TIgreen01

Important to note....do NOT take this line of argument with anyone who has ever coached! In explaining last year's NO Bowl game and this entire season, I said something to the effect of our coaching being sub-par to my father-in-law (longtime ex-high school bball coach). His response? "4 conference championships and YOUR COACH is the problem?" We have a truly baffling situation here at North Texas. To anyone who has never watched an NT game in the last 8 years, you would think that the fans were crazy to question the coaches after 4 conference championships. To anyone who has actually watched us....the coaching comes into question. This whole situation baffles me....I honestly don't know which side to take.

I'd say the NO Bowl was the game with the best hitting....ASU was laying some serious hits on USM. I esp. enjoyed the sideline shots of the USM players...they looked like they were shocked at how physical ASU was. Great job by ASU....and this was the best bowl game so far. (disclaimer: didn't watch any of the sat/sun games)

Good responses. I'm glad I posted the question...I wasn't even born when most of this took place and all you ever see on the board are people who hate SMU for screwing us out of the SWC...nobody ever seems to question the direction we took and Fry's quick departure after it fell apart. So...I guess another question is when did the NCAA bball tourney REALLY become "the big dance"....was it '79 with Magic-Bird? Was bball even viable back then?...when Fry dropped us out of arguably the top bball conf in the land? Could he have predicted what bball and the NCAA tourney soon would become? Or was he just a football guy who didn't care about the other sports?

ASU fans showed some real class?? In what way? Did you run into some classless NT fans last year??...did you even attend either game? ASU played a good game, and for that I give them credit. But you can't be serious when you knock us for being confident going into last year's game. It's a fact that we had the nation's leading rusher...why would we NOT be confident? Jamario had big games against every team he played (Big 12 included), but you guys kicked our rears that day. Congratulations. Goodbye.

Honest question (this is going to get me flamed, but I'm looking for someone with a historical perspective): Was dropping out of the Missouri Valley Conference the all time bonehead move in the history of NT athletics? Looking at that site, you can see the opponents we had in conference. Knowing where they are now, and the winding road we're having to take just to get back to their level, I think that you could say that that was the worst move ever in our history. I understand we wanted into the SWC, but when that didn't work out we ultimately fell to I-AA and still haven't fully recovered. It could be argued that the move that set all that off was dropping out of this conference. Hayden Fry is glorified around here for the 5-6 years he was here and his gung-ho attitude....but didn't he really just quit on us? Or was the NT culture so bad that he really had no choice but to leave?

That's easily the dumbest businessman I've ever heard of if what you say is true. I revert back to my original post on this...if people were REALLY buying the heck out of the UNT stuff, you can bet your house that the purchasing people would stock more of it.

Good point...but I think the whole key is that the current generation of students is not going to keep buying NT gear once they graduate if our football team stops winning games and going to bowls. We've had a (usually Div 1-A caliber) football team throughout our history, but the last 4 years have done alot to get people's attention. I think that's probably why it's easier to find NT gear outside of Denton now...b/c we're growing the fanbase and waking up alums. If every UNT alum always continued to buy UNT gear, we wouldn't be in the situation that FFR describes....b/c the demand for our gear in DFW would always be extremely high simply b/c of the sheer number of alums still in the area. The problem is that most of our alums don't have any reason to keep track of UNT--and thus, keep buying new shirts/hats/whatever. We never used to have tailgating...games were not all that fun through the 80s and 90s (unless you were a diehard football fan)...the bowl games the last 4 years have been something for people to pay attention to. The tailgating and game atmosphere is a blast now and helps make up for sometimes bad games. But the bottom line is that you have to have kids develop a connection to the school somehow, and for whatever reason, through the years UNT has not been very good at doing that. The easiest way to develop that bond is through keeping kids on/near campus....the easiest way to do that is to have big football games on campus. We're doing that now and hopefully we'll keep it up....so yes, to respond to your post, maybe there will be a difference once your generation graduates. Sorry for the soapbox like moment there.

Well, you said in your first post that one of the store's purchasing offices was in New York. I would expect someone from New York to know about UT and tamu...and possibly Ttech. I would not expect them to know the location of any of those schools inside the state of Texas....or even to know that North Texas was located near Dallas--and not in the panhandle. Ok....this is probably a gross stereotype, but seriously...how many people have asked you, "where is North Texas, exactly?" To me, this year it has been easier to find NT gear in area stores than ever before. I remember when I first started at NT ('96) that I couldn't find any decent NT stuff anywhere but Denton....well, not even Denton, but mainly ON CAMPUS. Am I delusional or has it gotten better? I agree that it's a problem that many of these places are near sold out, but if they were really turning the sales (enough to warrant always having shelves full of NT gear) the purchasing rep would pay attention to those sales figures and make sure that certain stores always had inventory. I think the real problem is that we are still not selling enough to make these vendors really care about always stocking NT gear.

Who's the giant (#76 on the opposite team in the Stanley photo)? Can we please sign that guy for Christmas?? Pretty please!

I gotta give ASU major props for their performance in the NO Bowl. Had they not lost A. Warren so early in the game this might have been a Sun Belt win (he did manage to come back, but fumbled shortly there after and that turnover ended up helping USM to the final score). I really think SMiss wins CUSA this year had Katrina not decimated their town right before the start of the season. They (SMiss) looked JUST AS BIG this year as they did last year. So, I see TWO possible explanations for last nights close game for ASU against a supposed far more talented team. 1. Coaching. ASU appeared to have a good gameplan to attack USM. Last year (and pretty much every year) we did not. 2. USM wasn't as good as everyone thought. Hard to say on this...they only ended up 7-5, but you have to think that the hurricane really weighed heavily on this team. That said, they made a lot of early mistakes in this particular game. Either way, I have to wonder if the perceived talent gap between the Sun Belt and all other mid-major conferences is really that large. I think that our (North Texas) performances in this game for the last 4 years really helped spread that notion further than it probably deserved. ASU had some players on the field that looked every bit as good as those on USM....I couldn't really say that last year when we played them. I think alot of that goes back on the coaching staff for the awful schemes we seem to use against every OOC opponent that we play....or is it that our players really aren't as talented as everyone else's and our schemes help us compete against (and beat) Sun Belt competition--but can't compensate against anyone outside the conference???...or do we just flat out suck at gameplanning OOC games?? I tend to believe that our coaching makes our talent look worse than it is...thoughts? Ok...sorry for the scatterbrained comments, but this game is exactly what I had hoped for from the Sun Belt (well, I would rather have had a win). ASU didn't look like they shouldn't be on the field with USM--the way we did last year. I remember sitting in the Superdome last year (watching us get owned) thinking, "Man, it is time for someone else to win conference b/c we are not doing the conference justice in these games"....which is an awful thought to have--but can anyone seriously argue that?

Agreed....and I think the article is dead on after seeing both teams in person over the past 12 months....ASU isn't very good and USM seems like they should be better than 6-5---but that's exactly why I think this could be a game (yes, my score prediction is 48-0 USM). USM SHOULD be better than 6-5---how in the world are they not?? Maybe ASU can exploit them...

48-0 S. Miss

I agree with LongJim on all games except: MPC : Boise vs BC (pick BC) Cotton : Bama vs. TTech (pick TECH) Fiesta : ND vs. Ohio St (pick ND) Rose : USC vs. Texas (pick USC)

So Southern Miss is back in the NO Bowl this year?? Great. Well, the only way I can see USM blowing this game is if they pull a 2002 Cincy and not really show up for the game. How did USM not win CUSA this year??...injuries? No offense to the Ark. St fans, but having seen USM up close last year, you don't have the size to compete with them. We were a far better team last year (than any of the 3 co-champs are this year) and we got owned. That said, I'll be rooting for the upset.

Amen!

6-6. Say hello to DD saving his job for another year. There is no possible way we'll be any good without some run stopping DT's, and we won't get them this offseason....that said, we should be able to pull out a few more Sun Belt games but will get drubbed in every out of conference game again.

How did Chuck Norris change your life, Coach?

Re-read my post. Never said the group "Around the area where the RF incident happened." I said that THIS group (up high in section E--as STH described) was behaving badly that night. I never saw the RF incident and don't know where exactly it happened. What I do know is that group of fans right under the pressbox spent the 2nd quarter shouting at the pressbox....same as this guy admits to doing during the Ark St. game.

As someone who sits pretty near that area.....was there not an exchange (seems like sometime during the 4th quarter) where this group of fans yelled at the pressbox, and got a response from someone in the box?....only to turn back around and start shouting back at the pressbox louder? Seems like this group of fans has been pretty "boisterous" all season....and was behaving the same way the day of the RF incident as well. Granted, I don't know who your group is specifically, but that general area in the stands has been pretty noticeable this season....noticeably behaving badly.

ASU...if this is truly their first bowl game EVER, then there is no question who had the better year.

Ok...you schmucks! Here's how they finished every season since 1993: Year: W/L (Ranking) 1993: 9-2-1 (AP-20; USA Today-18) 1994: 9-3 (AP-19; USA Today-16) 1995: 10-2 (AP-7; USA Today-6) 1996: 9-3 (AP-17; USA Today-17) 1997: 11-1 (AP-8; USA Today-7) 1998: 11-2 (AP-10; USA Today-9) 1999: 11-1 (AP-6; USA Today-6) 2000: 11-3 (AP-9; USA Today-8) 2001: 6-6 (Not Ranked) 2002: 11-2 (AP-7; USA Today-6) 2003: 11-4 (AP-14; USA Today-13) 2004: 4-7 (Not Ranked) 2005: 5-6 (Not Ranked) That's 13 years total....10 of which they were RANKED top 20. 6 times out of 10, they were TOP 10. If that doesn't qualify as perennial top 10, then forgive me....but it's pretty d@mn impressive....

I don't think it says a thing about DD....What does the OC of UVa make?....twice as much as DD?? at least?? DD would be making a HUGE jump up to take over a perennial top 10 team like KSU (outside of the last 2 years). To me, that says more about UNT than DD.

"truth serum"???.....more like negative serum.

Anybody know the details on Isaac Thomas?....he dressed for the last 3 home games but never played a down. Is he going to be a medical redshirt? Also, what are the chances we'll see him next year?

Meaning what?...that nobody really cares anyway so they have free reign?...or was this a positive comment?