So Close...Well, Saturday certainly was a heartbreaker. It seemed like we were just one or two plays away from continuing our run for a Conference USA Championship. But while it wasn’t meant to be this year, we can still reach our goal of earning our first bowl berth in 22 years. One could easily lose sight of the bigger picture, so let’s refocus – we still control our own fate when it comes to making a bowl game. It starts this weekend with Tulsa.
On Saturday, we will be honoring 20 seniors who have put in hours and hours and hours of hard work to represent our university. These young men kept fighting when we went 0-12 just a few years ago and are now on the verge of taking us somewhere we haven’t been in two decades. I say they deserve our support and I ask you to come out and show them how much you have appreciated their efforts.
And while we’re talking about bowl games, we need you there for another reason. I’m sure there will be bowl representatives on hand this week (three bowls were represented last week) and we need to show them how much we support our Mustangs. You, too, can play a big role in our successes this season.
We’ll also be holding a food drive for the North Texas Food Bank this weekend. Just bring a canned good donation and get a general admission ticket for $5. If that’s not an inexpensive way to spend a fun Saturday afternoon, I don’t know what is.
On the hardwood, I want to congratulate Coach Matt Doherty and the Mustangs on their 2-1 start to the season. After picking up two wins to open the season, they dropped a hard-fought decision to Florida State last night, but I still think the trip was a big success. While I’m not big on moral victories, to play on the road in a hostile environment against a team getting votes for the top-25 and battle them to what was, in essence, a two-point game shows just how far Coach Doherty has brought this team in just a few months. I think the future is pretty bright. The team will return to Moody for our home opener on Saturday night at 7 p.m. against Dayton.
Make Saturday a double-header – come to the football game and stay for the basketball game. I’ll even make it easy (and cost effective!). Just take your ticket stub from the football game to the ticket window at Moody and you can come to the basketball game for free! How great is that?
On the women’s side, we’ve started 1-0 and will host Sam Houston on Friday night at 7 p.m. in Moody. Coach Rompola has us headed in the right direction. As a matter of fact, to encourage you to check them out, just come on Friday and show a ticket for Saturday’s football game and you can come to the women’s game for free, too.
So, with $5 football tickets that will also get you into men’s and women’s basketball games for free, you can see three exciting college sporting events and entertain a family of four for an entire weekend for $20. I just don’t think you can beat that deal.
In soccer action, our top-ranked (that’s right, No. 1) men's soccer team returns to action tonight when they host UC-Santa Barbara in an NCAA second-round Tournament game at Westcott Field. Kick-off is slated for 7 p.m. It’s really important that you come out and cheer on Coach Hyndman and the student-athletes as we go for our second-straight College Cup appearance.
And finally, while it may not get the media attention that football and basketball (and even soccer, for that matter), we need to congratulate SMU junior Rachael Forish for taking first place at Saturday's NCAA South Central Cross Country Regional. In a field of 108 participants, she won by nearly 10 seconds. Rachel also won the Conference USA Cross Country title nearly two weeks ago and will now advance to the NCAA Championships, Nov. 30, in Terre Haute, Indiana. Rachel’s accomplishment is a great tribute to the hard work that she and her teammates put in throughout the year. They are tremendous representative of the school and we could not be more proud of their efforts.
Until next time… GO MUSTANGS!