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There is a zero percent chance that CAL and Stanford are risking ACC litigation and forfeiture of roughly $150m over the next decade so they can play Fresno State and Boise State (two schools they turned their noses up at while a member of the PAC). Stanford/CAL love the academic fit in the ACC. I do think eastward expansion is the only choice for the PAC. Some combination of Memphis, Tulane, UNT, UTSA, Texas State, and USF.

We’ve been known to do things to Power conference schools in icy whites….

For those who've mentioned the travel if UNT joined the Pac, this above would make it work minus USF. An "eastern" division with a combination of Colorado State, UNT, Texas State, Tulane, Memphis, and UTSA or even Tulsa depending on how many programs you'd want would make it work in my opinion. Currently we have to travel to Philadelphia for Temple, West Point (closest airport in New Windsor) for Army, Miami for FAU, and Annapolis for Navy. An eastern division with a couple cross-division games per year wouldn't result in any significant additional travel than what we currently in the AAC. I hope if we get the call, we answer the phone, and make the jump.

Shut up. I wasn’t talking to you and your winless school.

Our conference has some real chances to make some national noise this weekend. Playing some struggling P4s: NT vs TT -10 Tulane vs OU -13 Memphis vs FSU -6.5 Rice vs UH -4.5 UTSA vs UT (-35, the only noise here will be UTSA screaming in pain) Tulsa playing Ok St and UAB playing Arkansas as decent underdogs.... But could be a good weekend for the AAC

This. 100%. As part of an Eastern pod in the PAC, our travel wouldn’t be terribly worse than it is now and we wouldn’t have too many late night games. The upside is that we’d 1) likely get more media revenue and 2) be part of what will be considered “the best of the rest,” which helps us stay closer to the top of the pecking order during the next big wave of realignment when the SEC and BIG10 break away. Call me crazy, but in addition to UTSA and Memphis, I’d MUCH rather play Washington State, Oregon State, Boise State, Colorado State, and San Diego State in football and basketball over the likes of Tulsa, Temple, UAB, FAU, and Eastern Carolina. It’s not a difficult choice for me. I’d be on the phone with the PAC right now making our pitch and laying the ground work for an invite.

Guess we will have to become North Texas State again to merit an invite.

"What conference are we going to be in next year?" is starting to feel like another "what players are going to play for us next year?" College football has taken a jackhammer to the entire foundation of the sport.

We invest more than they do.

yeah branding isn't going to change our fortunes. It is winning, winning, winning. That is it. Alabama has some 1940s uniforms and they are "iconic" simply because they have done a lot of winning in them. Michigan the same. You can get small boosts -- the diving eagle is cool, etc -- but one reason the script logo on our helmets is "cool" is because we won league titles while wearing them. The "Southlake Carroll Knockoffs" don't carry weight with us because we did a lot of losing in them. Names are similar. It maybe makes it easier to remember but people still call us North Texas State. (USC doesn't like Southern Cal either, but they got that way because of winning with that name etc) -- you win? Everyone knows your name and your colors and all the other stuff. You lose? No one cares.

Missouri. They just accepted a MWC invite....

The PAC took the best MWC assets first = Boise and SDSU. Not sure why CSU and Fresno over AF and UNLV? I think now they are in evaluation mode with the new members, getting media estimates, before their next move. It will be a showdown between PAC and AAC to see who blinks first. I bet AAC is already on the phone to AF. If I'm Jared, I'm on the phone to UTSA, Memphis, and Tulane seeking a group effort to either go or stay as a foursome.

I think Denton is more strongly tied to Dallas than Fort Collins is to Denver, but the suburban sprawl is eventually going to reach Fort Collins the way it did Denton. Maybe the distance matters less than whether Fort Collins counts as Denver media market. When I went to UNT in the 1980s it felt like Denton was a college town outside of DFW. When I'm back now it feels like part of the endless sea of humanity, KTCK listeners, Tex-Mex and hot-headed gun-toting drivers.

If you think they don't want to destroy the MWC (while taking some of their most valuable properties) you don't understand how these things work. The PAC literally is a carcass of its former self b/c it was picked apart by other conferences. They will pillage anything and everything they can to remain alive. IMO, the invites to the four schools is meant to create panic and urgency by the other MWC schools as well as potential targets in the AAC. If you're Memphis do you really want to sit back and wait for an ACC/Big 12 invite that is never going to happen or do you act now to make sure you are in the "best of the rest" G5 league? Same goes for USF who will no doubt need to have a geographic bridge with likely Tulane, UTSA, and UNT. You could have a conference with a footprint in San Diego, Denver(ish), Las Vegas, DFW, Memphis, San Antonio, New Orleans, and Tampa. That "should" be enough to get a media partner interested.

I think the best bet is to go in tandem with UTSA and Tulane. Try to sell the PAC on having a footprint in DFW, San Antonio, and New Orleans. That might be enough to get it done. The PAC needs media markets in the worst way. Wazzu, Oregon State, Fresno State, and Boise State are complete non-starters. SDSU at least is in a major market. CO State is close enough to Denver you could make the argument. UNLV, Memphis, UNT, UTSA, Tulane, and USF are all in major markets. That should be the play.

It’s also worth evaluating the cost of inaction or NOT moving to the PAC. If some combination of UTSA, Memphis, Tulane, and Rice or USF go to the PAC and we remain in the AAC, is the AAC still a great place for us? I think not. Pull out all the stops. Join the new PAC.

This would be you....

I challenge the notion that CO St delivers the Denver market.

In true North Texas fashion, the SBC jumped up very high not too long after we left. Appy State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, and others have a lot to do with that, of course. And CUSA dropped off severely about 4-5 years after we joined. And the AAC change isn't looking all that great yet, either, if we're being honest.

So two families?

Actually, I think about Arkansas and their original defection to the SEC from the SWC back in the day. At that time, the Arkansas defection from the SWC was shocking and very unusual... today, teams move around all of the time. 🙂 the PAC2+ will be a glorified G6 conference, but it does offer some big financial incentives in the short term. It would be interesting if the PAC2+ wants to include a couple of Texas schools to get to 8 members (e.g. UNT & Rice ... D/FW and Houston).

I would like to see a bigger partnership from Peterbilt. We've got a Mean Green firetruck, let's put a Mean Green big rig where that oversized patio chair is to replace the "best seats in the house." Lucky fans each game get to blare the horn after every UNT score.

Will try and make it happen. Plan this year was to get the podcast up on all the places, with the first priority being YouTube. Will try and get it up on the other spots next.

I get juiced about the thought of SDSU CSU and BSU rolling into Denton for basketball tilts. GMG

So you'd rather continue playing Tulsa, Rice, UAB, FAU, and Temple? Like it or not the PAC is going to be the best non P4 conference and will get their champion into the at-large G5 spot virtually every year. That has value.

Being the best non P4 conference gets you nothing. Doesn’t get you the playoff spot, doesn’t get you a seat at any table and doesn’t get you any closer to the big boy conferences. Especially if/when there is a separation. It’s why you gave up years of revenue to get out of the non P4. I’d listen to what the new PAC has to say but it’s basically a version of the MWC. SDSU hosted Oregon State this past week. The game didn’t come close to selling out and nobody east of Nevada saw it. Not sure us playing Fresno St at 9:30 central on Apple is the way to go.

FIFY 😁

As @SMU2006 is pointing out, don’t underestimate media markets in all this. The current PAC additions are more brands than they are media markets (SDSU is the exception in #30 media market). To bolster their media revenue, they’ll need to play the market game for the networks. UNT delivers a huge alumni base and big student body in the #5 media market. With decent football over the past handful of years and a good basketball program, we’re an attractive add even if we don’t have a recent football conference championship to tout. Other Media Markets of Note: #6 Rice #31 UTSA #40 UNLV #50 Memphis #51 Tulane

As opposed to westward expansion.

So South Alabama has a really good offense and our D made some key stops not letting them really get going until the game was basically over late? SFA DOES have a good offense and has P4 transfers all over the roster and our D held them to 13 points? Maybe our D after 2 weeks is a little improved from last year?

If I'm the eastern schools you better have a damn good idea of how much you can get in a media deal. The numbers thrown around in some of these tweets/reports are ridiculous. My guess is they try really hard to get money from a streaming service but then nobody sees your games. The MWC adding the two PAC schools didn't bring any value, I don't know why it suddenly has value going the other way.

Merged now

And yet they put up 28 against Tulsa and didn’t have to abbreviate the 4th quarter against them. I think South Alabama will be one of the best opponents we face this season, especially offensively.

Billy is a silly boomer old man I gotta teach him how to use a computer

Denverite here. They deliver it more than unt does for Dfw. Their fanbase is pretty solid.

You are right, UH is better at some athletic events than we are... The University of Houston's football program was placed on probation by the NCAA in 1988 and again in 2019

Why are some so high on Rice? Athletics are a distant second thought, as evidenced by the quality of most (all?) of their athletic facilities. I get their academics but honestly that is ALL they bring to the table.

The new PAC-12 *is* a G5 conference.

South Alabama is crushing NW State 45-10 in the 2nd quarter.

If we ever host TT, we need to find a way to put up Yosemite Sam videos on the jumbotron. That is if DJ ADHD can find a few seconds to play them instead of blaring music.

Meh.. Playing a bunch of little brother West Coast teams doesn't seem very attractive for a very minor increase in pay. It's not like any of our students are going to get excited about playing Fresno State. Maybe the American can add Air Force for the exposure and UNLV so that the athletes and fans have a fun travel location.

I think the credit should go to our defense for turning the Bearcats over six times, and not just say Cincy only lost because they turned it over. We had a lot to do with that.

We have three players on the defensive side of the ball that you might ask that question to

AAC needs to invite Air Force to join Army and Navy!

Nevermind, I found .

During Tech’s White Out, too! 😂

Has nothing to do with jealousy but it does have everything to do with pecking order. I don’t want a potential scenario where (for the sake of argument) we have a similar resume as Texas State but they get the nod for the playoff because their win over Arizona State is better than our win (again, hypotheticals) over Tech Tech.

No…you’re wrong! The ONLY reason Mike Tyson could beat me in a fight is because I will let him win by becoming unconscious.

I hope we sell out Wyoming. Army is also a sellout opportunity if the season breaks a certain way.

Must we micro analyze everything? We’re honoring a team that won 4 conference titles by wearing a helmet with the decal they had. That’s it. Just enjoy the 1 week throwback.