We don't get nearly the same level of support from the DMN.

The DMN is least of our issues.

Water Pony wrote: The DMN is least of our issues.

It's higher up than "least", for sure.

Water Pony wrote:The DMN is least of our issues.

It is rare for the DMN sports section to have anything about SMU on its front page. We certainly don't get as much ink as UT or A&M. The casual fan sees a relationship between the relevance of a sport and the amount of ink it gets. If attendance at games is the issue, we need more than just SMU students and alumni to show up. How are we going to be Dallas' team without the average local fan reading about us in the newspaper and getting interested in watching us play? Compare the FW paper to the DMN. TCU gets it. We need it. It is not the least of our issues. It's a good place to start.

Looking at the DMN web site today, there is not one story about SMU. The lead is "Star players for the 2013 Season Big 12/SEC". How difficult is it to include SMU and UH? Can't take that much space. As I've said many times before, I'm not asking them to quit covering those leagues, just include us too. Can't someone just buy a page (like an ad) in the sports section and devote it to all things SMU? Even half a page. Or maybe buy the whole damn paper! It disgusts me.

PK wrote:

GreenieSMU wrote:Hate the schedule. This schedule will not fill seats at Ford. Just horrible. None of these teams are worth a darn. We need to get out of this situation asap.

SMU
• Home: UCF, UConn, Rutgers, Temple.
• Away: Cincinnati, Houston, Memphis, USF.

If you are implying that the answer would be MWC, exactly which of those teams would fill Ford any better? The only Conference that would provide teams that would consistently fill Ford is the big xii and last I heard, they aren't interested in us. We are on our own. We are going to have to build an SMU fan base that will fill Ford because SMU is playing and not so much because of who we are playing. That requires winning and marketing. We have to become Dallas' Team.

Rutgers and Louisville are gone after this year and are replpaced by Tulane and East Carolina. Within the next 12-24 months Uconn and Cincy will be gone as well. So after that happens you are looking at a schedule that will look simililar to this:

Home: UCF, Tulane, East Carolina, Temple
Away: Navy, Houston, Memphis, USF

compared to

Home: Boise St, Fresno St, U of Houston, San Diego St
Away: Nevada, Air Force, Colorado St, Hawaii,

So his implication may be correct... For the next 1-2 years the Big East has an edge over MWC however once the inevitable happens our best home for Football and Hoops will probably be out west. As it stands above, MWC would already be a stronger conference schedule Add BYU for all sports and Gonzaga for Hoops only and it is without question superior. We already know our fans will not pack the stands for Tulane, East Carolina, Temple, and UCF anyway, so we might as well go with the stronger conf that gets us access every year if we win the championship game. Nobody is going to tune in on the East coast for SMU v. Tulane, especially when the Florida Gators of the world are kicking off at noon.

WE ARE BACK wrote:

PK wrote:If you are implying that the answer would be MWC, exactly which of those teams would fill Ford any better? The only Conference that would provide teams that would consistently fill Ford is the big xii and last I heard, they aren't interested in us. We are on our own. We are going to have to build an SMU fan base that will fill Ford because SMU is playing and not so much because of who we are playing. That requires winning and marketing. We have to become Dallas' Team.

Rutgers and Louisville are gone after this year and are replpaced by Tulane and East Carolina. Within the next 12-24 months Uconn and Cincy will be gone as well. So after that happens you are looking at a schedule that will look simililar to this:

Home: UCF, Tulane, East Carolina, Temple
Away: Navy, Houston, Memphis, USF

compared to

Home: Boise St, Fresno St, U of Houston, San Diego St
Away: Nevada, Air Force, Colorado St, Hawaii,

So his implication may be correct... For the next 1-2 years the Big East has an edge over MWC however once the inevitable happens our best home for Football and Hoops will probably be out west. As it stands above, MWC would already be a stronger conference schedule Add BYU for all sports and Gonzaga for Hoops only and it is without question superior. We already know our fans will not pack the stands for Tulane, East Carolina, Temple, and UCF anyway, so we might as well go with the stronger conf that gets us access every year if we win the championship game. Nobody is going to tune in on the East coast for SMU v. Tulane, especially when the Florida Gators of the world are kicking off at noon.

The MWC teams will not generate any more fans in Ford than the nBE teams. The only reason TCU had decent crowds is because Ft Worth bought in to TCU being their team and not because the MWC teams brought large fan bases to their games in Ft Worth.

Cougar King wrote:

West Coast Johnny wrote:Texas A&M L
TCU L
Texas Tech W
Baylor L
Cincy L
Rutgers L
USF W
UCF W
Houston W
Temple W
UConn W
Memphis W
7 Wins
5 losses

Don't sleep on Memphis - Fuente that team improved alot by the end of last year.

You win for the first time in almost 10 years and you're chalking it up as a win in 2013. Talk about delusional.

LoL at the Houston fan calling the TCU fan delusional on the Pony board. Y'all should compete for CUSA every year with the talent you get - your coaching staff was an epic fail last year.

WE ARE BACK wrote:Within the next 12-24 months Uconn and Cincy will be gone as well.

They may want to go but there is no guarantee they are getting an invite from any other conference.

WE ARE BACK wrote:Home: UCF, Tulane, East Carolina, Temple
Away: Navy, Houston, Memphis, USF

compared to

Home: Boise St, Fresno St, U of Houston, San Diego St
Away: Nevada, Air Force, Colorado St, Hawaii,

As it stands above, MWC would already be a stronger conference schedule

Convenient how you left out schools such as UNM, SJSU, Wyoming, etc.

WE ARE BACK wrote:Add BYU for all sports and Gonzaga for Hoops only and it is without question superior.

BYU isn't going back to the MWC and Gonzaga isn't leaving the WCC. Nice dream but it won't happen.

CA Mustang wrote:

WE ARE BACK wrote:Within the next 12-24 months Uconn and Cincy will be gone as well.

They may want to go but there is no guarantee they are getting an invite from any other conference.

WE ARE BACK wrote:Home: UCF, Tulane, East Carolina, Temple
Away: Navy, Houston, Memphis, USF

compared to

Home: Boise St, Fresno St, U of Houston, San Diego St
Away: Nevada, Air Force, Colorado St, Hawaii,

As it stands above, MWC would already be a stronger conference schedule

Convenient how you left out schools such as UNM, SJSU, Wyoming, etc.

WE ARE BACK wrote:Add BYU for all sports and Gonzaga for Hoops only and it is without question superior.

BYU isn't going back to the MWC and Gonzaga isn't leaving the WCC. Nice dream but it won't happen.

Sorry, I forgot how bad [deleted] it is to be in the WCC. And last time I checked, BYU will not be a Conference Champion or named Notre Dame so no BCS for them no matter how good they are until they join a conference. Guess I dream reality.