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Me too! Oh No! If this is what we have for GMG.com now, I would rather have the Mayans be correct in a few days. Take me home Lord Jesus! I can't take life with a non-functional GMG.com. <insert unavailable emoticon here>

Right now, if it comes down to being a knife fight in the five non-contract conferences, my money is on Craig Thompson. He has kept the lines of communication open with BYU, SDSU, and Boise. He has twice worked well to keep AFA in the fold despite the fact that they were generally regarded as one of the least happy members. He expanded effectively to negate Benson's BYU plan while not over-expanding in such a way that it would be an intolerable solution should one or more defector want to come back. The league has mostly stayed true to its desire to add quality football schools that sell tickets (SJSU failing the ticket side hugely but numbers for survival demanded it). Idaho hasn't been added because they are dealbreaker for Boise. NMSU hasn't been added because doing so would damage the chances of adding UTEP. Meanwhile... Mike Aresco appears less and less likely to be able to deliver the $6 million plus promised to Boise and SDSU, the league appears ready to fracture losing seven valuable propertities. Brit Bankowsky, has expanded in such a way that if Houston, SMU, Tulane, Memphis, ECU, UCF are in a lurch, coming home isn't an option. 20 teams won't cut it. Plus the new league has added schools that are deal breakers for the schools that they would want to add to make it a better league. Benson lost his ability to keep the doors open with the way the GaSt add was handled. His potential to better his situation doesn't exist because the schools needed to do that find the SBC brand objectionable or find one or two specific schools objectionable. Steinbrecher has made one false move, adding UMass football only to balance out Temple but he is an inherently stable position since his most attractive teams in performance and attendance are either in lousy markets or to geographically remote from where the realignment action is or both. Thompson may not get those schools back but he is the only one of the five who has the possibility that he can make an announcement in the next 7 months that clearly makes his league stronger than it is today.

If only Mac's offense could play Todd's defense?

did you look at the schedule??? I mean really. First six games at home against one of the easiest schedules I have ever seen. With the exception of Seton Hall, who have they played. We could very well be 6-0 with that schedule also, and we would know nothing about our team. Let's check back in with this after the Marquette game and see how he is doing. This is the same smoke and mirrors Johnny used while he was here. Don't get me wrong, I loved me some Johnny Jones, but we have played both Creighton and St. Louis on the road. They haven't even played a road game yet a month into the season. This comparison is just not fair.

Was it a mistake for CUSA to invite MTSU and FAU so soon?

Nice article

Scout count is now up to 50.... jeebus.

Twitter is for twats... See ya at the game!

The best move IMO would be for us to hook up with a conference that contains flagship universities. We have NEVER done that before in our history, and it would be the next step to our possibly reaching the ultimate goal of joining a "Big 12 like" conference down the road. We've got to finally start thinking ahead, especially since some of these regional CUSA schools could abandon the current setup at any time. TCU managed to deal with the horrible pain of playing out west, so why can't we?

So why are we still talking about Dodge?

Some people are WAY too stupid to understand twitter. #hatersgonnahate

Everyone is assuming the conference as economic engine is the model that works best. It is a 20 year old model dating back to the SEC title game in 1992 and the final death of the CFA TV deal after the 1995 season with each league cutting its own deal. The death of the SWC happened as the CFA deal died. The WAC grew from 10 to 16 to try to preserve viability as they cut their own TV deal without the CFA. The WAC16 failed to deliver and it spawned the MWC. The Big XII and formation of CUSA were direct responses to the CFA TV deal dying as the SEC pulled out. Everything that has happened since is reactionary to the conference becoming the economic engine. But what if the model changes? The dollars don't have to decrease for catastrophic effects, just how the dollars are collected. In a subscriber based world, does it make sense for Texas who would represent probably 1/3rd of all Big XII TV subscribers to take 1/10th? Does it make sense for Kansas to get 1/10th when Kansas might provide 1/15th of the subscribers? If a subscriber system emerges in a strong way, what reason is there for the conference to be an economic unit? The conference can go back to what it was first designed to be. A framework for scheduling, someone to handle assignment of officials, someone to keep stats and announce awards.

New system? what system? pass the ball around the arc until there is 1 second left to shoot and chunk the ball up?

Is the plural of "test" "testes"?

There is no realistic greener pasture for UNIT to aspire at this time, which means I can sit back, laugh my ass off at the CUSA/MWC defectors and watch them scurry about trying to save face. We've got our spot at what, worst case, is the kiddie table, best case, becomes the teen table. All I know is I have a chair and I wanna eat! Oh, and I hope SMU ends up as an independent playing Idaho four times a year.

3rd times a charm.

WOAH! Didn't expect it to happen this soon. This is either going to be really good for CUSA or really bad for CUSA...let's hope it ends up being good.

There is no question that CUSA over expanded and has continually knee-jerked itself into an untenable position with regard to the possible return of some (or all) of the original defectors. What I want to know is that I've heard mention that several (or all?) of the defectors are still "technically" members of CUSA. Where do WE stand technically? Is CUSA legally bound to us (and the other expansion teams) as full members yet? This whole situation sounds very, very bad, imho. Schools are making decisions based on money and perception of class, and this Big East fallout will be ugly and will not end well.

But they aren't coming back to an even more watered down CUSA. Having the teams they have now is much better than competing against FIU, FAU, and 3 FBS start ups. Every single current Big east school will view it that way. If htey go anywhere, it will be to the MWC, and that is only if Boise St. and SDSU pull out of the deal. CUSA was dead to these schools the moment UNCC, UTSA, FAU, FIU, and, for SMU, UNT was added. They will only come back to CUSA if there are zero other options. The Big 5 better tread VERY lightly. This thing has never been as close to a prime candidate for an anti-trust lawsuit than it will be the day the Big East dies.

And FIU/FAU and maybe UTSA as well.

Wasn't much of this happening in the soon to be late, great Big East all but predictable even before UH and SMU accepted their invites? Maybe if they'd only looked beyond the day they accepted as well as looking beyond their noses with the greed which made them leave this region with all their men and women's varsity sports that I think even a novice could have seen some major traveling budget concerns? The AD's at UH and SMU had to know the B.E. basketball schools could do what they are obviously going to do if they'd done a bit more research on the history of that northeastern seaboard league. Of course, had the SMU and UH AD's not shown pro-activity in all this they would have become Sunday's after church roast for the next year or until they retired if that is something AD's ever do. Then again...it's that old 20/20 thing in play here, too. Wild horses will not drag UH and SMU back into CUSA. Seems they feel we of SBC 2.0 have all (to the school) regained our cooties tag once again. Thurston Howell, III, would say, "Oh Lovey, there are just some in our most high social circles that we just cannot be seen or associated with." Wonder if SMU will do with UNT what it appears UH did to La Tech with their future home and home football schedule as in.........cancel it? We who've been around the DFW college football scene for 4 or 5 plus decades know that is always a possibility with those 'Stangs. Negative? Hardly not, some of us in SMU's most recent neighborly gesture aimed at us remember the present SMU Prez' talking up La Tech over UNT for CUSA membership in the Dallas Morning News during the last CUSA cake walk or expansion talks. We might as well all get comfy' with our new conference surroundings because tradition once again rules. SMU's 1939 NCAA national championship is all but closer to the era of Indian raids out here in Parker County, Texas, than the present day but those are the kind of things these over-paid NCAA conference moguls and geeks seem to still go by. They seem to forget that all those 1980's great SMU football teams were Dallas' 2'nd well paid off pro football team AND................nevermind those endless photos of Gerald Ford Stadium on Game Day with less than 5,000 fans in their stadium and then those numbers most always getting reported in the DMN as either............ 18,000 or 22,000. Hey, I know we have our own att. problems but I don't think ours (even in an 8 season losing streak) can trump the ones on Mockingbird Lane and those during winning football seasons to boot. So I guess the NCAA's version of social climbing Cinderellas-ugly-sisters-in-waiting continues and I don't see this round being the last one, either. Be nice if North Texas at some point of all our lives would actually be athletically postitioned for advancement with good W/L records across the board to complement our extremely advantagious North Texas Metroplex location. So all non NCAA Big Boy Conference schools start reforming the lines once again for the next round! This whole thing is all but turning into comedy sit-com if you sit back and think about all that has transpired. GMG!

Why not Dikdodge?

This topic is relevant. Carry on.

Hoping that the crowd + the two main guys show up. The amount of scouts at this game is more than usually are at a Kentucky game.

What? MWC payout is below that of CUSA. CUSA is going to have the nearby schools with alumni in DFW. We don't want to play out west. Do you remember the Big West years?

The Sun Belt UNT dominanted. UNT. First year back in FBS 1995 ASU. First year back in FBS 1992 Idaho. First year back in FBS 1997 ULL. FBS since 1974 ULM. First year back 1994 MTSU. First year FBS 1999 NMSU. FBS since 1959 Utah State. FBS since 1939 * (joined in 03) Troy. First year FBS 2002 * (joined in 04) As to start-ups FIU & FAU joined in 2005 WKU joined in 09 after a successful FCS run and has finished second the last two seasons. USA start-up joined this year. UNT was the third newest back to FBS of the original 7.

i agree with the fact that he needs an effective qb to be effective, but you can say that about almost any football team. i don't blame this season on him. the point i was making was to show the same things that we are complaining about are thes same things past schools have complained about. everyone wants to say mac is the one calling all these running plays and it seems this is something he tends to lean on, especially when the qb can't throw. canales is a great guy and a players coach and i would like for him to stay because i think he can be more creative with a better qb who can run (like riley during his interim stint), but it's too much of a coincidence that his previous two schools say the same thing.

So lets get this straight. FIU fired the coach who built them up and put them on the map, which helped them move upward in the conference race game so that they can hire a guy who has never been a full time head coach and whose offensive numbers have been less than awesome in the last two years. Yeah, I can certainly see that happening...

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8741465/kliff-kingsbury-hired-texas-tech-red-raiders-coachhttp://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8741465/kliff-kingsbury-hired-texas-tech-red-raiders-coach Okay, I don't know about the prodigal son bit, but still. Kinda wished he stayed at A&M and developed Manziel for four full years and possibly ran the table as championship contenders. That would've been cool.

I definitely have a lot more respect for Riley as a QB and player than for someone like Vizza. Riley was as tough as they come. I really hope he finds good success with his new coaching career. Vizza was talented and could have emerged as something special his junior year. His quitting football is still one of the strangest things I've seen. Oh well, I guess to each his own... it's just weird to read an article like the one Mean Green 93-98 posted and hear someone with a Div I football scholarship flat-out admit that they didn't like the early mornings and early evenings working on football. I also agree with MeanGreenTexas about Andrew Smith. Oh what could have been!!!

The NCAA Bylaws and the United States Courts say there won't be a cap on autobids unless that cap is based on some criteria such as performance. That may be bad news for the new WAC but it won't be for new Big East. Sports are different but let's be realistic here. Until Board of Regents vs. NCAA if you wanted college football you had to contract with the NCAA who had 180 then around 130 schools under their umbrella. After that you had to contract with the CFA, Big 10, Pac-10, and Notre Dame, that was all conferences except Big West and MAC and all but the smallest independents. By the time the BCS formed you could reach essentially the same audience with 7 contracts (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Pac-10, SEC, Notre Dame). Today you can reach that audience with six contracts (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC, Notre Dame) and now up to 1/3rd of the Notre Dame games are in the ACC package. During much of that time there were differences but the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10, and SEC deals were all pretty close. Then trailing far behind was the Big East. The gap between the big 5 and Big East was as large as the gap between the Big East and CUSA/MWC there was then another less dramatic gap down to WAC/MAC/SBC. The Big East "projections" of $14 million per full member as a percentage would have meant the Big East at 82% of the ACC contract per team would actually be closer in revenue than at any other time. A Big East lacking Miami, Va.Tech, BC, Pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia, Rutgers, and Louisville would have grown more than the ACC contract after adding Pitt/Syracuse and before losing Maryland. If the $80 million figure pans out that would mean the Big East has lost value vs. the ACC moving from around 50% of the ACC to 31% of the ACC's value. There doesn't have to be a bubble. The fact that every school that was part of the BCS when it formed (minus Temple plus Utah, TCU, and Louisville) are now contained in five conferences with partial inclusion of Notre Dame vs six conferences and ND means the schools delivering the greatest value are concentrated giving them greater negotiating leverage. 10 years ago if you missed on one contract there were five other high value deals. With three tier contracting there were 18 value deals available. Today that value is in five contracts or 15 deals in the three tier system, except Big 10 and Pac-12 own their own third tier deals, leaving only 13 available for bid. If you don't believe there is a bubble you have to concede that moving from 18 deals to 13 deals has created a premium on those deals. You can look at the ratings numbers and there isn't a great deal of value out there outside of those 13 deals to demand a premium. Maybe there isn't a bubble but the constriction of supply of the highly valued contracts is what is causing part of the run-up.

Getting higher ranked players who actually have offers from other FBS schools does matter, don't kid yourself. There are exceptions to everything, but out recruiting your competition and getting the players you both want pays off over time. Some 4 and 5 stars turn out to be busts, some 2 stars turn out to be first-round picks, but those are EXCEPTIONS.

I should hope not. It would be nice to see them come back and for us to become known to recruits as a place that it's easy for scouts to see players.

If these recruitment stars meant crap in the real world, or in the NFL, Tom Brady sucks. A lot of the scouting info is political. Don't kid yourselves.

Happy Birthday, fellers! Of course we care, Phil, and one reason for that is that we don't want to make you have to call your cousin Guido over in Sicily. GMG!

SDSU is irrelevant to the argument unless they were to come back before us and preclude our membership due to membership number limitations. Also, they may not be Rice, but they aren't as bad of a school as you seem to think. They have MANY nationally ranked programs. If your point is that the MWC is not relatively stable or would potentially be a financial disaster for us, then I beg to differ on that point. SDSU and Boise left for obvious reasons, but those reasons are fading fast. We need to be proactive, and not just stick with the status quo of sitting on our butts and letting others determine our fate. Also, your DII thoughts fit perfectly with our D1AA history, but I don't think anyone is looking in that direction. Somehow I think we'll go the way of UTA before we start scheduling Commerce.

If only the cryogenically frozen best offense of Todge could be molded to the cryogenically frozen best defense of DD. I call my new creation: ToDDickey.

people still talk about Hayden Fry too.

Maybe because Rice will jump out of our bed at their first opportunity?

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/college_sports/college_football/article/Ex-Heights-QB-Vizza-tossed-football-and-scored-817823.php

All I get out of this thread is that we should try our best to get into the MWC ASAP. It's all about reputation and who you hang out with, and we've failed at that endeavor for decades. Get in a relatively stable conference full of flagship universities and we've reached our nirvana. At least for now.

Great freshman year, not so great as a Soph. One of the weirdest things ever to quit football as a starter. Thanks Dodge.

Of course we care. Your opinions help shape and form this board, whether we agree with them or not. This is a board for fans of North Texas athletics to express their opinions and you almost 9.000 post combined have been an addition to the board.

Gosh, didn't know you guys cared. Thanks!

Happy birthday, gentlemen. Dudes.

Passhhhh. Who cares about winning? Benford'd

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUYS! ENJOY YOUR DAY.

Stephen Howard‏@meangreen0813 @KennyBybee @NicoleAuerbach I have no idea where to sit them all. Haha! #goodproblem Nicole Auerbach‏@NicoleAuerbach @meangreen0813 folding chairs!

Awesome is the word. Even better in person. Why would you even consider not going if you are a Mean Green fan? You would miss seeing the tons more of these on the way.