Bitter loyalty

The entire watch party at Ted's abode Friday night was shocked -- shocked! -- by how easily I stomached SMU's utter failure on both sides of the field. I wasn't wallowing in misery, as a friend and Aggie fan was this weekend after she stood at Kyle Field (they don't sit there, you know) and watched Texas A&M lose to Arkansas State.

No question about the difference here: It's all about history.

SMU fans are a long-suffering group, and I'm not even talking about our little "incident" back in the 80s. Winless and countless 1-11 seasons, the tradition of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, 20 rebuilding years in a row. Sure, it's an abusive relationship, plagued by disappointment after disappointment. But he tells me he's sorry, so it's love, right?

On the other hand, A&M (and Texas and UCLA and countless others) have winning traditions. Sure, many may only be 7-5 years, but by my count, that's a winning record. Not gonna get you a conference championship, and they may land you in the North Dakota Bowl. So when your team posts 14 points against a Sun Belt Conference school, you're going to grumble angrily when people ask you how the game went. To a team with a losing tradition -- hello, Baylor -- even 6-6 is a relief. If Mack Brown or Pete Carroll only managed a 6-win season, they'd be handed their walking papers immediately.

To close, here's a quick analysis of the SMU-Rice blowout: Poor execution, but there's already been tremendous change on the Hilltop. The offense for the most part looked like an offense. June and Bo came out gunning. There was an aggressive hunger that has been missing from the field. What's left to work on? Defense, defense, defense. That scheme they were running -- don't really know how to describe it -- just looked scattered and unfocused. And it was disappointing to see Thomas Morestead break his school-record streak of 78 successful PATs.

But Friday night's game was the first real test of the gamble June Jones took with naming a true freshman as a quarterback and trying to clean up the recruiting mess that Phil Bennett left behind. June, you're not completely wrong when you say you need to go back to the drawing board. Still, I saw more promise on Friday than I have in any of the 12 previous season openers I've watched. And it's refreshing to be able to watch a game and to see some coherence on at least one end of the field. That makes every one of the gazillions of dollars being thrown at June and crew worthwhile.

And that's why I, a loyal Mustang, was at least a little proud of my guys Friday night. Go Red, go Blue, go Mustangs, S-M-U.