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texasmustang10 wrote:I'm sick of hearing about attendance being an issue. The fact is that anyone who graduated since 1986 has NO connection to our football program and just doesn't identify with it at all. 20 years of being the worst team in D-1 football followed by 3 seasons of underwhelming success is not going to get fans traveling to [deleted] [deleted] birmingham alabama to play [deleted] [deleted] pittsburgh. These things take TIME. The only thing June can do is keep winning and be patient.

If you want to follow the TCU model of success, they worked like the dickens to get the best bowl opponents they could and worked to get a LOT of fans to the bowls. We can sit here and whine or make excuses but that does not impress anyone. Fortunately for us we are going to the BE and we do not have to worry so much as TCU did. But, if we want better bowl invites we need to make big efforts to get fans to the games.

texasmustang10 wrote:I'm sick of hearing about attendance being an issue. The fact is that anyone who graduated since 1986 has NO connection to our football program and just doesn't identify with it at all. 20 years of being the worst team in D-1 football followed by 3 seasons of underwhelming success is not going to get fans traveling to [deleted] [deleted] birmingham alabama to play [deleted] [deleted] pittsburgh. These things take TIME. The only thing June can do is keep winning and be patient.

And one other thing, what in the world is wrong with playing Pittsburgh? They are a BCS AQ team and we played them in the Cotton Bowl last time we went.

Dutch wrote:

2ndandlong wrote:

smusic 00 wrote:I bought an extra and will give it away in a surprising format in Birmingham. Stay tuned.....

I bought 3 extra in hopes of convincing people to go

so you'll have an empty seat on either side of you, and a place to set your drink too.

yuuup

texasmustang10 wrote:I'm sick of hearing about attendance being an issue. The fact is that anyone who graduated since 1986 has NO connection to our football program and just doesn't identify with it at all. 20 years of being the worst team in D-1 football followed by 3 seasons of underwhelming success is not going to get fans traveling to [deleted] [deleted] birmingham alabama to play [deleted] [deleted] pittsburgh. These things take TIME. The only thing June can do is keep winning and be patient.

I graduated in 2003 and have a group of 12 that all graduated around then that goes in on season tix and sometimes road games together. Still working on putting together a group for the bowl game

I graduated in 2003 as well. My last semester at SMU was the 2003 season where the team won 0 games. I can understand the pitiful attendance that season, but we are now competitive in a regional conference that has decent bowl tie-ins. We were lucky enough to land in the BBVA Compass Bowl to face a current Big East team. You can consider it a CUSA v Big East matchup or future Big East v ACC matchup. Whatever our conference affiliation is we need our fans to show up. The bowl is in a central and easily accessible location on a Saturday with no festivities in the way of it. No excuses. SMUer is organizing a bus from Dallas to Birmingham. I can understand not having overwhelming attendance, but ~400 tickets sold by the Friday after it was announced is pitiful.

I guarantee TCU took a huge crowd to El Paso during that very first Bowl game in 1998 when they were 6-5. I don't want to put a number on it because its been a long time-but I saw the game and it was substantial. It certainly was multiple times more than we will take.

Stallion wrote:I guarantee TCU took a huge crowd to El Paso during that very first Bowl game in 1998 when they were 6-5. I don't want to put a number on it because its been a long time-but I saw the game and it was substantial. It certainly was multiple times more than we will take.

And a bowl for tcu 13 years ago has relevance how ?

RGV Pony wrote:

Stallion wrote:I guarantee TCU took a huge crowd to El Paso during that very first Bowl game in 1998 when they were 6-5. I don't want to put a number on it because its been a long time-but I saw the game and it was substantial. It certainly was multiple times more than we will take.

And a bowl for tcu 13 years ago has relevance how ?

TCU was 6-5 and SMU is now 7-5. TCU is our strongest rival and a good basis as we have similar enrollment. No excuses unless you want to admit that TCU is better than SMU. I refuse to do so.

I understand the huge gap of fans in the 90's, etc...but even today, I know several people that graduated from SMU 2 yrs ago and have ZERO interest. It's to the point where they don't even know who we are playing while they are at the blvd.

I also had a conversation with a guy (graduated 2 years ago from SMU) 10 minutes before the Houston game at a bar a few weeks ago. Guy asked why we were at the bar so early...our response was to watch the SMU game. He claimed he didn't know we had a game. He then asked who we played...we responded Houston. His response: Ohh they suck right?

Point is we have a WEAKSAUCE fan base that knows nothing about football...except the few on Ponyfans.

If you listen to many analysts the biggest rebuttal to the Big East expansion is that it is bringing in non-aq teams. Many have argued that the incoming teams have better records than the outgoing teams and that is true this season. Depending on who you ask it is probably true for the last several years. However, the fact remains that we get crushed in terms of fan base and attendance. Realistically, even if our team beats LSU, Alabama, Michigan etc. we will not get any respect until we start putting up a better fight off the field. I do not expect to ever reach SEC or Big Ten-like attendance, but I do expect to be in the realm of Baylor and TCU. It starts today! Respect in college athletics is earned on and off the field.

The point is not that there won't be people who graduated in the last 20 years there. That's absurd. What I'm saying is that there was virtually no connection between school pride and the football team like there was in the early 80's and before. And yes, it doesn't help that SMU basically just expects people to make their own arrangements and spend $50 on a ticket. What specific actions did TCU take in order to get fans to travel?

Stallion wrote:I guarantee TCU took a huge crowd to El Paso during that very first Bowl game in 1998 when they were 6-5. I don't want to put a number on it because its been a long time-but I saw the game and it was substantial. It certainly was multiple times more than we will take.

ENOUGH ABOUT TCU - GOOD GRIEF, THIS IS NOT TCU AND NEVER WILL BE

mustangxc wrote:

RGV Pony wrote:

Stallion wrote:I guarantee TCU took a huge crowd to El Paso during that very first Bowl game in 1998 when they were 6-5. I don't want to put a number on it because its been a long time-but I saw the game and it was substantial. It certainly was multiple times more than we will take.

And a bowl for tcu 13 years ago has relevance how ?

TCU was 6-5 and SMU is now 7-5. TCU is our strongest rival and a good basis as we have similar enrollment. No excuses unless you want to admit that TCU is better than SMU. I refuse to do so.

And SMU played pitt in a January bowl.game before too and the game drew 60000 or so. Apples v oranges.

Attendance issue won't be solved within the walls of ponyfans.

Or the boundary of campus.

TCU sold 5,500 from its alottment through the university to the 1998 Sun Bowl as a 6-5 team. Likely had more bought through other sources. I think it should be measuring stick. Otherwise, quit complaining that June Jones doesn't have reason for concerns about lack of attendance. Its not June Jones' job to sell tickets but it is the fans job to support the program. Bowl game attendance and the size of a school's traveling party is in fact an important of getting BCS bids and quality bowls.

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jan/01/sports/sp-59553