VideoEagle

Proof reading isn't a priority at the Express-News.

The purpose of the betting line is to make the total amounts bet on each side roughly equal. The people setting the line don't care in the least who wins as long as roughly the same amount is bet on each side. They think more people will bet on UTSA. If you ever listen to any of the betting advice services, they will tell you the line and the likely winner are reversed quite often.

Remember it's a fan board and fad get excited. I doubt their AD is going to do something stupid.

For those who don't realize it, when a cable/satellite company sells programming to a bar or restaurant the price includes rights to play whatever is on their channels. ESPN 3 isn't one of those channels, so it's not included as what is paid for. If the bar is charging a cover charge, then the channel is entitled to a cut of that. That cut is built into the price of ppv things like MMA.

That's a very well written article, @Matthew Brune. You walked the fine line of writing about areas where the team needs improvement, even naming individuals, without coming across as insulting to them. That's not easy - well done, sir!

Jack Ma is getting into everything! I wonder how many PAC10 alums live in China?

If I'm reading the chart correctly, Reddit thinks NT has the best chance to beat UTSA, at least right now. They are even giving us a 1% better chance than La Tech. I'm not sure who on Reddit did the calculations and on what those were based. As for the whole undefeated thing, I'd think their chances would be a LOT better had they started the season with a win over Houston. Without Houston, the teams they've played so far simply haven't been that strong. I think the next two weeks are going to show a lot about how strong UTSA actually is.

Wren is having a great day!

If the holder of a trademark becomes aware of any infringement and they DO NOT make an effect to stop it, they lose the trademark. That's why you see Disney going after mom's who sell dolls at craft fairs. I don't remember the exact details, but you can lose your exclusive use if you don't defend it.

No, the nickname has been the Mean Green for a long, long time. I know the athletic department under Hayden Fry used it exclusively. The football and men's BB teams were known as the Mean Green since at least then.

I didn't realize those were considered Wacy games. But it's no different than a conference with multiple schools on probation so I should have. The schools on probation or in transition can't go a bowl nor be named conference champion but the other schools get to count the games for their standings.

In 2012 the Indy bowl was looking at a match up of ULM and La Tech. From what I've been told from a variety of sources, La Tech was horrified at the idea and was trying their best to find any other bowl that would take them. The people running the Indy Bowl wanted a match up that would put the most butts in the seats so they preferred the all local match up to bringing a school that wouldn't likely travel as well. But, if the Indy Bowl was going to have to find someone else, they wanted to start that search quickly so they asked La Tech to make a yes or no decision. I've been told the Indy Bowl gave La Tech a deadline to decide or not, but some La Tech folks that wasn't so. La Tech did not say no, but they wouldn't say yes because they were trying to work a deal - any deal - that would keep them from playing a ULM team with 8 wins including at Arkansas. The Indy Bowl moved on to their next choice which was Ohio from the Mac. La Tech couldn't work any other deal and sat at home with a 9-3 record. Some La Tech fans swear the Indy Bowl purposely took Ohio to spite La Tech and still claim there was no deadline. I've read on line a few La Tech fans thought the Indy Bowl officials also worked to sabotage La Tech's efforts to find an alternative to playing ULM. From what I've read, very, very few La Tech fans believe that. But a few die hard are convinced it's so.

Great news! Mind telling us who it is?

Ok, my first thought is I've got to now learn Spark! That was really great looking material.

I never intended to say those questioning GH's abilities after the Iowa game were stupid. I did want to point out there is a lot of truth in "You're only as good as your last game."

First of all, I don't think this is really worth worrying about. Number one, Harrell isn't very experienced yet. Number two, Harrell knows something about El Paso and UTEP which means he knows the chances of having success there. It has all the negatives of NT - a history of losing and local apathy toward the team and school - without the positives - a newly supportive administration, a growing and dynamic location and more local FBS recruits than you have scholarships to offer. If he can help build a winner at NT he'll have head coaching offers at much better places. Most importantly is number three, there's not a thing that can be done about it anyway. I find it interesting there is a lot of concern over losing Harrell now. Two weeks ago, the collective wisdom of GMG.com was he couldn't make adjustments, couldn't create a winning game plan, was a terrible play caller and was a poor recruiter. We beat Southern Miss and now we can't afford to lose him.

Of the seven HOD games played, three had a school from a nonaffiliated conference as one of the teams. Twice both teams were from nonaffiliated conferences. What they list and who actually plays don't seem to matter for the HOD bowl. The entire reason a Heart of Dallas Bowl exists is the City of Dallas wants a bowl game in the Cotton Bowl stadium. It's HIGHLY unlikely to move and certain it won't move to JerryWorld.

You are talking about two completely different parts of ESPN. The bowl predictions are done by the anaylist/talk show panel members. The bowls are run by a staff that runs bowls and reports to a higher management level. The talking heads who make the predictions have no direct influence into the bowl choices. The part of ESPN that runs the bowls moves teams around from bowl to bowl to get the best combination of TV and local attendance. For ESPN owned bowls, both really do matter. NT has proven it will drive attendance to a local DFW area bowl game but I suspect there is a question mark about our fan travel to New Orleans. And either this year or next, there will be a third local bowl game in Frisco. The bottom line is "it's not just about us." The actual match ups will be determined based on who is available for which bowl game. Don't worry about the talking heads - worry about the programming and what ever they call the ESPN local bowl people. While the talking heads belittled the viewership at our four NO Bowl games, ESPN Programming made a point of saying they were quite happy about it. Not every bowl game is going to draw large numbers of viewers, but as long as it draws what ESPN needs and wants then it's going to be fine. The local bowl people have repeated said they liked the crowd we drew to our two HOD bowl games. The people making the decisions like us.

But UTSA never played a game as a WAC member.

What's that, asked the 59 yr old?

I can't find the article right now, but I remember the stats on interim coaches isn't very good. Their biggest positive effect is their first or second games and after that the teams they take over tend to perform as they did under the previous head coach. There are exceptions - a few do better and a few do worse. I would not be worried about an interim coach making a significant difference by the time we play UTEP.

Here's a link to the game on cusa.tv . Looks like it's about $7 a day or $11 a month. http://conferenceusa.com/watch/default.aspx?Live=3384&path=conf

It's called the Baylor Line. First year students get to lead the team on the field and then sit in a special section directly behind the visitor's bench. It gets people used to coming to every home game, no matter the opponent.

There are more comments now, but only the original post included any mention of NT. There fans seem to be completely ignoring us. However, I think their coaches and team know we are coming to town on Saturday and they will not be looking ahead.