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I think Dunbar is going to get a significant bump in playing time this year. Let's not forget he led the team in total kickoff returns and was efficient in that role last year. I still think Randle will end up being the number two back given his size, but I'm confident Lance will play a lot more this year. "Player of the Day: Lance Dunbar. Not only did Dunbar (rather surprisingly) take second-team snaps, he backed up the coaches' decision by often looking like the quickest guy on the field. More importantly, he showed a gift for finding a hole and shooting through it before it closed. Going into the season, many observers thought that Joseph Randle would be Murray's backup, with Dunbar serving as the third down back. Today's practice suggested a new possibility: Dunbar as the backup and the bigger Randle as the third-down back." http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2013/7/21/4544196/cowboys-training-camp-report-practice-number-one-welcome-to-camp-tempo Courtesy of ESPN: "Running backs coach Gary Brown said rookie running back Joseph Randle will be brought along slowly because he missed the entire offseason recovering from thumb surgery. The running back rotation is as follows: DeMarco Murray, Lance Dunbar, Phillip Tanner and Randle. Randle runs hard and finds his running lanes quickly, but you can tell he's a little rusty. He dropped a screen pass from quarterback Alex Tanney because he was in such a hurry to make a play." http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowboys/post/_/id/4710353/cowboys-practice-report-day-1-2

He put it on a paper plate man! What else do you want?

"It was interesting to see Lance Dunbar getting the first shot with the ones behind DeMarco Murray. I can see Dunbar in the role as the third down back in this offense with the thought that Phillip Tanner would be the second back, but that wasnt the case. There were several plays where Dunbar received praise from Bill Callahan with his ability to read the blocks and hit the hole at the right spot. We got our first look at Joseph Randle but it was behind both Dunbar and Tanner. Seeing Randle live, he has some jump in his game. There is a burst there along with the ability to catch the ball on the move. Kendial Lawrence got some work as well but he wasnt as noticeable as either Dunbar or Randle. I am looking forward in these next several weeks to see the learning curve of Randle and how he handles these practices. Its clear that the talent is there but how quickly he picks up his assignments will tell you how fast he plays. Its clear he is off to a good start when he received chances." http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/article-BryanBroaddusBlog/Scouts-Notebook-First-Walkthrough-Gives-Look-At-Depth/a5505ff9-7b51-4bbd-933d-00ba06b6c4c2

Low class - someone celebrating his 1st ever paycheck on FB by posting a funny pic. Pic Means it's time to eat , aka get to work Or Someone stereotyping a young black athlete saying that he will broke in a few years b/c he's not smart enough to know what to do with the $ or won't work hard enough to earn another nba contract

Awesome job Christopher! For the record, I do like the classic look to our uniforms. The helmet? Well, let's just say I'll not comment at this time.

Go Lance...you make the Mean Green Nation proud!

Of course I'm biased, but these Texas HS kids (and out of staters for that matter) who come out to Apogee and the Mean Green Village cannot be anything but impressed. We already have a great NCAA FBS transfers network in play, but these Friday Night Lights high school camps will pay nothing but great dividends as time goes by. We are all in a hurry for success to return to UNT, but we all have to remember that once the Romans had a plan that their city was not built overnight. We all want something solid that will have staying power; not just a flash in the pan or a one hit wonder. I think this is what Coach Dan McCarney gives us and did from Day One. At a wedding I DJ'ed & Emceed last night.................. I spoke to a recently retired west Texas HS football coach (a 4-A HS) and graduate of Texas Tech and he would not stop bragging about what he saw in his own recent tour of Apogee Stadium with him saying............... "yalls entire athletic village of venues (along with the football stadium) is what impressed me the most and their visibility are 2'nd to none." He added that he had no idea all this was happening in Denton. I think that is the reason for (perhaps) a slow start with these exciting HS football camps program Coach Mac and staff have instituted is because many other Texas high school football coaches are also just now discovering what the retired HS coach from west Texas had only recently just discovered. GMG! And might the "very quick" -1 on this subject just possibly be from one of our usual critic/haters, an ex CUSA'er, new CUSA'er or Big 12 regulars? I know, its easy to become jealous of what is going on at North Texas; hell, if I had attended some of your schools I'd sure as hell be jealous of what I would easily be able to see with my own eyes as far as what is going on in Mean Green Country. A recent Southeast Conference athletic official who toured 'the Village" was equally impressed so go ahead and be be impressed. It's quite OK.

This would be a much more refined meal.

Oh! I can't claim any credit other than bugging those site guys. They did all the research themselves.

Reminds me of the same line people have swallowed that..... "No basketball coach worth his salt would come to North Texas for less than a 5 year contract". When in reality,...nearly one fourth of D1 programs had signed coaches to less, including programs like UNLV who started their guy out with 3. Rick

Until I see differently, 5-7. Improved play in an improved conference = same record as last year, but since I'm a UNT homer, I'm throwing in another win somewhere. PASS THE KOOL-AID!!!

Adding to my point about our effort compared to others... HAT TIP to the Reality board, New Mexico State........gets 7 home games this year including against like opponents UTEP, Rice and Idaho. They also host Abilene Christian who, although is transitioning to 1-AA is still better than Texas Southern any day of the week. But where our remaining three games are against Middle, UTSA and Ball State this year..... New Mexico State was able to convince San Diego State, Minnesota and Boston College to fly into El Paso and bus 45 minutes to the Afghanistan of the West to play them. But hey,.....lets keep apologizing for ourselves. Rick

The entire coaching staff was on hand today at the GASO in Duncanville. Benford was introducing Monarch to all the area AAU coaches afterwards. Maybe a good sign for the future. Go Mean Green!

Don't make this into a political battle. It is a matter of being diverse. Before the 1980's Dallas was considered an "oil town." That was the business of Dallas. In the 1980's there was an oil bust and Dallas along with the rest of the country suffered. I know - I was there - just out of college (UNT, or NTSU at the time) and paralegal school and had a hard time getting a job...because of the decline in oil. Today, Dallas also has real estate, technology and two major airlines to go with the oil. As far as technology, Dallas is thriving. Pittsburgh was a steel town. They now have technology to go with the steel. Pittsburgh is thriving (I saw it on "How the States Get Their Shapes"). I'm not from Detroit, but my understanding is they have and always have had the auto industry and...??? No idea what else. The slow decline and bust of the auto industry has lead to the decline of Detroit. Detroit is a one trick pony.

I'm partial to Future Love Sex Sounds. But to each his own.

Started this evening : Lance comes in as the #2 RB and is already impressing with some nice runs !

So I saw this website start up a few months ago and bugged them to include us. I got an email this morning saying they had. It's pretty detailed! http://uniformcritics.com/football/college/north-texas-mean-green/

Here's an awesome Game of Thrones intro made about Texas. Keep an eye out for the trip to Denton.

Thought this thread should be pulled back up. Read through and look at how many were prejudiced by the basic definition of the word. See how many kept leaping on false news reports to justify their prejudiced opinion. Maybe some of y'all who are honest with yourselves will take a valuable lesson from this.

When we are having success passing the ball at home we are good. If DT could play like he did against LaLa we'd have a chance in every home game this year. TX Southern we out gained them 497-185, including a 352-31 edge on the ground. Complete domination. Unfortunately our qb was 11-24. That kept our point total down and the game within reach. Out gained Troy by 40 yards but 12-28 by our qb, as well as some missed kicks lead to only 7 points for the home team. We were able to beat South Alabama despite being out gained 366-303 and our qb completing again just 12-28 passes for 108 yards. Very few teams in the country do we beat that night. I know, too much blame on the qb. But we can't expect to win home games where he goes 12-28 against the teams we play at home this year. Yes, Idaho and UTSA are the only teams we could potentially get away with it. Maybe.

For the most part we have been terrible on the road and at times struggles at home ( TX southern , Troy). I can see us only being favored in 2 games all year ( Idaho & UTSA). 0-12 is not that far fetched of an idea & I wouldn't blame anyone for choosing it.

Um, whut?

I hate to say it but Froggy Style does have a point. If we're that concerned about Idaho and UTSA (considering them key games) then maybe we should be looking at a 3-win or less season. Having said that it still chaps my ass that three people predicted an 0-12 record. I wish I knew who they were so I could use my ignore button.

Yes. Rick

Happy Birthday guys!!! Have something cool and refreshing today........and don't drive afterward......

Happy Birthday dudes!

according to coachesvscancer.org: participating coaches have helped raise more than $87 million to help the American Cancer Society So yeah, I think the tournament does a lot!

This is the best team Mac has had since he's been here. This team will be better than last year's squad (barring a 2010 like injury catastrophe) at every position on the field with the possible exceptions of defensive tackle and center. I don't get all the doom and gloom. I get that the schedule will be tougher, but Benford can't also kill our football team, folks.

I just don't get the point of Coaches vs. cancer (cancer doesn't deserve to be capitalized). I understand that the coaches wear basketball shoes with their suits during a game to raise cancer awareness. But is there a basketball fan that isn't aware of cancer ? Does cancer research get a cut of the gate that night ? Do the coaches contribute money toward cancer research ? Other than the shoes, what's the point ? And before you tell me your story, my Dad died from cancer and my Mom is probably the longest living cancer survivor in the world. GO MEAN GREEN

Yes, but incredibly nerdy.

I really don't think fear of a loss is why we can't get good home opponents, do you? Seriously? Considering schedules are made 3 to 4 years in advance, we should have home ganes with Alabama and LSU, according to that theory. Scheduling is one of the worst thing this AD does, along with hiring coaches.

Definitely not, but when you stalk a fan site that has nothing to do with your school, it indicates you really don't have a life outside of the Internet. See Cougar Queen, Froggie Style (probably the saddest example), and Green Light to Greatness (also known as Checkfacts until people started ignoring him). Really sad examples of a lack of a real life. Careful, you're on your way to joining them.

So, is your father-in-law the prognosticator of all prognosticators? What if Tony re-ups after 3 years and goes onto having a decent career as serviceable player? What will Daddy think then?

That's brilliant.

Added.

Agree with you, Christopher...it is indeed brilliant. I like the approach that Rice brings, and I have a good deal of respect for the university and their ability to field respectable D1 teams filled with real student-athletes. Glad to have them with us as a member of CUSA! Looking forward to Ames against Rice!

North Texas AD Rick Villereal previews a big athletic season ahead on College Sports Weekly at http://t.co/naHajAtcNG Good interview. He comes on around the 40 minute mark

Thanks for the heads up here! Agree, pretty nice interview.

Oh, we'll see about that referee thing the next time they play the US. Interesting thing is that we talked about the snow game in Denver to lots of different Costa Rican folks while "in country" recently. To a person they were very diplomatic about it, but you could just sense that they are more than a little ready for the rematch in San Jose. In another soccer note...the young co-pilot on a local Costa Airline we flew (Nature Air) had played in Dallas at the Dallas Cup tournament when he was sixteen years old. He absolutely loved the experience! Way cool. Made our day talking soccer with a guy who AD played in the same tournament our son's team had played in a few years ago.

Good news...making those contacts is super important for future recruiting. Thanks for the info.

Anywhere from 0-12 (you guys are afraid of UTSA and Idaho and that's a very disturbing sign) to 3-9.

The Rice band is a lot like the Stanford one. And Stanford's band is famous for being uncouth.

Please don't boo me off the board but...this will be the first time at Apogee for me. I have not been able to go to a game at the new stadium. I plan on joining the Mean Green Club or North Texas Exes this year and get tickets. So I am also interested where everyone is sitting in the stadium as well. I will be traveling around before the games to check out all the tailgaters. Harry told me where he would be so I will check that out first.

I sat with my nephew, who was a member of the marching owl band, when they visited SMU years ago. Instead of cheering, the only cheer they let out was when the score was 'binary'....they all started chanting binary. That says it all.

Pretty solid evidence that the program had fallen behind uta when they beat us by 50.

So, you owe someone am apology whose only home schedule coup was bringing in K. St.? If what you say is true, you should be more upset than ever.

We're North Texas, where we have one non-conference post season win in anything since the Eisenhower administration yet your gonna grade SEC teams as mediocre? Rick

Oh, I'm sorry, how did I end up in the Eagle's nest? Oh..I see. Shoulda' toined left at Albuquoicque!

I hear your sarcasm very clearly--I'm conservative, too, but I am not so blind to the reality that power is corruptible and can hurt others from being the best they can be. It doesn't mean that you can't overcome those hurdles, but power is tough to fight if you don't have the heart and the desire to fight it. Even then, without power of your own ($$$, people, votes, etc..) the hurdles that can be placed ahead of you by unbridled power, government-wide or otherwise, are too much to overcome. You'll get no argument from me ever that North Texas hasn't shown the care, initiative, or the will to even fight for college football power. Basically, after the SWC told us to pound sand at the thought of ever joining their league in the late 70s, we saw our savior, Hayden Fry, leave, and then we made it very easy for our SWC brethren by just giving up for the next 12 years, if not longer. We made our own bed because the powers that be of the time, in Texas, the SWC, and in Denton, decided we weren't worthy of being a solid college football program. Maybe if we had shown some gumption back then, today would be a much better picture of what north texas should be, but we didn't follow that path. I will say this. Although they are nice programs for non-AQs, Arkansas State and ULM are not success stories. I'm sorry, but very few in the college football world look at either of them and think they are success stories. Both of those schools still take on several $$$ games on the road every year because they have to. That alone means you aren't a success story to most of college football. They think Texas A&M is a success story, that Louisville is a success story. TCU and Utah are looked at as the ultimate success stories because of how they worked to become AQ programs in leagues they could only dream of joining. Arkansas State and ULM do not fit the same definintion because they are SBC schools, who most media and fans in think are just glorified FCS schools, even with their recent wins. Boise State is a totally different success story--a true outlier--but again, they have advantages that other non-AQs don't share, especially ours. They don't share a market with anyone. Not a pro team, not a college team, nothing. With a decent sized town to claim them as their own in a region that has not other team, they have cultivated that advantage. North Texas has one major advantage--its enrollment--that they refuse to even try and take advantage of. Charging half of the athletic fee that stalwarts such as UTSA and Texas State charge is not taking advantage of your advantage. In that regard, you are right in that we won't get off of our dead-ass.

I think that much of the American dream is lost for many reasons, but the biggest is power, both from private and public greed. College football certainly follows that trend. ESPN and Fox, AQ conferences, large state schools, monied private schools, and a governing body that gets its tax exemption from all governments that are lined with representatives of those AQ schools all contribute to this situation. Sure, people try to blame some fo those entities more than others--just like we do in civil issues in society--but the reality is that they all combine to cause this power grab. The AQs are kind of like the big banks to me--they get privileges from the government that smaller banks don't get. They get more deposits because they are well-known and have more resources than your community bank. They then get to pick and choose from those below them who they want to buy off--both in personnel and in assets. If the smaller banks grow to become more regionalized, they then get "accepted" into the club, just like Louisville, TCU, or Utah have done to get into the AQ leagues they are in know. That probably will never change. To me, North Texas is like a small bank that used to be known as a Savings and Loan institution, but went bankrupt in the early 80s. Everyone knows what happened and very few people outside of the banks customers and workers are willing to give them any credence until they show that they are not going to fail again. Being profitable and having happy customer service isn't enough because the rest of the banking world wants to see major accomplishments beyond just marginal profit and a few branches in your home town. Meanwhile, the bank's board seems content with the improvements they have made to be somewhat profitable and to have just shed the label of being a failure after coming back from the ashes. In today's world, those two views don't mesh with each other and cause the small bank to stay where they are at becasue they get no help from the bigger banks or the government, plus they still have stiff competition from the other small and regional banks. In the end, it probably won't end well for that small bank's customers or their workers.