MeanGreen61

ESPN article on the probation. Louisiana-Lafayette gets two years probationAssociated Press LAFAYETTE, La. -- Louisiana-Lafayette was placed on probation for two years and will lose two basketball scholarships under NCAA sanctions announced Thursday, stemming from a basketball player's correspondence course and the football program's mandatory summer workouts. The head of the NCAA's Division I Infractions Committee said the panel did not find the violations to be intentional. Instead, school officials "failed to catch the obvious error" regarding the correspondence courses and the football staff failed to recognize that its "voluntary program" for football conditioning had gone beyond NCAA limits. As a result of the violations, Louisiana-Lafayette will forfeit 90 percent of the first year's money it got from the Sun Belt Conference for playing in the NCAA basketball tournaments in 2004 and 2005 and will forfeit two scholarships -- either both in one year or one in each of two years. The records of the school's basketball team in 2003-04 and 2004-05 -- including NCAA tournament participation -- also will be erased and the school will not be allowed to make any reference to it, the NCAA said. The football team will have its allowable weekly practice hours reduced from 20 hours to 15 hours, either during the current spring semester or in the 2008 spring semester. The NCAA did not disclose the amount of money involved in the revenue forfeiture. The university did not immediately comment on the findings. The committee's head, Josephine Potuto, said during a teleconference that the basketball allegations surrounded one player who used 15 hours worth of credit from non-ULL correspondence course to maintain the minimum grade-point average and progress toward a degree needed to be eligible to play. "An institution may not use correspondence courses taken at another school," Potuto said. Citing NCAA privacy regulations, Potuto would not disclose the player's name. Potuto said the problem with the conditioning program began when the then-conditioning coach made written reports about which players were attending and football coaches occasionally observed the workouts and tracked attendance. "Those observations can switch a voluntary activity to a non-voluntary activity," Potuto said. University officials, who appeared before the infractions committee in February, proposed wiping out the basketball records and forfeiting the conference basketball revenue, Potuto said. In addition, the committee ordered the university to provide NCAA rules training for admission, financial aid, compliance and registration.

Spring Football Daily Outlook Courtesy: University of North Texas Release: 04/17/2007 DENTON (4/17/07) - MeanGreenSports.com is previewing the 2007 North Texas football team with daily updates that will break down the team's outlook by position. The annual Green and White Game will be played at Fouts Field on Sunday, April 22 at 3 p.m. Quarterback Much of the struggles from the quarterback position over the past two years has come from the instability in settling on a starter. Three different quarterbacks have had their shot at being the starter last year and all three saw significant action throughout the season. Junior Matt Phillips began the season as the starter, but was replaced after two games by junior college transfer Woody Wilson. Wilson started the next four games before giving way to Daniel Meager who started the final six games. Phillips came in to replace Meager in each of the four games and had his best numbers in those games. All three quarterbacks had comparable numbers for the entire season with Wilson having a slight edge in passing efficiency (98.8) and passing yards (528) while Meager led the team with four passing touchdowns. All three are back in 2007 and are expected to benefit from the teaching of Dodge who has extensive knowledge of the quarterback position both as a player and coach. Nathan Tune redshirted as a freshman in 2006 and he will also be in the mix as the coaching staff attempts to sort out the depth chart during spring practice. Giovanni Vizza, who is a highly-touted recruit that ran an offense very similar to what Dodge is installing at North Texas, will join the team in the fall. Dodge believes he will have five capable quarterbacks heading into fall camp and will use that time to sort out a depth chart. Top Returning Quarterbacks: Daniel Meager - 53/100 passing., 517 yards, 4 TD Matt Phillips - 29/60 passing, 337 yards, 3 TD Woody Wilson - 54/90 passing, 528 yards, 2 TD Head Coach Todd Dodge on Quarterbacks: "The competition has been good during the spring and we have a much better idea what we have at the quarterback position. Daniel Meager has really improved at distributing the ball to different receivers and he has picked up the offense very quickly. Nathan Tune has a natural understanding of the passing game and that helps, but there are a few small mechanical things we need to work on with him. Matt Phillips has a very strong arm but needs to improve his consistency. Woody Wilson does a lot of nice things as both a runner and a passer and provides an added dimension to the offense. It will be an on-going competition through the first couple weeks of fall practice and we hope that Giovanni Vizza can come in and add to that competition. The thing that we will look for during fall camp is accuracy and no-huddle efficiency. We will definitely have an efficient quarterback."

April 18, 2007 Dodge might not be done recruiting North Texas head football coach Todd Dodge has taken a good look at what he has on hand during spring practice and said Wednesday that there is a chance he could try to sign a junior college player late to fill some holes in the Mean Green's lineup. "There is always a possibility we could pick up a player late," Dodge said. "It could be an offensive lineman or a cornerback from a depth standpoint. [A signee] would have to come from the JC ranks at this point for us to find a player who could help us next year." Dodge went on to say that he has not made any firm decisions about the Mean Green's plans. UNT has a long history of picking up players after signing day, including safety Aaron Weathers and offensive lineman Andy Brewster. Weathers signed late out of Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, while Brewster played at Midland Lee. UNT would be lucky to find another player to rival either Weathers, an all-conference selection last season, or Brewster, one of the best offensive linemen UNT has had in recent years. What might be more realistic is trying to find another offensive lineman or two along the lines of Lonnie Chambers. The former UNT guard/tackle wasn't the best player to come through the program, but he was a solid starter who helped fill a void after transferring from Trinity Valley before the 2003 season. UNT's biggest problem at this point appears to be its offensive line, where the Mean Green is starting two inexperienced tackles and barely has enough players to fill out its depth chart. The Mean Green has two signees coming in the fall, but J.J. Johnson of Plano West is a center, where UNT already has two capable players, and tackle Matt Tomlinson might need time to develop. It could be tough for UNT to find an impact player at this point, but it appears as if Dodge and his staff might decide to take a look around. Posted by Brett Vito at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

CFN's 2007 Arkansas State Preview PREVIEW http://cfn.scout.com/2/636551.html

Rivals has him as 6'3, 180, 4.4 time in the 40, zero-stars.

Patience. We'll find out in due time.

Nope, that was Johathan Ieans.

FWIW the CFN 2007 Cajun preview. UL-Lafayette 2007 preview http://cfn.scout.com/2/636544.html

Spring Football Daily Outlook Courtesy: University of North Texas Release: 04/17/2007 DENTON (4/11/07) - MeanGreenSports.com is previewing the 2007 North Texas football team with daily updates that will break down the team’s outlook by position. The updates will continue over the next seven days, leading up to the annual Green and White Game that will be played at Fouts Field on Sunday, April 22 at 3 p.m. Wide Receivers This position might be the most interesting battle leading up to the beginning of the 2007 season. North Texas lost three key contributors among its receiving corps with the departure of Johnny Quinn, Zach Muzzy and Joel Nwigwe. Quinn left as the school’s all-time leading receiver while Muzzy and Nwigwe were both part-time starters during their four years with the Mean Green. The shining star among the returnees is Brandon Jackson, who has finished second only to Quinn in catches and receiving yards during the past two years. Jackson is perhaps the most talented receiver to wear the Mean Green in recent years and is expected to have a stellar year as a senior in the new offense. Jackson is one of only four scholarship wide receivers who will be on the roster for spring practice along with Brock Stickler, Arthur Stubblefield and Korey Washington. There are a handful of tight ends who are trying to find their niche in the new system and Dodge invites the ability to use them in certain packages. Charlie Brown, Ryan Davenport and Victor Gill all played tight end prior to this season and all are expected to be used to help diversify the passing attack under Dodge. Walk-on Casey Fitzgerald showed tremendous improvement during the fall season and should work his way into the multiple-receiver rotation during spring practice. Isiah Smith is another walk-on who has been on the team for over two years and has provided quality depth. Dodge and his staff focused heavily on this position during recruiting and signed six high school wide receivers who will all challenge for playing time immediately. Top Returning Wide Receivers: Brandon Jackson - 17 rec., 188 yards, 1 TD Ryan Davenport - 6 rec., 78 yards, 1 TD Casey Fitzgerald - 4 rec. 83 yards, 2 TD Head Coach Todd Dodge on Wide Receivers: " The highlight of the offense this spring has been the wide receivers from the standpoint of what we expected and what we have ended up getting. I didn’t expect for this group to be this far along during spring practice. We knew that Brandon Jackson was very good and we are expecting great things from him. Casey Fitzgerald has probably been the biggest surprise. He has everything we are looking for to be a valuable part of this offense. Brock Stickler, Korey Washington and Arthur Stubblefield have fit in with Brandon and Casey as a good first five. They have really begun to start painting a picture as to how they will fit into this offense during the fall. With the young receivers that we have coming in this fall, I’m excited about the competition that we will have with this group.”

Dodge quote from Star-Telegram article posted by Flyeater. "Let's face it," Dodge said, "Our defense looks pretty stinkin' good." UNT defense mean, offense lean heading into Spring game http://www.star-telegram.com/288/story/71169.html

Spring Football Daily Outlook Courtesy: University of North Texas Release: 04/16/2007 DENTON (4/11/07) - MeanGreenSports.com is previewing the 2007 North Texas football team with daily updates that will break down the team’s outlook by position. The updates will continue over the next seven days, leading up to the annual Green and White Game that will be played at Fouts Field on Sunday, April 22 at 3 p.m. Running Back Dodge is careful to caution that just because his passing offense is highly productive doesn’t mean that he has forgone the running game. In fact, he states, that his running backs are a very valuable part of his team’s overall success. Jamario Thomas led the nation in rushing as a true freshman in 2003 before being nagged by injuries the past two seasons. Thomas is healthy for his senior season and is expected to make a run at becoming the school’s all-time leading rusher, which will require him to return to his old form. Thomas already ranks third on the career rushing leaders list at North Texas with 2,830 yards and will need 1,221 yards to overtake his former teammate Patrick Cobbs. Senior Deavin Cox has seen spot duty over the past two years, but carried the ball 58 times in 2006. Cox and junior college transfer Cam Montgomery will provide an interesting battle for Thomas during spring practice as they all try to adjust to the new system. Montgomery was rated as the third-best JUCO running back in the nation last year at Northeast Mississippi JC. Top Returning Rushers: Jamario Thomas - 181 att., 668 yards, 2 TD Deavin Cox - 58 att., 204 yards Head Coach Todd Dodge on Running Backs "Jamario Thomas and Deavin Cox have really impressed me this spring. I knew what Jamario has done here, but until I actually saw him in live action I didn’t know exactly what we had. Perhaps the thing that I have been most impressed with Jamario is his improvement in the blitz pickup. Deavin is very versatile and I didn’t realize how fast he was until we got into spring ball. Cam Montgomery is still learning everything and he is becoming more confident and more acclimated every day. People always ask how running backs fit into this offense and I have to remind them that we had 1,700-yard rushers during our state championship runs at Carroll. These running backs are definitely a strength of the offense.”

Mean Green defense shines in scrimmage Offense fails to score 11:40 PM CDT on Monday, April 16, 2007 By Brett Vito/Staff Writer North Texas' defense turned the Mean Green's second scrimmage of spring practice into an example of a good news-bad news scenario Monday. The good news was UNT's defense looked like it could develop into a special unit with big-play potential. The only problem was its performance came at the expense of the Mean Green's offense, which failed to reach the end zone in a scrimmage that lasted just more than 100 plays at Fouts Field. The workout was scheduled to take place on Friday, but was pushed back due to inclement weather. "Defensively I was really pleased," UNT head coach Todd Dodge said. "Our defensive ends and linebackers got their hands on a lot of balls today and that is just being a football player and getting in throwing lanes. Our secondary also broke well on the ball. The strength of our team is the number of returning players who have played a lot on defense." Dodge was particularly pleased with the Mean Green's defensive front that kept UNT's quarterbacks on the run all day and forced bad throws that resulted in four interceptions. Dodge said after the workout that junior Daniel Meager has continued to be the most consistent of the Mean Green's quarterbacks and is leading in the race for the starting quarterback job. "Our defense did a good job today of forcing us into long-yardage situations," Meager said. "We just never established anything. In an offense like this you have to stay on schedule. The offense does not work as well when you are in third-and-15 as when you are in second-and-4 or third-and-4 situations." UNT scored just once on a 45-yard field goal from redshirt freshman Steven Woodward. Sophomore defensive end Jonathan Stewart intercepted a tipped pass to kill one UNT drive, while fellow sophomore end Eddrick Gilmore seemed to spend most of his time on the field pressuring UNT's quarterbacks. Gilmore tipped a Meager pass to force an incompletion and help kill another UNT drive. One of the few offensive players to have a solid day for the Mean Green was senior running back Jamario Thomas. The former national rushing champion carried the ball just five times, but ripped off runs of 20 and 24 yards in the span of three plays. UNT was unable to build on those runs because of a few key mistakes. "We had too many unforced errors and put ourselves in too many first-and-15s and second-and-20s," Dodge said. "As far as pitching and catching, we didn't have our best day of being efficient. … Our defense is getting pretty good and they are going to make plays, but when we get the protection, get our feet set and get the ball on people we have to come down with the ball and be accurate with it." [uNT loses Nurudeen for spring] UNT has lost cornerback Latif Nurudeen for the remainder of spring practice with a strained pectoral muscle. The former Baylor walkon joined the Mean Green this spring and quickly worked his way up through UNT's depth chart. He was working with the first-team defense. Dodge said Nurudeen's injury would not require surgery. [Rose comfortable at guard] UNT continued to rotate junior Chad Rose and sophomore Kelvin Drake at guard and center during its second scrimmage of spring practice. Rose has started the last two years at center, while Drake is one of the most promising young players on a line that lacks depth. Dodge said he is rotating both players to give the Mean Green more depth and ensure it has as many linemen as possible who are comfortable with taking shotgun snaps. While Dodge has yet to determine where each player will end up next season, Rose said he is open to the possibility of changing positions. "Coach Dodge wants us to learn different positions," Rose said. "As long as we get the best players on the field, that's all that matters. If that means I am playing guard, I am playing guard. If I am playing center, then I am playing center." [Former Cowboy at scrimmage] Former Dallas Cowboys fullback Walt Garrison was among a few dozen fans who attended UNT's scrimmage on Monday. Garrison was born in Lewisville and now lives in Argyle. Garrison said UNT wouldn't give him a scholarship, which was one reason he ended up playing for Oklahoma State. "Todd Dodge is a good coach," Garrison said. "I met him a couple of times when he was at Southlake. Living in the area, you always pull for North Texas. It's just like when the Dallas Cowboys do well, so does Dallas, Fort Worth and the whole area." Garrison, who works for Bill Utter Ford, attended a reception at the Mean Green Athletic Center after practice. Briefly … Dodge said he has been pleased with the play of Evan Fentriss, a sophomore transfer from Rice, who has been one of the Mean Green's most impressive players in practice. Fentriss will sit out the upcoming season as a transfer. BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com. Print E-mail this article Forums

#6 Tune, #7 Meager #8 Phillips #18 Wilson

OT beleive you misread the info. Here it is. Scrimmage on Monday at 4 PM FOLLOWED bythe regularly scheduled practice on WEDNESDAY at 4:30PM. The team will hold a scrimmage at Fouts Field Monday beginning at 4 p.m. followed by the regularly scheduled practice Wednesday at 4:30 and then a makeup practice Thursday at 4:30. The last regular practice of the spring will be Friday at 3:30 at Fouts Field and the week will culminate with the annual Green and White Game at Fouts Field Sunday, beginning at 3 p.m.

The team will hold a scrimmage at Fouts Field Monday beginning at 4 p.m.

Spring Football Daily Outlook Courtesy: University of North Texas Release: 04/16/2007 DENTON (4/11/07) - MeanGreenSports.com is previewing the 2007 North Texas football team with daily updates that will break down the team’s outlook by position. The updates will continue over the next seven days, leading up to the annual Green and White Game that will be played at Fouts Field on Sunday, April 22 at 3 p.m. Offensive Line The offensive line will begin as a patchwork project with the coaches trying to replace two long-time starters Dylan Lineberry and Joel Foster. Jeremy Brown who also started every game in 2006 has graduated from school and will not return to the team despite having one year of eligibility remaining. The two starters returning are Adam Venegas at guard and Chad Rose at center. Beginning his senior season, Venegas is expected to be a leader among the front five but will have to hold off some young talented players who will push him throughout the spring and fall. Rose shared time at center last year with freshman Kelvin Drake and both players can play either center or guard depending on their performance during spring ball. At offensive tackle, North Texas will feature two new starters, but offensive line coach Spencer Leftwich is very optimistic about their ability to produce. Robert Peachy played in eight games last year and by the end of the season was very close to overtaking a starting spot. Redshirt freshman Matt Menard has shown tremendous promise throughout the fall and will get plenty of reps during the spring. Josh Alexander is perhaps the most talented offensive lineman on the team, but missed all of last season with a knee injury that required off-season surgery. Alexander will also be out during spring practice and if he can successfully come back will be a factor at one of the tackle positions.Freshman Nick Foster redshirted during the fall, but will also challenge for significant playing time at guard. Jack Crumes is not participating in spring drills but is expected to add quality depth during the fall. Head Coach Todd Dodge on Offensive Line "What’s really exciting to me about this offensive line is the youth and their willingness to learn. They are working hard at learning a new scheme and with the number of young players we have, we know that will help us for a long time to come. The two tackles, Matt Menard and Robert Peachy don’t have a lot of game-experience, but they have made tremendous strides during spring practice. This offensive line is going against a very veteran and very accomplished defensive front every day in practice and they are holding their own. If we can get everyone healthy coming into the fall, we really believe that we will have the depth that we need to be successful.”

Final Week of Spring Practice Underway Courtesy: University of North Texas Release: 04/16/2007 DENTON (4/16/07) - The North Texas football team has begun its final week of spring football practice for the 2007 season. The spring season was the first with new Mean Green head coach Todd Dodge, who has been impressed with the progression his team has shown over the past four weeks. “Not knowing exactly what we had, we have been very impressed with the talent and the type of character kids we have on this football team,” Dodge said. “The willingness to work and the attitude toward learning a new system has been outstanding and we think we have a good foundation as we wrap up the spring and begin preparation for fall camp.” This week will be a busy one for the Mean Green as the coaching staff had to juggle the schedule due to the cancellation of last Friday’s scrimmage. The team will hold a scrimmage at Fouts Field Monday beginning at 4 p.m. followed by the regularly scheduled practice Wednesday at 4:30 and then a makeup practice Thursday at 4:30. The last regular practice of the spring will be Friday at 3:30 at Fouts Field and the week will culminate with the annual Green and White Game at Fouts Field Sunday, beginning at 3 p.m. The Green and White Game will not be divided into two equal teams as it has in the past. The game will consist of the offense against the defense with a modified scoring system. The offense will score points for a touchdown, long plays and series with three consecutive first downs. The defense will score points by forcing a turnover, forcing three-and-outs, quarterback sacks and defensive stops as well as defensive touchdowns. There will not be timed quarters, but the scrimmage is scheduled to conclude at 4:30 p.m. Admission is free to the Green and White Game and tailgating events including live music begin at 1 p.m. North Texas returns 16 starters, including 10 from a defensive unit that showed great promise during the 2006 season. While the offense returns just five starters from 2006, more than 86 percent of last year’s total offense was made up by players who return in 2007. The Mean Green open the 2007 season at Oklahoma Sept. 1 before playing at SMU Sept. 8 and having its home opener against Florida Atlantic Sept. 22.

Spring Football Daily Outlook Courtesy: University of North Texas Release: 04/16/2007 DENTON (4/11/07) - MeanGreenSports.com is previewing the 2007 North Texas football team with daily updates that will break down the team’s outlook by position. The updates will continue over the next seven days, leading up to the annual Green and White Game that will be played at Fouts Field on Sunday, April 22 at 3 p.m. Special Teams The special teams had its fair share of highlights in 2006 from registering a Sun Belt best five blocked kicks for the year, to punter Truman Spencer earning his first all-conference honors. Spencer will return for his junior season to lead the special teams group that turned out to be one of the real bright spots of the 2006 campaign. A second season of all-conference honors are not out of the realm of possibility after he finished as the only non-senior in the Sun Belt’s top five in punting in 2006. The placekicking duties will fall onto a different foot for the third consecutive season for the Mean Green as redshirt freshman Steven Woodward will assume the role. Woodward was a highly recruited prospect out of Tulsa’s renowned Jenks High School and looks poised to step up after backing up senior Denis Hopovac last season. Returners Statistics Truman Spencer - 55 punts, 40.8 yard average, 15 downed inside 20 Special Teams coach Robert Drake on Special Teams “I am very pleased with Truman Spencer, he is every bit as good as I had heard he was. He will be the leader and the strength of our kicking game and we expect him to have another great year. Steven Woodward has been pleasantly surprising. His accuracy and leg strength are very good, he just needs to get some experience kicking in a game when there is a lot more on the line. The number of athletes on this team really helps special teams. We have 10 to 12 guys who aren’t starters on offense or defense that will be major contributors on special teams and will allow us to make wholesale substitutions.”

How can you NOT be excited about Mean Green football !!!!!!! "We can make that next step," said new North Texas coach Todd Dodge. "I want people to quit talking about North Texas having potential, and I want this program to reach that potential and knock the top off of it." ARTICLE http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../704140304/1006

Spring Football Daily Outlook Courtesy: University of North Texas Release: 04/13/2007 DENTON (4/11/07) - MeanGreenSports.com is previewing the 2007 North Texas football team with daily updates that will break down the team’s outlook by position. The updates will continue over the next nine days, leading up to the annual Green and White Game that will be played at Fouts Field on Sunday, April 22 at 3 p.m. Cornerbacks The cornerbacks for North Texas in 2006 were more green than mean. Of the four corners that saw the majority of the action last year, three were freshmen and one was a sophomore who had limited experience from the previous year. Despite their youth, the four performed admirably, holding opponents to the lowest passing average by any Mean Green defense since 2002. Antoine Bush and Dominique Green combined for 22 starts last year while Desmond Chatman and Korey Washington each had one. Bush, Green and Chatman will all battle for the starting spots this year while Washington has moved to wide receiver to help with depth at that position. Bush was voted his team’s Most Outstanding Defensive Back by the coaches last year after finishing sixth on the team with 42 tackles. Green had 33 stops while Chatman had 17 in reserve and also led the team in pass breakups. Latif Nurudeen is a transfer from Baylor who will be eligible to play this year and could figure in the rotation. Senior Gary Oubre and redshirt freshman Robbie Gordon also return to provide depth. Top Returning Tacklers in Safety Corps Antoine Bush – 42 Dominique Green – 33 Desmon Chatman – 17 Defensive Coordinator Ron Medoza on the safeties: "Our cornerbacks are probably the least experienced group on the defense. We do have some guys who have played there, but they don’t have much experience doing the things that we are asking them to do in this system. We have been very pleased with their willingness to learn and they have picked things up very quickly. Playing cornerback you are out on an island and you really have to have a short-term memory and we believe these guys will handle all that we throw at them. They are getting better every day."

Beleive that RV made a comment last year that 25,000 attendance at a home game equals a money game.

Looks like there are 23 schools that have white helmets. Here are some for comparison North Texas Marshall Ohio Maryland Louisville Oklahoma State

LINK http://timesfreeforall.blogspot.com/ Tuesday, April 10, 2007 Bradshaw to join Tech's football staff? Now that it appears that the Louisiana Tech men's basketball team will hire Karl Malone as an assistant to apparent new head coach Kerry Rupp, maybe football coach Derek Dooley should add Terry Bradshaw to his staff. Can you imagine Bradshaw walking into a recruit's home and telling it like it is. "Well, son, we play Central Arkansas right out of the shoot and we ought to beat them by 30. Then we play Hawaii and those fat-ass dudes think they're bad. But, aloha, nobody will come to see them play us so your folks should be able to get plenty of free tickets." "We go to California to see some tannin' babes and to play our next two games, but then we're back to take on that mumblin' moron Ed Orgeron at Ole Miss." "I know you've got offers from LSU and Texas, but do you want to sit on the bench down there and say you went to LSU (or Texas) or do you want to come to Ruston and play for four years mostly against WAC schools that nobody cares about? Tough decision, right. But, hey, you get to go to Honolulu and Reno every other year." While they're at it, Tech should hire Kix Brooks to direct the band ... as long as he brings Ronnie Dunn along to do the vocals.

This is a Q & A from Ask CFN. This would sure turn everything topsy turvy QUESTION: What if the WAC and Mountain West combined to form "super conference" for BCS purposes only. Each league would remain as it is today, but at the end of the season, the champs of each league would play each other in a championship game. Good enough to earn a BCS auto-bid for the winner, or just another chance to knock a good mid-major out of the running? – Ed ANSWER: The Mountain West would get the raw end of that stick. Stick perennial Mountain West also-ran Wyoming in the WAC and it probably finishes in the top three or four every year. Instead, I’d take the 18 teams combined in the two leagues, throw out six, and create a super-conference worthy of an automatic BCS bid. Imagine this for a 12-team league leaving out Air Force, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, and Utah State. NORTH: Boise State BYU Colorado State Fresno State Utah Wyoming SOUTH: Hawaii Nevada New Mexico San Diego State TCU UNLV

Personally I don't think that SMU has a lot of power in CUSA. IMHO our actions/success will be the deciding factor. Good athletic programs (especially football & basketball), good facilities and good attendance are positives that would be hard to overlook.