ADLER

Evidence suggests North Texas does not care about attendance at this first game.
Denton's average temperature for September 2 is in the mid-nineties, and barring some unseen catastrophic event that would send Earth careening off it's axis sunset will not be until 7:52 that night.
Kickoff is set for 6:00. That is almost two sold hours for students and fans in the entire east side and wing seats to bake while staring into the glare of the sun. This sucks. Is the excitement of the Lamar rivalry really enough to offset this horrendous planning? Will the fans that attend have a favorable experience and desire to return for more games? Will the students decide that it's just more fun to stay outside the stadium partying on the hill?
I realize that fans in the cocktail level are only concerned with ice sculptures, bonbons, and the ability to get home early for beloved reruns of Murder She Wrote, but an adjustment really needs to be made for these September games to benefit all the other fans in the stadium. Other colleges schedule kickoffs at 7:30 or later, all high schools schedule kickoffs at 7:30, but North Texas is stuck in an attendance killing 6:00 kickoff rut.
Rick never learned this lesson and his deadbeat staff referred to it as insurmountable UNT fan apathy. Maybe Wren can figure it out.

Spoiling North Texas' bowl bid is the major motivation factor
“You never want to see a team celebrate on your field like we did on theirs last year. They have an opportunity to go to a bowl and go 6-6 – which would be a great accomplishment for them. They’ve done a great job this year, coach [Seth] Littrell has done a great job with that program. But it is our Senior Day and it is our home turf and it is the Sun Bowl. Our kids have a chance to defend it one last time. And certainly we don’t want to see [them celebrating earning a bowl bid] at the end of the game. Yeah it is a motivation factor.”

I had a wonderful time.

Arrived in San Antonio at lunch time on Friday with the family. Checked in early at the Hilton Homewood Suites on The Riverwalk (only $167 for nice suite with evening drinks and decent breakfast buffet included). Went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas for the lighting of Holiday in the Park. The park is beautiful, immaculately maintained, and the rides are much better managed that our local Six Flags park. We later returned to the hotel but were too late to attend the North Texas alumni function, went down to the Riverwalk for dinner and margaritas outside by the river. The Riverwalk was incredible in all its holiday splendor and the weather was perfect.

Went to the game Saturday morning, ran into lettermen and San Antonio natives Jeff Muenchow and Tommy Harrison, and its always good to see the former players out supporting the team. The game was entertaining as the North Texas fell behind but had an unusual rally spurred by multiple UTSA muffed punts. North Texas had a last minute chance as elusive speedster Zac Whitfield rightfully tried to return a wobbly fumble for winning score. He couldn't control the ball but I'm proud that he at least tried.

I talked with quite a few UTSA fans at the game and they were all very nice.

Stopped at Black's Barbeque in Lockhart for a late lunch on the way home.

It was a great football weekend despite to final score and a reason that I love that we now have these regional rivalries.

Here's an upset that could possibly influence us in a very positive way this year.

Yale beat Army 49 to 43 today dropping Army's record to 1 and 3. Army's remaining schedule includes Ball State, Rice, Air Force, Western Kentucky, and Navy and they will not be favored in any of those.

Why is this loss important for North Texas?

The American Athletic Conference (AAC) is slated to face off against the United States Military Academy (Army) in the 2014 Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl. Army will qualify for bowl-eligibility with six wins. This will be the first time a member of the AAC has participated in the game. New AAC football members, Cincinnati (2004), Houston (2005, 2008, 2009), SMU (2010) and Tulsa (2006, 2011) have all previously participated in the Armed Forces Bowl as members of other conferences.

If Army doesn't win six, the Armed Forces Bowl will be looking to find an opponent that can sell tickets for the January 2 game in Fort Worth.

Win 6 or more and North Texas will probably get that spot.

Perfect weather........

Per NOAA.COM



Mostly sunny, with a high near 59. South wind 5 to 10 mph.