meanrob

"very solid at the line".......miss.

up by 1, with the ball, and 34 secs to go. somehow i don't like that.

have you seen our kicking game? i'd rather try to get 3 yards than kick a 46 yard field goal into the wind.

doesn't work that way. you'll never see us bring in a team just for one game, unless it's a I-AA. Either we do the 2-1 thing with a bcs team, do 1-1 with a non-bcs team, or bring in a i-aa. Even TCU doesn't just bring in a name team for one game. You can get a 1-1 with a BCS team but it's rare. SDSU was promised a certain amount of money to go to Idaho to fulfill their part of the series. Idaho gets the same amount when they go to San Diego. It's getting harder and harder for the mid level BCS teams to fill out their schedules. They don't want to go on the road to play the big boys and the big boys certainly aren't going to their place. And why would the North Texas' of the world go to...let's say Maryland for one game when they can go to Alabama for that one game and get a big payday. So the Marylands have to sign a 2 for 1.

Unfortunately we never get the home fans best effort. Partly because we're north texas, but mostly because we have rarely given the big teams a good game. Would love to see that change this weekend.

Been to the two previous bama-unt games and here's a couple of things i remember. Partied on the strip the night before. Except for some good natured ribbing, everyone was cool. At one bar the band asked us if we still had a kick ass music school. That was funny. Do walk around campus, it's worth it. In one area that have bricks in the ground with the names of famous athletes and other Bama alumni (i think). Their frat/sorority row is ridiculous. The campus just kind of reeks of history. Check out the alumni cheer squad or dance squad. Extremely bizarre. The gameday experience is ok, not sure if the head cheerleader still uses a microphone to get cheers started. Really annoying. Worst hot dog ever was at Bama. Honestly, i liked hanging out the night before and the pregame much better than the gameday experience. Not real loud (granted 3/4 of the fans there will have never heard of North Texas) and it's one of those places where it's just the thing to do. I'm glad i checked the box but i wouldn't go back there. my two cents.

ugh...ballgame. that score might be pretty accurate. i just hope it doesn't go down like that.

Well, i for one love MAC football. Mostly because early in the season it's the MAC vs the Big Ten for the early TV games and usually there is an upset in there somewhere. Toledo crushing Penn State comes to mind. However, the MAC today isn't the MAC of four or five years ago. I think it just runs in cycles and they are down and i did think them calling us mediocre was pot meet kettle. They've got a 50 year head start on the Sun Belt and i'd say we've closed the gap pretty fast, if there even is a gap. Hope we can prove that our first two games. Still, love me some MAC.

i think our defense has talent, especially the front seven but they just don't seem to be playing as a unit or confidence. riley was impressive. his poise was great on several blitzes. i agree the talent is improved but still just hard to tell where we are at while we are playing against each other.

I think it will come down to red zone opportunities. With a stud RB like they have it's easier to get the ball in the end zone. We gotta score TDs not field goals. I wouldn't be surprised if the yardage and time of possession will be close between the teams. But we can't turn the ball over and Riley has to make things happen in the red zone. Yeah, they lost a lot but return some really good players. I'm afraid it will be one of those games we coulda, shoulda, but just weren't ready to win.

Actually my mind can change a bit between now and the opener. But i'll have to see it for myself at the scrimmages/practices. A blog from a unt employee isn't going to change my mind. Like i've said before, this team could show a lot of improvement and still not have many more wins to show for it. Not something i want to say in year three but that's where we at. And i hope Riley is all world. I'm just not going to expect that from a RS freshman. No matter what the pedigree or last name.

I'll take quiet confidence over you (or someone else for that matter) telling me how good you are. The fanbase needs wins. Not publicizing. I'd say we've had enough publicizing over the past two years. But hey, hype away. Worked so far.

After one practice? Is it too much to ask to tone down the rhetoric? Actually you're probably none of the above. Just an employee doing his job.

Don't get me wrong, i'm fired up for the season and those drawings got me fired up for the stadium But blogs aren't going to erase the pain of last year. Dudes, that sucked. Been following since 93 and let me tell you, that was the worst. We'll see.

c'mon scott. it's the opening of fall camp. this is the time of year when positivity reigns. if you feel that way in november, then we have something. in my black heart, blogs and coaches speaking to reporters isn't exactly my idea of whoopee!! i'm not getting fooled by talk this year i.e. "we're one big happy family now". they gotta show us something first.

Excited? Yes. Optimistic? No. Think you gotta walk before you run and last year we barely crawled. I'm just hoping for some walking this year. But, I'm going to Ball State so somewhere there's some optimism in me. I think our schedule is truly a mine field. Army and Ohio will be better this year and Ball State will be tough at home. And I think most of the Belt will be better this year except for Ull and Ulm.

we may get to 3-4 wins but i expect a couple of blowout losses this season. i.e. troy, mtsu, and maybe fiu. look at army's schedule last year and how they did and then predict a win. i can't. i'm expecting 2-10 but a 2 game swing either way wouldn't surprise me. i just can't get a feel for this team.

You ain't seen nothing yet, wait til the this year vs last year cheerleader discussion. Saving my real venom for that thread.

It's probably because we've had such great running backs in the past, and the style of offense we are running but.... aren't you guys overrating the running back position a bit? kinda like the old saying, if you got two quarterbacks you got no quarterbacks. i want one to step up and be the guy and the others be productive situational backs. like so many other areas of this team, i just don't know. however there's a reason we went 1-11 last year. every position can't be solid or that wouldn't happen. four quality runners?

Lookin like both Evan and I are going to Muncie....and then South Bend. While i've enjoyed a lot of the trips to the big boys, there's something cool about going to "smaller" school type atmosphere. Most of the people you meet are both friendly and hard core fans.

Not that this is an original thought, it might have been said earlier but all aspects of the team may be better and it won't translate into wins. Especially the defense. I'm not worried about who is going to be the better QB in Muncie, IN. I'm worried about whether we can stop anybody. I don't care what they lost, they started out 12-0 last year. Hell if we had done that, even with losing good players we'd be laughing if a 1 win team was coming into our house predicting/thinking victory. Doesn't mean it can't happen, it's just that i'll have to see it to believe it.

First off, stats can be used to prove all sorts of points but interceptions per attempt is about as worthless as it gets. Vizza was 102nd in yards per attempt (5.6) which means he better have a low INT percentage, he's barely throwing the ball down the field. And i won't argue the point that Dodge is to blame for a lot of the failings of the team. Why? Because I just don't think it can be argued. The record speaks for itself. However, Vizza a good quarterback? A Big 12 caliber quarterback? I'm not bitter. I saw it with my own two eyes. He had a below average year last year and he made too many bad decisions. Coaching aside, there were times when the team needed him to make a play and he didn't. Does that mean he won't get better? I don't know. I wish him the best of luck but he was a below average Sun Belt QB last year and I just can't see how it can be said now he's a legitimate Big 12 QB. How many big 12 teams recruited him? None that i remember. Dodge has got to prove something this year, no doubt. But so do a lot of these players.

wow, an actual on the field football thread. sweet. i can't see riley making a big impact this year. too many questions on offense/coaching to think he will have a huge impact. i just wanna see that he's the future. set the foundation for a career. then again, i'm not predicting much for the team this season. we lost all but one conference game by double digits or more......way more. just don't see how a team improves that much in one year.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!!

ok, SUMG. I gotta ask. How do you see us winning these games? We have a new qb and an average at best O line. They started out 12-0? last year before losing two games. Sure they are rebuilding a bit from last year but we lost 11 games last year. I just don't see that big of a turnaround happening. Ball State is a good team and we have been terrible on the road. I don't think there is any way i could predict us winning that game. And the Ohio game is almost as scary. We beat Army and two sun belt opponents to finish 3-9.