MeanGreen61

Orlando Sentinental http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-12-13/sports/os-mike-bianchi-ucf-big-east-1214-20121213_1_ucf-and-usf-big-east-ucf-knights

Does anyone really care ? Dodge is history here. Let go !!

Thread from one of the MT boards. http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=349&f=2388&t=11031472

DNJ article http://www.dnj.com/article/20121207/SPORTS/312070028/Sun-Belt-memo-clamps-down-criticism-from-MTSU-member-schools?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE&gcheck=1&nclick_check=1

Link to thread on the CUSA board has an open letter from the Middle Tennessee AD indicating the Belt had called a meeting to raise exit fees to 5 to 10 Million. (scroll down on 1st page for letter) Sun Belt tried to boost MT exit fee to $5-10 million dollars before we announced http://csnbbs.com/sh....php?tid=604722

2-0 vs Utah State not 2-9

Hype. Hope. National media attention. Seems that our so-called "dream team" is turning into a nightmare. Is Benford a bust ? Most talent ever at North Tezas ? Mean Green are turning into a monumental joke. If Bedford can't do it he should be one and done. We can't afford another Trilli era.

Thanks. I certainly didn't think there was any way I'd make it to 77.

Vegas has NT favored by 8 to 10 pts. Virginia 15 pts over Lamar

Four stages of a typical North Texas sports season. 1.Optimism 2.Hope 3.Dispair 4.Reality

Not only an embarrassing loss, but a real deflater. A lot of air just got sucked out of this seasons lofty hype.

Looks like A Creighton infomercial.

Scroll dowm http://www.thefirstrow.eu/sport/basketball.html

Correct, I changed my original post. To Marshall, host ECU

Dates for UTEP's Conference USA schedule for 2013 won't be set until spring at the earliest, but the opponents are set and there are no surprises. On the West side, UTSA will sub in for Houston and North Texas will sub in for SMU. That means UTEP travel to North Texas next season instead of SMU and host UTSA instead of Houston The Mine Shaft - UTEP Athletics http://elpasotimes.t....com/mineshaft/ And according to posts in this thread, we play at Marshall (not East Carolina- my bad) and host East Carolina http://csnbbs.com/sh....php?tid=597952

Thanks

Did I miss an article about tonights exibition game in the DRC ? Don't recall seeing any mention in their on line version.

What awaits the Sun Belt over the next four and a half months should amount to a special year in this conference. Yeah, you see small leagues get lucky every now and then and have a star with NBA potential. Sometimes the player is good enough to be a lottery pick, like Damian Lillard in the Big Sky last season. But it is ridiculously rare that a talent like Tony Mitchell is playing college hoops at the Sun Belt level. He is No. 7 on our Top 100, and many think he's the best combination of talent and athleticism playing in college basketball today -- better than anyone at Kentucky, Carolina, UCLA or Kansas. And he's living life at North Texas. Huh? Well, Mitchell initially committed to Missouri but was ultimately ruled academically ineligible and landed at North Texas, where he eventually started his career last December. North Texas will be an interesting team to watch this season beyond Mitchell (14.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game last season), who is a near-guarantee to win Player of the Year in the league and earn a spot on national All-American teams. The school lost its coach, Johnny Jones, to LSU. So Mitchell and new coach Tony Benford (former Marquette assistant) will be league favorites thanks to help from Chris Jones, a solid fellow sophomore. He'll run the 1. Oklahoma State transfer Roger Franklin Jr., academically cleared forward Justin Patton and long-bomber Jordan Williams fill out what is one of the most formidable favorites of any mid-major league. http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/20573576/college-basketball-previews-with-nba-prospect-tony-mitchell-north-texas-is-favored-in-sun-belt

http://backiron.blogspot.com/2012/10/conference-callings-31-in-31-series_18.html

North Texas (3-4, 2-1 in Sun Belt) at Middle Tennessee State (4-3, 2-1), 2:30 p.m. Saturday, espn3.com Through the first six games of the season, no running back in the country had more rushing yards than MTSU's Benny Cunningham. But in the Blue Raiders' first game without Cunningham, who suffered a season-ending injury two weeks ago, not only did MTSU's running game drop off, so did its rushing defense. Granted, that was against unbeaten Mississippi State, but the loss of Cunningham definitely impacted the entire team. Against Mississippi State, MTSU's running attack only gained 3.2 yards per carry, dropping its average below 5.0 for the first time since the second week of the season. Meanwhile, the defense gave up an even seven yards per carry to a Mississippi State running game that had been average coming into the game. The question, then, is whether last week was a blip on the radar, a misstep caused by the loss of the team's best player. If so, I like MTSU in this one. But if this loss will continue to impact MTSU down the road, North Texas will win Saturday, because the UNT defense has been solid against the ground game, and unlike MTSU, North Texas isn't reliant on a single running back. Both Brandin Byrd and Antoinne Jimmerson have surpassed the 400-yard mark this season, while Jeremy Brown has suddenly emerged as a weapon, rushing for 152 yards over the past two weeks after gaining just 48 in the previous five games. That's why I'm reluctantly giving UNT the edge. While MTSU is trying to figure out what to do without Cunningham, UNT is getting additional help from unexpected places. Key stat: 59, the number of points scored by UNT last year in the season finale against MTSU, which scored just one touchdown. UNT has only scored 40 or more points three times in the past three years. The mob says: MTSU by 3 So says I: UNT 23, MTSU 21 http://www.texasfootball.com/college-news/view/180158

8) North Texas (3-4, 2-1 in Sun Belt) The mob said: Louisiana-Lafayette by 4 So said I: Louisiana-Lafayette 23, UNT 20 What actually happened: If it seems like a long time ago, it was -- UNT beat Louisiana-Lafayette, 30-23, a week ago tonight on a televised game on ESPN2. The Mean Green gave fans in attendance and the nation's cable subscribers their money's worth, rallying from a 14-point deficit in the second half by outscoring La.-Lafayette 24-3 over the final 21 minutes. UNT beat the Cajuns in just about every meaningful category, putting up 143 more yards of offense, collecting 10 more first downs and winning the turnover margin 3-0. Still, it was a tied game at 23 when UNT gained possession with 3:01 left. One minute and three plays later, UNT scored from 78 yards out, then forced a fumble on ULL's first play on the ensuing drive, allowing UNT to take over and run out the final 1:49. Star of the game: If there were a closer role in football, Antoinne Jimmerson would be the leading candidate for UNT. He typically gets more touches in second halves, as was the case last Tuesday against Louisiana-Lafayette. Jimmerson scored booth his touchdowns in the second half, including his 78-yard reception that held up as the game winner. Jimmerson finished with 141 yards on a combined 10 touches. Key number: 0, the number of sacks allowed by North Texas for the fourth straight game. The UNT offensive line has only given up three sacks on the season, all of them coming in the loss to No. 4 Kansas State. What's next: The Mean Green travel to Middle Tennessee State, a team it crushed 59-7 to close the 2011 season, its second straight win in the series after losing the previous four. http://www.texasfootball.com/college-news/view/180150

Mean Green getting respect from some. http://csnbbs.com/sh...3579#pid8423579 Arkstfan post: For years I've been the HEY It's not as bad as you think guy Now I guess I'm the HEY It's not as good as you think guy. Last year I said ASU would crack the top 25 if we beat NIU. I did not think we'd be one of the 25 best, but I understand how the polls work. 2-1 in OT vs. some bad SEC teams does not Top 25 make. But post a good enough record and the polls will take care of you. The conference is better but it remains balanced. Hell it was balanced last year though probably not as balanced since no one defeated a team that finished ahead of them in the standings but it took a blocked punt for a TD for #1 to beat #6. Here's how I see it. 1. ULM. First this looks like pretty much every ULM team I've watched the past 10 years EXCEPT a little bigger, a little faster, and playing more consistently with poise. If anyone is going to do what ASU did last year, it is ULM and for much the same reasons, a good core group of seniors finally put the pieces together with the right supporting cast. Five games left and of the three most dangerous, they come in a row and two are at home. Get to 10-2 and you've got an outside shot at being ranked. Win the NOB to finish 11-3 and you are ranked. 2. WKU five games left, only two on the road, two of the three most dangerous are at home. Salty defense and the offense doesn't screw up much but most importantly they will get you some positive yards before punting if they can't score. With good things happening, can get to 10 wins, but 9 is probably most likely. If the 'Toppers only get to 8 I guess we will talke about the late "collapse". 3. North Texas. Don't think they finish here with three of the last five on the road. From what little I've seen, they have an o-line that can whip people and a defense that gets really frustrated with teams that play a fast tempo. I expect MTSU, ASU, and ULM will all push the tempo hard on UNT the question is how many times they break. Of games remaining that I don't have a stake in, the one I'd most like to watch will be at WKU. The young man vs. the old man trying to whip ass in the trenches with just enough new razz-ma-tazz on offense to keep it from looking like a game from the late 70's or early 80's (or UNT 2001-2004). Right now I think they have to be tabbed #3 even though I suspect #4 is as high they go in the final standings. 4. Louisiana. The Cajuns have mostly been the team I thought they were. The OkSt game I didn't expect but I didn't expect OSU to lose the week before and be loaded for bear. I wasn't so much surprised that UNT beat them in Denton as I was surprised that UL would yield 24 in the second half and came out -2 on turnovers. Even with that minus 2 performance still ranked 18th in turnover margin. Of the last four TD's given up, all were 20 or more yard plays, before that FIU's three TD's were scored on plays covering five yards. Don't know what that means other than it is odd and I spend a lot of time in box scores. 5. Troy. I don't like placing them under UNT given that Troy won head-to-head but I'm trying to figure out where teams stand TODAY. Troy last year was the anti-ASU or the anti-ULM of this season. Things didn't click and it snowballed. This year Troy is clearly pretty good but there are no "Wow they won that game?" or "Wow, can't believe they lost there" games. Both are unusual for Troy and I doubt any Troy fan disagrees with me there. Troy is getting bowl eligible at some point this year but I'm going to keep a close eye on score updates for Tenn and Navy, two games I EXPECT Troy will lose but history tells me one or both will be close late and that is how you win "extra" games each year. 6. Middle Tenn. Toyed with them at #5, maybe should have put them there. I've watched very little of the Blue Raiders and don't have a feel for what is going on other than when they are up the are UP. With only 2 of the last five at home the schedule does them no favors but my hunch is they might prove to be pretty good if they find consistency. 7. Arkansas State. Seven games in, the offense is pretty good. The defense has big depth issues, the two games where a starter missed on the defensive side, it was apparent something was wrong. Special teams are on a pace to have their mistakes result in 77 points either directly on scores or short drives set-up by special teams this season. Only two of the remaining five are at home and that leaves ASU with a big struggle to get things right. 8. USA. On paper I think they are no better than #9. Clean up the turnovers and penalties and USA is probably 4-3 right now but the Jags aren't ready to compete for the title today. Better entry than WKU had and about like what FAU's first run was. I'd call this a successful transition even if it might not be as pretty as hoped. 9. FAU. Going back to the proverbial piece of paper. FAU ought to be #10 but the team has some fight in it as they recover from allowing Howard to stay a bit too long, even though it was the right thing to do. 10. FIU. The Panthers like the Owls have played some close games without getting a positive result, the difference is that FIU was projected to be one of the top 3 with most placing them first while FAU was picked to be battling USA for last. I put FIU here because something has gone terribly wrong with the former hottest young name in coaching looking like an early 2013 hot seat leader. FAU losing but often being competitive looks like a bad team that believes in their coach, while FIU looks like a good team that has lost faith in their coach. So until they meet FAU and prove me wrong, they get slotted below FAU

Apparently it's official. Vandals will be in Denton August 31st. http://www.govandals...DB_OEM_ID=17100 Appears our 2013 OC schedule is now set. 8/31 vs Idaho 9/7 @ Ohio 9/14 vs Ball State 9/21 @ Georgia

In addition to previously announced games at Wyoming (Sept. 7), vs. Northern Illinois (Sept. 14), at Washington State (Sept. 21) and at Mississippi (Oct. 26), Idaho will announce games home games with Temple, Fresno State, New Mexico State and Old Dominion and away games with North Texas, Arkansas State and New Mexico State, the Idaho Statesman has learned. Read more here: http://voices.idahos...g#storylink=cpy Note: Apparently they will be forced to play a 2013 home-home with New Mexico State.

By Harry Minium The Virginian-Pilot © October 4, 2012 If you’re one of the 4,500 people on the waiting list for Old Dominion football season tickets, good luck. It doesn’t appear that you’ll be able to purchase a season ticket earlier than 2014. Moreover, ODU’s planned move to Conference USA could cost a handful of current season ticket holders their seats next season. Conference USA requires that schools set aside 2,000 tickets per game for visiting teams – double what the Colonial Athletic Association requires. That means that 1,000 seats now sold through ODU season tickets won’t be available in future years. Athletic director Wood Selig said the likelihood of rescinding anyone’s season ticket is remote, however, because attrition should reduce the school’s season-ticket base naturally. “We’ll do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he said. LINK TO THREAD (article posted without link) http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=591489