How Many Fans will SMU Bring?

[oldguystudent]

I don't know how many fans SMU will bring, but I guarantee their reported attendance will have Ford Stadium sold out.

[Silent Eagle]

9 hours ago, UNT90 said:

1-11

Portland St 66 UNT 7

You tell me?

Obviously, this is a huge hindrance.  So many people are going to remember that game.  

One thing that will help the cause, and I say this as a dude from one of the organizations (in all caps, so prepare yourselves)- 

GET THE LAZY, STUPID GREEKS TO THE DAMN GAME!

They can drink in there.  They're loud, obnoxious and are given carte blanche to act in this manner in the student section.  Since I'm watching from afar, is this still an issue or do they participate? 

And, yes, I practiced what I preached.  I went to every home game while I was there.  The only continuous presence was wings, the weird Lambda Chi's that did push ups on the field- but at least they went and got involved. 

[oldguystudent]

2 minutes ago, Silent Eagle said:

 

GET THE LAZY, STUPID GREEKS TO THE DAMN GAME!

 

I don't know for sure, but two things:

1)  I've noticed considerably greater police presence by the fraternity tailgates making sure they don't get out of hand and handing out underage citations.

2)  I've noticed several games where various and sundry sororities are in the stadium for this propped up cause or the other all wearing matching bedazzled t-shirts and whatnot.  If I learned anything from my own undergrad Greek experience, when there's a chance of sorority girls coming, the fraternity boys are bound to congregate.  If that so happens to be in the student section of Apogee, then more power to them.  

[Silent Eagle]

1 minute ago, oldguystudent said:

I don't know for sure, but two things:

1)  I've noticed considerably greater police presence by the fraternity tailgates making sure they don't get out of hand and handing out underage citations.

2)  I've noticed several games where various and sundry sororities are in the stadium for this propped up cause or the other all wearing matching bedazzled t-shirts and whatnot.  If I learned anything from my own undergrad Greek experience, when there's a chance of sorority girls coming, the fraternity boys are bound to congregate.  If that so happens to be in the student section of Apogee, then more power to them.  

Yep, where the girls go, fraternities will follow.  Unless it's Delta Zeta.  Then they run away.  Fast. 

[MeanGreenTexan]

11 hours ago, UNT90 said:

1-11

Portland St 66 UNT 7

You tell me?

These are going to be huge factors in why attendance is low at the beginning of the year.    If losing continues, the attendance will continue to be low.  If we start winning, attendance will pick up.

[untcampbell]

Could be, maybe even likely.

But I invited a bunch of friends to go to SMU last year. 5 of us made the trek, via East Side thanks to Mr. Williams.

This year, I invited the same group and we have 17 coming this weekend, with 1-2 still considering. Hopefully this anecdote will be duplicated throughout ApogeeLand in anticipation of a new coach, new AD, new season and, in fact, damn near a new football team. 

GMG

Edited September 1, 2016 by untcampbell

[GMG24]

29 minutes ago, untcampbell said:

Could be, maybe even likely.

But I invited a bunch of friends to go to SMU last year. 5 of us made the trek, via East Side thanks to Mr. Williams.

This year, I invited the same group and we have 17 coming this weekend, with 1-2 still considering. Hopefully this anecdote will be duplicated in anticipation of a new coach, new AD, new season and, in fact, damn near a new football team. 

GMG

Good job my man!! Hope to see you there. 

[Tyler Maryak]

Yeah, I feel pretty confident about my estimate of >500

 

[Eagle-96]

I'll never know why Smoooo can't bring more fans 35 miles up the road. It's not that hard. Underwhelmed again.

[SMU2006]

A few observations from an SMU fan perspective:

I was pleasantly surprised by the number of folks we brought up to Denton considering you'd be giving up watching the best opening weekend of college football in recent history to watch two of the worst teams in the nation.  Until one or both of these teams can start winning its going to be tough to convince folks to give up watching marquee games on TV.  SMU has a total of 40,000 living alumni in the DFW area and we do not have a throng of t-shirt fans to supplement our fan base. That's just reality.

I had a good fan experience at UNT last night.  Most of the folks I encountered were friendly outside of a couple of frat clowns that yelled obscenities at my wife and asked me how it feels to have $150K in college loan debt (Pro Tip: I graduated debt free from SMU a decade ago) but outside of that it was great.  Cool stadium!

Several fans came up to our group after the game and said they love what Chad Morris is building at SMU.  We played 20 true and redshirt freshmen last night (most since 1979) so I think we're headed in the right direction.  Baylor is going to work us but I'd like to see us be competitive for a half.  I think we actually stand a decent shot of upsetting TCU in Dallas.  We were down 5 in the fourth quarter against the Frogs in the fourth quarter last year and we are way more athletic and skilled on defense in 2016.  Ceiling is 6-6 but probably 4-8.  If Morris keeps recruiting the way he is now (all but two commits for '17 have multiple P5 offers) then we should have the depth and experience in 2017 to make a serious run at a bowl game and 8 wins.  Hopefully Morris sticks around b/c I think he is a tremendous coach.  The good news is that as long as we are willing to pay 2-3M/year for a coach we will be able to attract quality candidates.  Once the $65M indoor practice facility breaks ground in spring of 2017 and the $50M in renovations to Ford the following year, I can see SMU building the foundations for the program to sustain itself if/when Morris leaves.  These upgrades are essential.

North Texas has the right guy for the job.  Year one is never pretty.  Littrell is a proven commodity and has the kind of youthful exuberance needed to turn it around.  Being patient sucks but you have to keep perspective on the bigger picture.  There is no reason that UNT can't be a top tier C-USA program with its location and resources.  

Best of the luck the rest of the season!  See you at Ford next fall.