I honestly thought that if SMU lost the Battle for the Iron Skillet, I would have cited lack of attendance by the student body as the reason of our defeat. However, I was wrong. Very wrong. 

I have never, ever seen such a great turnout from the SMU student body at any athletic sporting event and the SMU/Greater Dallas Community in my time here at SMU. I honestly felt that I was really experiencing a college game day environment, with the Boulevard packed with members of the SMU community and beyond. 

The stadium was LOUD. And I mean LOUD. I’d estimate that two-thirds of the attendees at Gerald J. Ford Stadium were wearing red. And that’s a good sign. And the best part was I barely saw any student leave during halftime. 

I know for other games it would be different. But hey, you never know when you’re needed to rush the field! I don’t even know where to begin expressing my thanks to the student body, faculty, staff, administration, and the Dallas/Fort Worth community for making Saturday a memorable day. We broke a stadium attendance record, got national exposure from a telecast on ESPN, and made the Battle for the Iron Skillet relevant again. And it didn’t involve a college football team from the Big 12, SEC, ACC, PAC-10 or an independent (Seriously, why is everyone using DFW as the college football hub of the world?).

Yes, we did not win the game. And score may not have reflected it, but our football team is getting even better. There are always mistakes to be learned from, and Conference-USA championship aspirations are ahead of us this season. 

Yet, I felt great about how our football team was able to keep up with a No. 4 ranked team in the country. Sure it’s TCU, but you have to give credit where credit is due. This doesn’t mean that you still can’t have a friendly but aggressive rivalry. 

But in any case, one thing I would suggest to whom it may concern in the future: Please update the scoreboard with correct statistics from the correct game. 420 yards in the first quarter? Maybe if I was playing you in Madden 11 (Or NCAA Football 11, if you’re more of an option type of guy). And do not, I repeat, do NOT play music when we are trying to score on a crucial drive. I’m pretty sure the SMU offense would prefer a quieter stadium so our wide receivers, linemen and running backs can hear audibles by the quarterback at the line of scrimmage when needed. 

But who really knows? Maybe someone should tell a member of Student Senate to write a piece of legislation about it.

Joseph Esau is a junior electrical engineering and mathematics double major. He is also the Parliamentarian of the SMU Student Senate. He can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].