TIgreen01

North Texas has never been mass appeal. We are cool, artsy, niche. Lean that direction. We probably need to go with a sour mash or mead. Enlist John Williams to pick it.

Seems like a former starter from TCU should be better than a former starter from ULM. Intrigued.

Didn't know he went to Shertz-Clemens. Think that's where Scott Hall graduated. Going back 20-25 years, there was not a UTSA football program and Sam Houston and Texas St weren't D1 FBS. Makes you wonder how many on those school's rosters would be playing here instead if they never moved up.

Tough to post and ask this after yesterday. Yesterday was pretty deflating. Still, we’re .500 so that’s a C. To quote Bill Parcells, “you are what your record says you are.” We aren’t good. We aren’t bad. Hope the guys can turn it around and find an extra gear for conference. We will need it. This conference is tougher than our last.

Why is this huge? What is he going to bring?

I stand corrected.

What we really need is for the pro teams to create their own farm system. Why can the xfl or usfl not be the minor leagues and let kids sign with them directly out of high school? NFL teams need to pick an affiliate to partner with and that becomes their minor league. Then if you choose to go the college route you’re locked in for 3 years to that school before you can jump back out or transfer to another school? NIL can still exist and may be a tough decision to pick college over pro, but once you sign it’s a 3 year contract with the school. Then you can start to reign in this madness.

Exactly. Cheer for the shirt, not the kid. A huge part of the fun for fans was following the development of these kids. Without a system like what Arkstfan outlined, this new model is going to be less fun to follow. It sucks and something has to give.

$30k/athlete being split between men and women is clearly meant to be the equivalent to the 30k seat stadium demarcation from the 80s and the first trimming of the top level of D1.

The pieces are still gelling, especially the new guards. They will get better as they get more games together and start settling into more defined roles. Our posts are generally providing only rebounding, with almost zero threat to score. We weren't a whole lot better at the position last year, but we need to find a way to get them involved more consistently. It will be a bumpier road than we're used to in the regular season, but I still expect this team to be pretty salty by the time we get to the AAC tournament.

This team feels like it's going to need the full non-conference slate to figure itself out, similar to most of Mac's teams outside of last year. More than anything else, I think losing Rubin last night cost us. The new guards are still learning on the job and where/how they fit in in crunch time. We're all a bit spoiled coming off of last season where we hit the ground running and it's just going to take more time for this current team to gel with all the new pieces.

Just straight robbed by officiating. What a crappy way to end a crap sports day.

I've been saying all along that we have to get used to cheering for the shirt and not the kids... but it just takes so much of the fun out of it. Damn the NCAA to hell.

Sorry, my comment came across as ungrateful. I appreciate you and all the time you spend covering the Mean Green.

So…has this board just turned into the ad/tease for the patreon vip board now? Starts a thread, updates it for a while, then stops and links behind a paywall. Ok.

I’d have bought it too. You’d be hard pressed to find a group of people who think less of smu and their ilk…but to quit your team to chase money the day before playing a conference championship game would be a new low for smu types.

Good stuff. Lots of contributors from that class.

Glad I didn't post...I would have had us with a better record than last year since we fired Littrell for just going 7-5. I do wonder if facing Bloesch in week 1 really doomed this defense right off the bat. He ran the exact offense that we were least prepared to defend and basically published the book on tape of what to do against us. Teams would have figured it out pretty quickly, but I do wonder if we hide that run defense for a week or two if we start out facing an FCS or really anyone who ran an Air raid/spread. That could have been the difference in making a bowl and not. Ifs and buts...

Yeah, no. I don’t believe that for a second

Exactly. We need a transfer portal/Juco/offseason for the ages if he returns.

Really hard to predict anything until the spring window closes and we know who we have lost and who we’ve added. This is the Wild West now.

Emphasis added. This has been the biggest highlight on that side of the ball. Those kids know where they rank but they show zero signs of give up. That part has been impressive.

Agreed. Noticed a lot of the same things. I do think that when Nakwassah is on the field the defense is improved. That, and these young guys are starting to get into the right gaps and positions more often. Less diving at ball carriers in that second half than I’ve seen all year.

Good read…but this just confuses me more. A fast, blitzing defense is not what I’m seeing out there.

Hard to tell where he fits with the rest of the AAC since the privates don’t disclose data…but Caponi is the highest paid assistant coach at a public school in the conference. The expectations that come with that kind of pay are certainly higher than dead last in the NCAA. JayD posting this is interesting. Changed your mind after last week? Hearing rumblings that there might be change? Edit: zoomed out…he’s the highest paid assistant across G5. Ouch.