TCU made the CFP once too.

Look folks….sports fan life isn't 'fair'. Cinderella's happen. Sleeping giants can sleep for a long time. When I was at A&M in early 90's A&M dominated the SWC and would have made a 12-team CFP 3 out of 4 years I was in school minimum. But they didn't have such a thing back then.

If there had been a 12-team playoff in 2012 A&M might have won a natty. But they didn't have such a thing back then.

I don't think SMU even makes the playoff this year. Bama gets in before them. Just watch.

Over the next 25 years bookmark this post and compare number playoff appearances for A&M vs SMU.

vander54 said:

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The Banned said:

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Perfect TexAgs post. He has less yards per game, less TDs per game, essentially the same completion percentage, a worse TD-INT ratio, he's smaller

I'm not saying Reed is the man, but this the epitome of a zoo post.

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TexAgs think

Everyone's QB is better than our's regardless of stats or competition.

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Wrong. People watch playmakers on other teams and wonder why that doesn't happen here more consistently. Other programs don't make the passing game look difficult. It's just a natural part of their offense. .We sit there praying, every time an A&M quarterback drops back, that they can just complete a pass and get a first down. The verticle game is non-existent at A&M and until that changes the offense will be limited.

So let's hire the SMU OC. Why this obsession with the QB?

Pumpkinhead said:

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So let's hire the SMU OC. Why this obsession with the QB?

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Because the passing game starts with the QB. If you don't have a QB that can see the open guys and hit them accurately then your offense is going to be limited. I'm also of the Mike Leach belief that you can't teach accuracy. Josh Allen is the only quarterback I've ever seen that bucked that.

We would get Jennings and promptly ruin him.

Reed would never even be capable of playing as well as Jennings played in the second half last night.

Pumpkinhead said:

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3-loss Bama going to get in over 2-loss ACC runner-up SMU. Just watch that happen 'cause SEC and Big 10 are King and SMU is particularly SMU and won't bring eye balls like Bama.

And A&M has more 'hot women' than SMU. It is sheer math from student body size. There are 6X the number of women walking around the campus at A&M than the SMU campus. 6 times more. Though granted….also 6 times more young men chasing them

In terms of NIL given alumni size comparison:

SMU: Approx. 140,000
A&M: Approx. 600,000

Plus SEC payouts significantly greater than ACC So I would think A&M could out-do SMU in a $$$ pissing contest if it had to.

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Smu joined the ACC on their knees agreeing to $0 money for 6 years. They were so desperate having been turned down many times by the big 12. They still have a small fan base that are fickle with a history of leaving at halftime and getting back to Highland Park for martinis. They still have some donors with big bucks, but now that cheating is legal, competing with the SEC and Big 10 teams will be difficult without the millions given to these conference teams.

Believe SMU NIL war chest is now larger than A&M. Thought they funded a $150M from boosters before entering ACC (we drained a large portion of ours to boot Fisher).

A&M may have more students, but SMU has some of the richest/entitled alumns in TX/US. Most are in biz and well positioned (esp in metro area). Dallas takes care of SMU grads like no where else.

Being in Dallas offers more local NIL opportunities for a player (same as Austin - local exotic car dealerships etc can provide more oppty than smaller towns). Why SEC schools in small towns know they have an issue competing vs Austin.

Generally A&Ms students and younger former student population doesn't give much back and esp not to NIL (vs Texags posters perception). Boosters are slowing it down as no ROI seen w all the money thrown.

As stated by coach and admin, we are not top in NIL and more middle of the pack (and slipping why they are trying to find ways to get so called mass former student population to give as we are falling behind the real powers).

https://www.on3.com/db/rankings/industry-team/football/2025/

SMU's 2025 recruiting class is ranked 31st with only four 4-star rated kids. If they have such a huge NIL 'war chest' advantage then why is it we have rarely yet had to compete against SMU for a highly ranked player? We are generally competing vs Austin, Bama, Oklahoma, LSU, etc…

You'd think they'd have done more similar to what Ole Miss has done if they were notably deeper in NIL cash than a school like A&M.

Can you provide more tangible info on SMU's NIL fund size compared to A&M's? Like how much their roster was approximately paid last season compared to our roster? Or how much they've promised to that 2025 recruiting class compared to A&M's 2025 recruiting class which is ranked considerably higher?

Hubert J. Farnsworth said:

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Pumpkinhead said:

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So let's hire the SMU OC. Why this obsession with the QB?

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Because the passing game starts with the QB. If you don't have a QB that can see the open guys and hit them accurately then your offense is going to be limited. I'm also of the Mike Leach belief that you can't teach accuracy. Josh Allen is the only quarterback I've ever seen that bucked that.

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But people have shown against weaker competition, his numbers were similar. So his is what you're saying playing out but not showing up on paper?

Reed spent the first year coached under Jimbo, do you know how long it takes longer than 9 months or so to un**** that up?

He's also a RS freshman, and this is was going to be his worst year given the WR (lack of) talent around him.

Pumpkinhead said:

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https://www.on3.com/db/rankings/industry-team/football/2025/

SMU's 2025 recruiting class is ranked 31st with only four 4-star rated kids. If they have such a huge NIL 'war chest' advantage then why is it we have rarely yet had to compete against SMU for a highly ranked player? We are generally competing vs Austin, Bama, Oklahoma, LSU, etc…

You'd think they'd have done more similar to what Ole Miss has done if they were notably deeper in NIL cash than a school like A&M.

Can you provide more tangible info on SMU's NIL fund size compared to A&M's? Like how much their roster was approximately paid last season compared to our roster? Or how much they've promised to that 2025 recruiting class compared to A&M's 2025 recruiting class which is ranked considerably higher?

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Because SMU used their NIL funds differently. Look at portal classes vs HS classes. Last year I believe they were the #1 or #2 portal class in the country. 6 in one half a dozen in the other in whether you value transfers or HS recruits more. They have taken the stance on transfers where they go after the guys who were 4 and 5 star type HS talent from the Metroplex that went to a Bama or A&M or Clemson and get buried on a depth chart, or get homesick, or knock up their HS girlfriend over the Christmas break. SMU offers a ton of money, a shiny new Power 4 conference, and a chance to come home and let their mom watch them play locally. It's actually a pretty brilliant strategy. And obviously working.

Wrong. They were in the 30s again while A&M was top 5.

https://247sports.com/Season/2024-Football/TransferTeamRankings/


There is literally no evidence of the juggernaut recruiting/nil machine you are describing.

Stone44 said:

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Pumpkinhead said:

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3-loss Bama going to get in over 2-loss ACC runner-up SMU. Just watch that happen 'cause SEC and Big 10 are King and SMU is particularly SMU and won't bring eye balls like Bama.

And A&M has more 'hot women' than SMU. It is sheer math from student body size. There are 6X the number of women walking around the campus at A&M than the SMU campus. 6 times more. Though granted….also 6 times more young men chasing them

In terms of NIL given alumni size comparison:

SMU: Approx. 140,000
A&M: Approx. 600,000

Plus SEC payouts significantly greater than ACC So I would think A&M could out-do SMU in a $$$ pissing contest if it had to.

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Smu joined the ACC on their knees agreeing to $0 money for 6 years. They were so desperate having been turned down many times by the big 12. They still have a small fan base that are fickle with a history of leaving at halftime and getting back to Highland Park for martinis. They still have some donors with big bucks, but now that cheating is legal, competing with the SEC and Big 10 teams will be difficult without the millions given to these conference teams.

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This is such a moronic post. Yes, they agreed to join the ACC for no money, and the day they officially joined the ACC raised $175M. And conference payouts don't mean squat to NIL or any of the stuff anyone is talking about here. ACC payouts go to the school, the school isn't paying NIL, that's private. History of fickle fans? I guess, considering they were left for dead and have wandered without a soul for the last 40 years when everyone left them amidst their NCAA punishment for everyone's bad deeds from the SWC. But for you younger folks, before their death penalty, when they were the Pony Express, they played in the Cowboys stadium and sold it out every week, and even the Cowboys couldn't do that. They have a fanbase that has been kicked in the nuts enough times over the years, but is ready to go. It may be small, but it has the ultimate currency, actual $$$$$.

Quote:

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Yes, they agreed to join the ACC for no money, and the day they officially joined the ACC raised $175M. And conference payouts don't mean squat to NIL

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What you are missing is that if SMU was getting TV money, that $175mm could have been NIL money instead of money straight to the school

Quote:

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when they were the Pony Express, they played in the Cowboys stadium and sold it out every week, and even the Cowboys couldn't do that.

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They did not sell it out every week, and I bet average attendance was less than cowboys

JDCAG (NOT Colin) said:

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Wrong. They were in the 30s again while A&M was top 5.

https://247sports.com/Season/2024-Football/TransferTeamRankings/


There is literally no evidence of the juggernaut recruiting/nil machine you are describing.

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Ok, well then how do you explain a team that has better players at every position, better coaches, better record, more conference total game appearances than A&M if A&M has all the money and according to all the rankings services, all the players too. We had the #1 class of all time not long ago, how did that work out? At some point evaluation has to play a part, not just rankings. Leach never outrecruited A&M either, but he sure could always whip our ass

ccolley68 said:

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Pumpkinhead said:

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https://www.on3.com/db/rankings/industry-team/football/2025/

SMU's 2025 recruiting class is ranked 31st with only four 4-star rated kids. If they have such a huge NIL 'war chest' advantage then why is it we have rarely yet had to compete against SMU for a highly ranked player? We are generally competing vs Austin, Bama, Oklahoma, LSU, etc…

You'd think they'd have done more similar to what Ole Miss has done if they were notably deeper in NIL cash than a school like A&M.

Can you provide more tangible info on SMU's NIL fund size compared to A&M's? Like how much their roster was approximately paid last season compared to our roster? Or how much they've promised to that 2025 recruiting class compared to A&M's 2025 recruiting class which is ranked considerably higher?

---

Because SMU used their NIL funds differently. Look at portal classes vs HS classes. Last year I believe they were the #1 or #2 portal class in the country. 6 in one half a dozen in the other in whether you value transfers or HS recruits more. They have taken the stance on transfers where they go after the guys who were 4 and 5 star type HS talent from the Metroplex that went to a Bama or A&M or Clemson and get buried on a depth chart, or get homesick, or knock up their HS girlfriend over the Christmas break. SMU offers a ton of money, a shiny new Power 4 conference, and a chance to come home and let their mom watch them play locally. It's actually a pretty brilliant strategy. And obviously working.

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https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/team-rankings/football/2024/

SMU was ranked #41 nationally in their most recent transfer portal class. Not #1 or #2.

A&M WAS ranked even below that, but so were several big name schools like Bama, Ohio State, LSU, Penn State…so deeper analytics would probably have to be done to understand whether that would be a clear 'problem' or whether HS recruiting rankings is the more important metric for roster foundations.

ccolley68 said:

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Stone44 said:

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Pumpkinhead said:

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3-loss Bama going to get in over 2-loss ACC runner-up SMU. Just watch that happen 'cause SEC and Big 10 are King and SMU is particularly SMU and won't bring eye balls like Bama.

And A&M has more 'hot women' than SMU. It is sheer math from student body size. There are 6X the number of women walking around the campus at A&M than the SMU campus. 6 times more. Though granted….also 6 times more young men chasing them

In terms of NIL given alumni size comparison:

SMU: Approx. 140,000
A&M: Approx. 600,000

Plus SEC payouts significantly greater than ACC So I would think A&M could out-do SMU in a $$$ pissing contest if it had to.

---

Smu joined the ACC on their knees agreeing to $0 money for 6 years. They were so desperate having been turned down many times by the big 12. They still have a small fan base that are fickle with a history of leaving at halftime and getting back to Highland Park for martinis. They still have some donors with big bucks, but now that cheating is legal, competing with the SEC and Big 10 teams will be difficult without the millions given to these conference teams.

---

This is such a moronic post. Yes, they agreed to join the ACC for no money, and the day they officially joined the ACC raised $175M. And conference payouts don't mean squat to NIL or any of the stuff anyone is talking about here. ACC payouts go to the school, the school isn't paying NIL, that's private. History of fickle fans? I guess, considering they were left for dead and have wandered without a soul for the last 40 years when everyone left them amidst their NCAA punishment for everyone's bad deeds from the SWC. But for you younger folks, before their death penalty, when they were the Pony Express, they played in the Cowboys stadium and sold it out every week, and even the Cowboys couldn't do that. They have a fanbase that has been kicked in the nuts enough times over the years, but is ready to go. It may be small, but it has the ultimate currency, actual $$$$$.

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Moronic? You don't know Jack about SMU. They couldn't draw flies when they were the pony express. You could go to Kroger and buy a loaf of bread and get two tickets to SMU's next game. I was at Texas Stadium watching the Aggies play SMU at homecoming. There were 50,000 Aggies and 5000 SMU fans. SMU won the game easily and their fans left at halftime. They were the biggest cheaters in college football and the only team to receive the death penalty which they deserved. SMU stands for small mediocre university. Sorry, troll.

ccolley68 said:

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So he's on a team that just played for and almost won a conference title, at a school loaded with beautiful women, that is likely still going to the CFP, and makes a ****ton in NIL money and likely just played himself into a big raise. And you think a team that hasn't sniffed a conference championship since the 90's, with a campus full of yell leaders and corps turds, who can't outbid the re-energized SMU boosters is going to steal that player away? This place gets more delusional every day.

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The man is 100% right

ccolley68 said:

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JDCAG (NOT Colin) said:

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Wrong. They were in the 30s again while A&M was top 5.

https://247sports.com/Season/2024-Football/TransferTeamRankings/


There is literally no evidence of the juggernaut recruiting/nil machine you are describing.

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Ok, well then how do you explain a team that has better players at every position, better coaches, better record, more conference total game appearances than A&M if A&M has all the money and according to all the rankings services, all the players too. We had the #1 class of all time not long ago, how did that work out? At some point evaluation has to play a part, not just rankings. Leach never outrecruited A&M either, but he sure could always whip our ass

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Now you're just lashing out because people are pointing out that everything you say is made up.

It's been explained - SMU played a terrible schedule, losing to the only ranked teams they played.

They did a great job for SMU and are probably about even with A&M, which is a great job by their coaches - but you're trying to make them this rising program that has found the secret and the truth is, they're just a good team with a terrible schedule. They'd have - at most - won 9 with our schedule. And that is if I give them the auburn game.

If we're making SMU wish lists I'd take their DC over Bateman in a heartbeat

It still amazes me with all this money yall talk about that gets wasted why in the hell can't we find football coaches that can teach the fundamentals of this game. That alone would fix alot of this bs!

Agvet12 said:

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If we're making SMU wish lists I'd take their DC over Bateman in a heartbeat

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Scott Symons from Hurst, Tx. He's been around paying his dues at all levels.

Lots of stories on it...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/football/why-is-smu-in-the-acc-explaining-the-money-behind-mustangs-rapid-rise-in-new-conference/ar-AA1vqTYV?ocid=BingNewsSerp

Quote:

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A small, private school in Dallas with an enrollment of just over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students may not sound like it has the means to forgo that kind of money, but SMU's unique donor base has helped it make up that money and then some. Here's more from The Athletic on SMU's fundraising efforts in September 2023, just one year prior to the school officially joining the ACC:

Quote:

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• On Sept. 1, SMU accepted an invitation to join the ACC alongside Stanford and Cal, beginning next season. As part of that agreement, sources familiar with the arrangement said SMU will forgo nine years of ACC television money, around $24 million per year.
• SMU boosters told The Athletic they plan to give more than $200 million to offset the absent TV money.
• This $100 million was raised by a small group of 30 donors, according to the school.

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In a release from June of this year, the school announced it raised $154 million during the 2023-34 fiscal year.
One of the people at the forefront of SMU's fundraising efforts is David B. Miller. Miller, the chairman of SMU's board of trustees, is a billionaire who founded an oil and gas private equity firm called EnCap. His name is also on SMU's basketball court just one of the few perks of being a billionaire.
"It's a couple hundred million dollars," Miller told Yahoo Sports. "I'm not losing sleep over it."

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Note the billionaire statement...note $154M raised in 1 yr for athletics ($100M by 30 donors).

https://www.espn.in/college-football/story/_/id/41136586/smu-football-acc-death-penalty-return-2024

Quote:

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"I bet a lot of these schools look at SMU and go, 'Oh, s---, here come all the billionaires,'" Armstrong said. "We've been the whipping boy for so long. We're not going to blow it. There's a lot of pent-up fun to be had."

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We aren't raising this kind of money and why we are throwing 'priority points' and other mktg gimmicks...we did when we entered SEC, but it has slowed down AND not kept up with others like tu.

If SMU gets left out of playoff. And I think they will. He just might transfer.

JDCAG (NOT Colin) said:

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ccolley68 said:

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JDCAG (NOT Colin) said:

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Wrong. They were in the 30s again while A&M was top 5.

https://247sports.com/Season/2024-Football/TransferTeamRankings/


There is literally no evidence of the juggernaut recruiting/nil machine you are describing.

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Ok, well then how do you explain a team that has better players at every position, better coaches, better record, more conference total game appearances than A&M if A&M has all the money and according to all the rankings services, all the players too. We had the #1 class of all time not long ago, how did that work out? At some point evaluation has to play a part, not just rankings. Leach never outrecruited A&M either, but he sure could always whip our ass

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Now you're just lashing out because people are pointing out that everything you say is made up.

It's been explained - SMU played a terrible schedule, losing to the only ranked teams they played.

They did a great job for SMU and are probably about even with A&M, which is a great job by their coaches - but you're trying to make them this rising program that has found the secret and the truth is, they're just a good team with a terrible schedule. They'd have - at most - won 9 with our schedule. And that is if I give them the auburn game.

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Call it what you want. I have degrees from A&M and SMU. Aggies are my team first and foremost, and SMU was always the little start up that big they won, woohoo that's fun, and if they lost that was expected. But somewhere along the line, they have become the team that does more with less, while we have everything and accomplish nothing. Do we outrecruit them? According to the metrics sure, but we don't ever do anything with all our star players, so something is amiss. Heck, they go off and win Heisman at other places.

Did they have a soft schedule? Yes, but so did we. They can only play the games they are scheduled, and unlike us for decades, they took advantage of the opportunity while we squandered it with another typical Aggie November.

The approach of some Aggies of being so high and mighty and thinking well just tap little ol SMU on the head and say good job little buddy, proud of how you punched above your weight class this time is what has been the problem with our entire program for so long. Somehow we think we are superior, that just being A&M and being in the SEC and all our resources, we are just supposed to be good, but it never actually happens. Until we change that mindset and actually get serious about the product on the field, and stop worrying about who has the best gameday atmosphere and welcoming fans, and big stadiums, and yells and traditions, and start actually demanding more, we will just stay where we are.

The players are now paid mercenaries. Not fellow students, regardless of what anyone wants to call it. They don't represent me or my university anymore. Go get killers. If half our team was full of blood thirsty savages that weren't sure if they could play because they might have a prison sentence to start, but if they play we win, I'd take it. Give me Miami of the 80's, don't care. Just win. And stop with the superiority complex that we are somehow better than everyone because we say we are.

If Jennings was smart he would come here next year, get benched, then leave for OU and win the Heisman

Funny

OU is actually where I think he might end up next year.

And sorry, it wasn't last year, it was the year before, they had the #4 transfer portal class

ccolley68 said:

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JDCAG (NOT Colin) said:

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Wrong. They were in the 30s again while A&M was top 5.

https://247sports.com/Season/2024-Football/TransferTeamRankings/


There is literally no evidence of the juggernaut recruiting/nil machine you are describing.

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Ok, well then how do you explain a team that has better players at every position, better coaches, better record, more conference total game appearances than A&M if A&M has all the money and according to all the rankings services, all the players too. We had the #1 class of all time not long ago, how did that work out? At some point evaluation has to play a part, not just rankings. Leach never outrecruited A&M either, but he sure could always whip our ass

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It's explained by it not being the players but the system and/or talent evaluation. If their players were good enough to play for us, we'd just go get them. When was the last time we lost a recruiting battle to them?

Pumpkinhead said:

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TCU made the CFP once too.

Look folks….sports fan life isn't 'fair'. Cinderella's happen. Sleeping giants can sleep for a long time. When I was at A&M in early 90's A&M dominated the SWC and would have made a 12-team CFP 3 out of 4 years I was in school minimum. But they didn't have such a thing back then.

If there had been a 12-team playoff in 2012 A&M might have won a natty. But they didn't have such a thing back then.

i don't think SMU even makes the playoff this year. Bama gets in before them. Just watch.

Over the next 25 years bookmark this post and compare number playoff appearances for A&M vs SMU.

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Stick to basketball.

Hubert J. Farnsworth said:

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Pumpkinhead said:

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So let's hire the SMU OC. Why this obsession with the QB?

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Because the passing game starts with the QB. If you don't have a QB that can see the open guys and hit them accurately then your offense is going to be limited. I'm also of the Mike Leach belief that you can't teach accuracy. Josh Allen is the only quarterback I've ever seen that bucked that.

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Uh no it starts with offenive line.

Marcel will be thriving in SMU system. Issue is offense scheme and Wr talent.

Do agree here. Our scheme and wr room both need to improve.

We'll see how everyone feels about SMU and their QB after they play Penn State.