Tulane opens as -4 favorites

[Flipper]

Sounds about right. Will be interesting to see how the line moves next week. -3 is a given on the road so I like the respect early. Should also land in the top 25 to boost ratings a bit. LetΓÇÖs go Mustangs!

[mtrout]

You think weΓÇÖll be ranked? Who are we passing?

[highlander]

You think weΓÇÖll be ranked? Who are we passing?

I don't know. But I DO know that we went up and down the field on a team that everyone else had a lot more trouble scoring on. And Navy could not move the ball when it mattered. Can that be worth something, for a change???

[mtrout]

We may pass Oregon St and Kansas State so #25 AP makes sense but IΓÇÖm not holding my breath. We should pass Utah and NC State will be ranked ahead of us.

[CA Mustang]

You think weΓÇÖll be ranked? Who are we passing?

Both Kansas State and Oregon State lost this weekend.

[highlander]

College football is the only major sport, at any level, where the previous season matters in terms of ability to compete for the championship. If Tulane had not been ranked LAST YEAR, we would be ahead of Tulane in the CFP rankings and the championship game would be at Ford Stadium.

[SMUstang07]

What? Tulane only has 1 loss (and to a team ranked highly without their starting QB). We have two losses. No reason to think Tulane is only ahead of us because of last year.

[highlander]

What? Tulane only has 1 loss (and to a team ranked highly without their starting QB). We have two losses. No reason to think Tulane is only ahead of us because of last year.

"A loss is a loss". Except in college football. Compare Tulane and SMU vs common opponents.

Regardless, we'll find out the truth in 6 days.

[mtrout]

We moved from 25 to 24 in the coaches poll

[SmooBoy]

Wondering if we would have been favored on the road if Stone is healthy.

[shadowman]

I bet it would have been a toss up if Stone had not got hurt.

As a point of reference, the ESPN Analytics gives SMU a whopping 72.5% chance to win the game. I assume this does not take into account key injuries and only compares the data of both team's previous games and opponents.

Obviously, our chances of winning go down with Stone out, but I still rate it at 50/50.

[PonyTales]

It basically is a tossup, since most lines give 3 points for playing at home.

[Mustangs_Maroons]

that line opened up without certainty on Stone. I think the line is 5.5 now. I get it, Tulane won the conference championship last year, undefeated in conference play this year, at their stadium, and we will be playing with our backup QB. I still think we have the better team, but concerned with how we have played away from home this season. I think we were better than tcu and we played our worst game of the year then.

I do think we're trending up and have been playing our best football. Statistically, SMU is the better team during the season. We'll have to play with the right mindset because we have on paper, IMO, the better team.