What was he Thinking?: Sept. 3
The epic 1959 movie Ben Hur will forever be known as one of Hollywood’s finest. It won a record 11 Academy Awards.
Of course, with any iconic film, the musical score plays a major role in its success. Enter Hungarian-born and German-trained composer Miklos Rozsa who had already achieved success scoring other films in the 1930s and 1940s.
But Ben Hur was his masterpiece. At age 51 Rozsa captured the period of the Roman Empire’s dominance at the time of Christ. Powerful trumpets matched by the intense strings. Nothing soft here.
In his career, Rozsa scored more than 100 motion pictures and won the Academy Award for his brilliance three times including Ben Hur. He passed away in 1995 at age 88.
Great Hollywood movie theme albums will always include his Alpha piece of the Parade of Charioteers. But this is where the RJB can help.
And given the great news of SMU earning an invite to the ACC this past Friday, this selection fits.
Setting the scene: the Roman fleet had just come from winning a battle against the Macedonian Pirates. Then-slave Ben Hur saved the life of the Roman Consul, Quintas Arias.
As the two return to Rome victorious in a chariot, a cheering crowd greets them and Caesar awaits their arrival with this music playing in celebration.
Indeed, Rozsa’s piece titled “Victory Parade” could be viewed in similar fashion on The Hilltop. David Miller could just as easily been riding in that chariot, drawn up The Boulevard greeted in ticker tape parade fashion.
*****
Well, wouldn’t know it. Charlie Brown finally kicked that darn football. And there wasn’t one thing Lucy could do about it.
By 7:30 a.m. Friday morning, the SMU community learned the journey in the desert that began in 1989 finally found its destination in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
All of politicking. All of the calls. All of the jet fuel burned. All of the meetings. All of the shrewd negotiations. All of the internal discussions from within SMU leadership on what it could offer its P5/4 conference partner to secure a seat at the table of the haves.
All of this. And it still came down to one vote. North Carolina State flipped its vote from no to yes. Embrace the magnitude of how this one vote forever changed the course of SMU’s fate.
But this isn’t new. Throughout the history of the United States one vote has altered the course of our path.
>1800 – Thomas Jefferson was elected President by one vote in the House of Representatives after a tie in the Electoral College. If Jefferson loses, maybe there is no Louisiana Purchase.
>1824 – Andrew Jackson wins the popular vote for President but lost by one vote in the House of Representatives to John Quincy Adams after an Electoral College deadlock.
>1845 – The U.S. Senate passed the convention annexing Texas by two votes.
>1846 – President James Knox Polk’s request for a declaration of war against Mexico passes by one vote.
As the saying goes, you only get out of something what you put into it. I’m sure there were times Miller, Dr. Turner, Rick Hart and others quietly said to each other or into their own whispers that they didn’t think this would happen despite what they had done.
You can be sure the gut punch on Aug. 4 with the collapse of the Pac 12 probably hurt more than any other. SMU was in and then it wasn’t.
Of course, if this was mainly about SMU’s football resume being the sole reason for it to move up to a P4/5 conference this move would not have happened. No conference titles, one double digit win season, several minor bowl appearances and a lot of bad seasons.
But the formula TCU used to get into the Big 12 in 2012 by winning a lot, scheduling up and beating those teams (Notably Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl) isn’t the formula in 2023.
This is about markets, attractiveness and aggressiveness. SMU used Dallas as its calling card and the ability for the rest of the ACC including the no votes – Clemson, Florida State and North Carolina – to access Texas.
It’s no different when Texas A&M joined the SEC in 2012. It unlocked Texas for Alabama, Georgia, Auburn and the others. That’s how important this state is. The ACC wanted a piece of it.
The attractiveness came down to the $250 million invested in new athletic facilities between the Crum Center, renovated Moody Coliseum, new aquatics center, Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium, the Garry Weber End Zone Complex and possible assurances that eventual upgrades to Gerald J. Ford Stadium would occur. I don’t know that, but I think we can see a day where this stadium gets a facelift.
The aggressiveness was the aforementioned calls, meetings, etc. SMU’s leadership never yielded despite disappointment after disappointment. That’s why these guys are big money donors. They have a vision. They’re going to see it through.
Here we are.
Starting July 1, 2024 trips to Charlottesville, Tallahassee, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Blacksburg and Atlanta will be a thing.
Personally, I am terribly saddened that this has happened to college athletics. The regionalization of the sport made it unique. Greed and television have created a world of haves and have nots.
SMU’s uncommon standing in college athletics allowed it every opportunity to remain in the discussion until something hit. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad and maybe more relieved that this university was apparently the last one to get into the life raft.
I think we can trace the volatility of the sport to the creation of The Longhorn Network. When it launched in 2011, it created a major wedge in the Big 12 to the point where Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri and Texas A&M had enough and left.
And then we’ve seen it all unfold differently over the last 10 years. USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon now have to start making out itineraries to play conference games in Piscataway, N.J., College Park, MD and State College, PA.
Does that make any sense? No. It doesn’t. But this is the world we live in.
As I tweeted Friday, (SMU) do what you have to do and don’t apologize for it.
Now that the opportunity is here, SMU’s university and athletic administration should have started talking about the first steps of road mapping its way to July 1, 2024 and beyond that start date in the hours leading up to the celebration at Armstrong this past Friday.
The more resources coupled with the infrastructure and organization allow for SMU to go beyond just being a middle-of-the-road conference member and emerging as an eventual upper echelon.
This urban legend of SMU being a sleeping giant is over. The giant is wide awake.
And as for the future of the ACC where its position could either be thin or flush in 2030, that will take care of itself as commissioner Jim Phillips navigates.
In the meantime, it’s a window of opportunity for SMU to get into the middle of whatever those future conversations look like. Athletic success may not have been a major factor for SMU to join the ACC. It will now for whatever happens next.
But for anyone to predict, speculate or pontificate, I’m reminded of the line from the 1987 movie Broadcast News when reporter Aaron Altman is given the chance to anchor the weekend news, something he had never done.
The bureau chief cautioned him saying, “Prepare carefully.’’
Altman responded, “Prepare what? Do you have tomorrow’s news handy?”
*****
Other quick viewpoints:
>Only Big 12 leadership and membership can ever answer why SMU was never granted admission. If it simply came down to the Texas schools using their influence as the rationale to not share the league with another university from the state – Hello, University of Houston – then the needs of a few outweighed the needs of the many and was shortsighted. They pulled a Clemson and Florida State.
Whether you believe in poetic justice or take note of the irony, it was at least interesting the Big 12 Texas programs not named Houston and Texas (still have to count them) lost their openers Saturday.
>Speaking of the TCU series. You might have seen the quote where TCU Athletics Director Jeremiah Donati told The Atlantic’s David Ubben Friday there would be a possibility of resuming talks to keep the series with SMU going.
That validates what I said last week that TCU dropped – it didn’t pause – this series because SMU wasn’t a P4/5 program at the time.
Funny how tunes change when your status changes. Now, taking care of season ticket holders with an extra home game doesn’t seem as paramount.
If you’re SMU just let it marinate because there are more important things to do. There are three more games to play with the Horned Frogs up until 2025. That said, any potential future conversations should start with TCU owing several games that should have been played in Dallas that never were. For starters, I can think of 2020.
TCU no longer holds the high ground. It’s now an even playing field.
*****
Several observations from the Mustangs 38-14 season-opening victory over Louisiana Tech on Saturday. Let’s all admit the first game of the season generates the most kneejerk reactions because we’ve been couped up for so long not watching the game. Once we see a game, we can’t help ourselves. And that’s good. Football is a game of passion.
>For starters walking into Ford Stadium did have an odd feel to it. The reality of the Gary Webber End Zone Complex was right in our faces. It did make the stadium feel smaller. Once it’s completed in time for 2024, it should look great.
Like anything, we’ll all get used to it.
>The plan of acting and playing like the better team was apparent. We’ve seen SMU win comfortably in previous season openers. But there has always been some chaos associated with the Mustangs in those wins.
Once Preston Stone found Jordan Hudson on that 67-yard touchdown pass, that got this team going. Defensive or offensive PI, what I will say is that Hudson’s grab was a very physical play. You need your receivers to be physical.
When SMU scored before the half to make it 31-0 this was over. The second half became a matter of managing the last 30 minutes and not doing anything silly. They didn’t except for missing two field goals. More on Collin Rogers later.
>Encouraging start by both fronts. I’ll start with the defense. Despite the garbage TD at the end, this was as complete as it gets.
The Bulldogs ran 57 plays. That unit recorded 14 plays that were either sacks (six, the most since 2021 against UCF) tackles for loss (five) or QB hurries (three). Do the math. One out of every four times Sonny Cumbie called a play, something bad happened. And 25 percent is a high percentage. Sacks are part of the rushing total. Bulldogs were 1.2 yards per carry. Before wholesale substitutions were made, defensive coordinator Scott Symons used about 20 players. Hello depth.
The pass rush spoke for itself with the aforementioned stats. Alex Kilgore played like arriving in January was the right call. And Isaiah Nwokobia looked like he was having fun. That’s how you should play the game.
>With the offensive line, it’s a process where these eight are going to have to continue to work on chemistry and play like a fist. But it’s a good start. They protected Stone (just one hurry) as he had a clean pocket. The running game averaged 5.1 yards per rushing attempt. Of course, LJ Johnson’s 67-yarder helped that average. Hey, they all count.
If you were hoping for perfect OL play in the first game, you should not have been. If you’re looking for it throughout the season, don’t. You’re setting yourself up for endless frustration. There are some uglies on the other side whose job is to make it difficult.
We can all agree that Saturday in Norman, OK will be a great stress test to learn if this group can hold its own.
>Stone needed to play this game start to finish. He’s never done that. It’s a conditioning thing and a mental thing. Not much adversity against him. A couple of dangerous throws. But as I mentioned in the Friday Five this is him. You’re going to have live with a little gunslinger.
>Rogers issues are the life of a kicker. One year you are nails. The next year, you can’t find the uprights if you wanted to. This is probably the most mentally fragile position to play. The two missed field goals from 49 and 36 were frustrating for all involved. The 49-yarder maybe you can understand because college kickers are 50/50 on those. The 36-yarder is the more bothersome miss. You can’t miss those.
You’d like to think Rogers’ issues from the spring are not at the root of this. But if they are, then it could be an interesting next three months.
>Not worried about the Oklahoma 73-0 blowout of Arkansas State. Yep, it’s a big number. Let’s put this in perspective. In the preseason Sun Belt West Division Poll released in July, ASU was picked sixth among those seven teams. The Red Wolves were coming off a 3-9 2022 season. The Red Wolves aren’t good.
Always keep in mind that this is a week-to-week sport. I don’t anticipate the much-talked about and improved SMU secondary surrendering 422 yards and allowing OU QBs Dillon Gabriel and Jackson Arnold to complete 91 percent of their attempts.
If you’re SMU and you aspire to be a great program – that’s why this school just joined the ACC, right? – you welcome these games. You embrace the challenge even if it’s on the road. As a coach once said at his presser, “You play to win the game!”
I’m looking forward to seeing how this team competes late Saturday afternoon.
*****
Now, a look at other SMU sports…
>SMU volleyball is 2-3 for the season following at split over the weekend at the Seminole Invitational with future ACC foe Florida State and Auburn. The Mustangs swept Florida State on Saturday and lost in four to Auburn Saturday.
They return to Moody Coliseum at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday for a meeting with No. 16 Baylor (ESPN+). SMU continues this challenging non-conference schedule at the Stacy Clark Classic Friday and Saturday at West Lafayette, IN. They take on No. 25 Purdue Friday and either No. 13 Houston or No. 15 Kentucky Saturday.
>SMU men’s golf begins its season Friday-Sunday at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate event in Scottsdale, AZ.
>In Stillwater, OK – The SMU Cross Country team started its 2023 season with a strong showing at the Cowboy Preview, taking third behind No. 19 Arkansas and host and third-ranked Oklahoma State, while besting conference rival Tulsa. The Mustangs will be back in action close to home next weekend on September 9th for the Gerald Richey Invite in Arlington.
>SMU women’s soccer lost at Texas on Sunday, 4-0 and was 2-1 before Sunday’s match at Texas so now stands at 2-2. The Mustangs travel to Baylor on Thursday for 7:00 p.m. start (ESPN+).
>After defeating Central Arkansas this past Monday, 5-0, SMU men’s soccer (2-1) lost at Denver Friday, 3-1. It plays host to Oral Roberts at 7:00 pm Monday followed by Saint Louis at 7:00 pm Friday at Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium.
Let’s make it a great week! Pony Up!
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