MeanGreen61

Discussion on the Cajun board about CUSA possibility if Tulane drops football. Pay particular attention to posts at end of page one. http://www.raginpagin.com/hotpage/showthread.php3?t=8983

Happy October 31st Plumm. A little somethin' for ya & he won't mess on your carpet

Harmon Forecast from CBS Sportsline. North Texas 17 UL-Lafayette 14 Middle Tennessee 24 Arkansas State 21 UL-Monroe 22 FIU 19 Troy 17 FAU 14 http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/8820391

Brett Vito: UNT feeling better about its offense 08:22 AM CST on Monday, October 31, 2005 For the last two weeks, North Texas has repeated the same mantra. It popped up after a 40-14 loss to Louisiana Tech last week and again following a 56-3 shellacking Saturday night at the hands of LSU. As strange as it sounds, UNT wholeheartedly believes it is making progress offensively. “We came out and established the run and were able to be successful in the passing game,” UNT wide receiver Johnny Quinn said of the Mean Green’s performance against the Tigers. “The score does not reflect it, but offensively we improved.” For the Mean Green’s sake, Quinn had better be right. UNT still has conference title aspirations. Those hopes rest with an offense that has struggled most of the season, despite a load of talent that includes a pair of national rushing champions in Patrick Cobbs and Jamario Thomas, not to mention Quinn, maybe the best receiver in the Sun Belt. So far, those players have only been able to help UNT show small signs of improvement. If the Mean Green don’t speed up the process, at least a little, those strides won’t be enough. UNT rushed for 105 yards against an LSU team that was ranked No. 13th nationally against the run with an average of 96.5 yards surrendered a game. The Mean Green squandered nearly every scoring opportunity those rushing yards provided against LSU. UNT had a field goal blocked and failed to punch the ball in from LSU’s 1-yard line. UNT has the talent to do better than 9.0 points a game it is averaging, but has continued to sputter. With the end of the season in sight, UNT coach Darrell Dickey knows the Mean Green need to find a rhythm. Preferably now. “We are still a work in progress,” Dickey said. “We are still not even close to where we need to be. We have four games left, that’s what I told the players, and we are going to have to make some drastic improvement very quickly for us to be able to get done what we need to get done.” UNT has no time left to continue its slow crawl back to being an effective offensive team —not if the Mean Green want to keep their hopes of winning a fifth straight Sun Belt title alive. Despite its recent struggles, UNT still has just one loss in Sun Belt play in what is turning out to be a poor year for the league. Troy lost to Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday, leaving Louisiana-Monroe (3-0), Arkansas State (3-1) and UNT (2-1) as the only teams in the conference without at least two losses in league play. The question is whether UNT has what it takes to get on track in time offensively to emerge from that group and earn a New Orleans Bowl bid. The Mean Green were behind when two-a-days started due to the departure of projected starting quarterback Joey Byerly because of academic issues, but has had all of two-a-days and more than a half a season’s worth of practices to recover. That time hasn’t helped the Mean Green much. UNT came into its game against LSU ranked No. 115th nationally in scoring. The Mean Green have reached the 14-point barrier only once since linebacker Maurice Holman returned an interception 99 yards against Middle Tennessee to spark UNT to a 14-7 win in its season opener. UNT’s coaches and players say they have seen progress since then. So far that progress hasn’t shown up on the scoreboard, which is the only place it really matters. Fortunately for the Mean Green, the rest of the Sun Belt hasn’t fared much better. UNT’s destiny is still in its hands. Win out and Mean Green can do no worse than tie for the Sun Belt title and become bowl eligible at 6-5. The Mean Green have the potential to break out and convert on that opportunity. The question is whether UNT can come out of its offensive funk that has been, well, offensive, beginning with a home game Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette. “We moved the ball against the No. 7 team in the nation and that is a plus,” Quinn said. “But the score got out of control. We can’t do that going back into conference play.” Not if the Mean Green wants to end up as conference champions yet again. BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .

From October Ask the Commissioner HEAD TO HEAD & bowl eligible is the tie breaker if only TWO TEAMS. More than two, the committee picks. ========= Ken: In the event three teams each have one conference loss, how is the Bowl representative determined? Is overall record the first tie-breaker? Commissioner Waters: Head-to-head competition is the established tie breaker, but in the case of a multi-tie, The New Orleans Bowl Committee would get to choose -- assuming they are all bowl eligible (6 wins) . ========= October Ask The Commissioner http://sunbeltsportstv.nmnathletics.com/Vi...CRIBER_CONTENT=

College Football Poll picks North Texas -1 v UL-Lafayette MTSU -9 v Arkansas State Troy -1 v Florida Atlantic UL-Monroe -6 v Florida International http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/weekly_picks.html

ULL -4.5 v North Texas Troy -4 v FAU ULM -10 v FIU MTSU -7 v ASU http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-footba...egas/index.html

W/O a win over SMU the season is a total loss? Apparently you have some associates/acquaintances that would make your life miserable with a loss. I want a win over SMU also, but to say the season would be a total loss without it is a pretty big stretch.

Is this game the turning point for the remainder of the season?

Head-to-head win PLUS being bowl eligible is a winner if two teams tie. Gotta be bowl eligible. If ULM wins 3 of 4 but loses to UNT AND UNT finishes 6-1, the Indians would be co-champs but would miss the New Orleans Bowl UNLESS Troy ALSO finishes 6-1 which would result in a three-way tie placing the bowl berth decision in the hands of the New Orleans Bowl. (Troy has now lost two games) Scroll down to Championship Scenarios http://www.beltboard.com/

Here's a post by Arkstfan with the UNT scenario before this week's games and Troy's lost to ULL. If we win out (6-1) with a 6-5 record we go to the bowl because of the win over ULM. How UNT can win the title. Finish 6-1. Win remaining four conference games. That clinches a share of the title and clinches a New Orleans Bowl berth UNLESS Troy wins out which would force a three-way tie and place the decision in the hands of the New Orleans Bowl. Finish 5-2. Win 3 of 4 with ULM losing twice, ASU losing once more and Troy losing once more. 5-2 likely creates a multiple team tie. If the tie involves ASU, MTSU, Troy, or Louisiana, Lafayette UNT stays home unless they defeat LSU this weekend because each would be bowl eligible while UNT would only be bowl eligible with a win over LSU. Games remaining: 3 home ULL, ULM, ASU 1 away FAU. Plus one non-conference game at LSU.

The upcoming ULL game can be a positive or negative indicator on the remainder of the season. FWIW College Football News has us rated at the top of the Sun Belt or the best of the worst conference 106 UNT 107 ULM 108 ASU 109 ULL 110 Troy 114 FAU 115 MTSU 117 FIU

No.....they gotta get thru the Mean Green as both games are at Fouts

3 games at home (ULL,ULM,ASU) 1 on the road (FAU). Will the team & DD do it AGAIN ? DD quote from today's DRC. “We are still a work in progress,” Dickey said. “We are not even close to where we need to be. We have four games left, that’s what I told the players, and we are going to have to make some drastic improvement very quickly for us to be able to get done what we need to get done.”

North Texas -1 v ULL ULM -13 v FIU Troy -9.5 v FAU ASU -.5 v MTSU All Games http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cfpred.txt

Football: Former Bronco to line up vs. UNT Johnson played OL at DHS before signing with Tigers 09:57 AM CDT on Saturday, October 29, 2005 By Brett Vito / Staff Writer North Texas offensive lineman Jason May remembers seeing an unfamiliar mountain of a man standing on the sideline during a Mean Green scrimmage just a few years ago. At 6-7 and 335 pounds, Herman Johnson was pretty hard to miss, even during his days as an offensive tackle at Denton. “He didn’t look like a high school kid,” May said. “He was pretty large.” That label has always fit Johnson, who will face some old friends and acquaintances tonight when LSU (5-1) hosts North Texas (2-4) at 7 p.m. in Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. Johnson developed into one of the top high school offensive linemen in the country during his time with the Broncos before signing with LSU. Johnson sat out most of his first year with a medical redshirt, but has gradually moved into a more prominent role with the Tigers as a backup offensive lineman this season. The redshirt freshman is expected to receive significant playing time against the Mean Green. UNT defensive end Raifu Durodoye and wide receiver Isiah Smith both played with Johnson at Denton and are now backups at UNT. “It will be weird to play against some of those guys instead of playing with them,” Johnson said. “I hope to see Raifu at the game. It will be like old times in high school when we went against each other in practice.” Despite leaving Denton for Baton Rouge, Johnson has maintained his ties local ties. Johnson and Smith were close in high school and still talk on a regular basis. “Isaiah and I talked about the game a bunch over the summer,” Johnson said. “He told me the Tigers were going down. We joked around about the game.” When he isn’t busy preparing for LSU’s next game, Johnson still follows Denton and UNT on the Internet. Johnson and some of his high school teammates became familiar with UNT while hanging out at the Mean Green’s practices and scrimmages through the years. “When I had some spare time, I would go out and watch practice,” Johnson said. “The players and coaches would come by and ask how things were going.” UNT coach Darrell Dickey was more than happy to have Johnson come by. “Herman always treated us with respect,” Dickey said. “Some kids act like they are too good to even visit with you. He never had that attitude. He is a great young man and an outstanding football player who deserves every opportunity he is getting.” Rivals.com ranked Johnson No. 3 among high school offensive tackles during his senior year at Denton because of an unusual combination of size and agility. Johnson is starting to capitalize on that potential after a slow start at LSU, where he came in with great fanfare. Johnson was not only a top recruit, he is also the largest baby ever born in Louisiana, where he tipped the scales at 15 pounds, 14 ounces. When he arrived at LSU, Johnson was too large, even for a college offensive tackle, at 411 pounds. After playing 42 snaps in two games as a freshman, Johnson received a medical redshirt. Since that time, Johnson has cut his weight down to 335 pounds by reducing fatty foods and sweets in his diet. He is listed at 371, his weight at the beginning of fall practice, in LSU’s media guide. The benefits of that weight loss have been impressive. Johnson is listed as LSU’s top backup at both right guard and right tackle and also serves as a blocking back in goal line situations. “Coach put me in and told me to try and move the line,” Johnson said. “It’s different. You have a view of everything from the backfield.” Johnson started at right guard in LSU’s win over Vanderbilt and has contributed to the Tigers running out to a 5-1 record and a No. 7 national ranking. Dickey said playing LSU would be as big a challenge as UNT has faced during his eight-year tenure with the team. The Tigers have knocked off a pair of nationally ranked teams the last two weeks in Florida and Auburn and are in the thick of the race for the SEC West Division title. Quarterback JaMarcus Russell has thrown for 1,307 yards on the season, while running back Joseph Addai has added 642 rushing yards. UNT has not been as successful. The Mean Green dropped their third straight non-conference game last week against Louisiana Tech. Dickey said he saw small signs of progress in that loss when senior running back Patrick Cobbs rushed for 108 yards on an average of 7.2 yards a carry. The Mean Green will have to make huge strides from their performance against Tech to stay with LSU. “We are going to have to execute as well as we can, stay with them and hope something comes up in the fourth quarter,” UNT linebacker Phillip Graves said. “To do that we will have to play to the best of our ability and cut out our mistakes.” No matter the outcome, Johnson will be looking for Smith at the end of the night. “I am going to mess with him after the game,” Johnson said. BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .

Just indicated their OC record with the win being close over a Sun Belt team. What's your problem?

Mean Green Village Continues With Construction Projects Courtesy: University of North Texas Release: 10/28/2005 New Soccer Field DENTON (10/28/05) - The North Texas Softball and Golf Facility and the Mean Green Office Complex and Gymnasium are nearing completion as a range of construction projects continue at the Mean Green Athletic Village. The Mean Green Athletic Village continues to be a flurry of activity as a range of projects are finishing and starting construction. The Mean Green Office Complex and Gymnasium, which will house a majority of the coaches and locker rooms, is close to completion. Carpets have been laid down and doors have been installed in the meeting rooms and coaching offices. The next step is to finish carpeting the locker rooms and bring in office furniture. The plan is for the coaches to move into their new offices in the next few weeks. The Mean Green Softball and Golf Facility is also close to completion. Carpeting has been laid down and so has the turf for the indoor driving range, putting area and batting cages. The two indoor driving ranges and batting cages are awaiting netting. The softball coaches will move into this building during the next month. Bleachers should be arriving at the future home of the Mean Green Softball Complex, and groundwork is being done on the practice field for the softball team. The North Texas soccer team practiced on its new field, located on Bonnie Brae, for the first time this past week. The Mean Green will have a new field and locker room ready for the 2006 season. Construction continues on the Waranch Tennis Pavilion, and it is expected to be completed by the end of November. The clubhouse is close to completion, and currently the courts are being painted. The tennis complex is located on S. Bonnie Brae at the entrance to Victory Hall. This $3 million facility is named for University of North Texas alumnus Ronald Waranch. The Waranch Tennis Pavilion has already been chosen as the host site for the 2007 Sun Belt Conference Tennis Championship. The North Texas track, located at Fouts Field, was resurfaced and will get striped in the next few days. The resurfacing should make the track more even-surfaced and add some buoyancy. Click here to view photos http://www.meangreensports.com/PhotoAlbum....800&PALBID=2422

UCF is 1-2 in OC games with their only win being a 3 pointer over UL-Lafayette (24-21).

Women's Soccer Looks To Clinch SBC Regular Season Title This Weekend Courtesy: University of North Texas Release: 10/28/2005 DENTON (10/28/05) - The North Texas women's soccer team is just one win or tie away from clinching its third regular season Sun Belt Conference Championship this weekend when it finishes its regular season with games against Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee. The Mean Green will wrap up the top seed in the conference tournament with a win or tie at either Western Kentucky or Middle Tennessee. North Texas leads the series with Western Kentucky 2-1-1. The Mean Green are 1-0-1 on the road against the Hilltoppers, winning 3-1 in 2001 and playing to a 1-1 draw in 2003. The Mean Green is 5-1-1 against Middle Tennessee. The two teams shared the regular season conference title last season. North Texas is 2-1 against the Blue Raiders on the road. Home Domination For the fourth time in school history North Texas has gone unbeaten at home. The Mean Green closed out the home season with a record of 9-0-1, and since the start of the 2000 season North Texas is 46-2-4. North Texas outscored its opponents at home this season 34-5. Against SBC opponents at home, the Mean Green is 21-1-2 since joining the league in 2000. More Rankings For the first time this season the Mean Green has been ranked by Soccer Buzz Magazine in the top 15 in the Central Region. North Texas checks in at 14th in a region that features 67 teams. The Mean Green held steady at 36th in the nation according to topdrawersoccer.com. National Statistics Sophomore forward Heather Hutyra continues to be ranked among the nation's leaders in points per game. Currently, she is eighth among division I schools in points per game (2.47). Through 15 games, she has scored 16 goals and dished out five assists. Ellis Continues To Shine Goalkeeper Kandice Ellis recorded her sixth shutout of the season and extended her scoreless streak to 365 minutes without allowing a goal. Ellis is now fourth in school history with six shutouts in a single season. She currently has the lowest goals against average in school history at 0.50 and the best save percentage at .900. Ellis is sixth in the nation in save percentage and 14th in the nation in goals against average. Closing In On A Milestone Head coach John Hedlund, who already ranks in the top 15 all-time in NCAA history in wins and winning percentage, is nearing another milestone. Hedlund, who has never had a losing season, is just three wins away from notching his 150th career win. Still Streaking The Mean Green’s 14-game unbeaten streak remains the third longest in the nation. Inside the unbeaten streak, North Texas has won seven straight games, tied for the second longest in school history.

Had a 9-3 regular season in 2003 and finished 2002 at 8-5 with the bowl win over Cincy.

Post off the Sun Belt Delphi board. WKU football gets pricey gift By OJ STAPLETON, The Daily News, bgdailynews.com Thursday, October 27, 2005 12:24 PM CDT The Western Kentucky football program received an approximate $1 million gift from a pair of alumni - brothers Dennis Koon of Bowling Green and Gary Koon of Glasgow. The donation came in the form of property near Barren River Lake. In July, 22 lots sold at auction for more than $500,000. The remainder of the lots will be sold at a later date and should bring the total gift to about $1 million. “We’re just real big supporters of athletics,” Dennis Koon said. “That gives the community something to get behind. I think a strong athletic program also brings in quality students. A lot of people don’t realize that, but it does.” The money will go specifically to the football team. “It’s exclusively for football operations,” WKU athletics director Wood Selig said. “It could be for scholarship support, summer school opportunities - it is just for the overall enhancement of our football program.” Dennis Koon’s son Andrew played football for two years at Western Kentucky. Dennis Koon said he and his brother have made several smaller donations in the past, but felt the time was right for a more sizable gift. “We just felt like this was the right thing to do,” he said. “We’re hoping that other people in the community will realize the importance of Western athletics to Bowling Green and will do the same.” Selig said this is the third million-dollar donation football has received in the past five years. “I think this just demonstrates the kind of support that exists for our football program and it has to put us among the top schools in I-AA,” Selig said.

Football: Hurricane hits home for UNT Members of athletic department set to return to Louisiana 10:23 AM CDT on Friday, October 28, 2005 By Brett Vito / Staff Writer Chris Seroka spent the night of Aug. 30 stuffing everything he could think of into his car. Hurricane Katrina had ripped through Louisiana just hours before and North Texas’ strength and conditioning coach had yet to hear from his parents or any of his other relatives in the area. “I bought a bunch of water, canned food and everything else that I thought you would need in a hurricane situation,” Seroka said. “Just before I left for Louisiana, my phone rang. It was my sister, who said everything was fine. That was a big time relief.” Seroka is just one of a few UNT athletic department employees and athletes who spent several anxious hours waiting to hear from relatives and friends after the hurricane hit. Some of those officials and players will make their first trip to Louisiana since the storm tore through the area this weekend when the Mean Green face LSU at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. The game was originally scheduled for Sept. 3, but was postponed by Katrina, which swept through Louisiana on Aug. 29. UNT equipment manager Mike Gallup’s parents live in Slidell near New Orleans. Associate athletic director Brian Bethea grew up in St. Bernard Parish, one of the areas hardest hit by the storm. UNT defensive lineman Isaac Thomas played his senior season at Mansfield Summit, but spent the first few years of his high school career at Lee High School in Baton Rouge. Seroka and Gallup both left for Baton Rouge early to transport equipment to the game and will stop to visit relatives in the area. Bethea was planning on going to Louisiana, but won’t be able to visit to New Orleans because he is flying in with the team on the day of the game. Seroka and Gallup were among the athletic department officials who spent several anxious hours waiting to hear from friends and family. Rick Villarreal worked at Southern Miss prior to taking over as UNT’s athletic director and has hired several athletic department officials from areas that have been hit by hurricanes this fall. Seroka dealt with the uncertainty by watching The Weather Channel and later CNN until hearing from his relatives fairly quickly. Gallup was not as fortunate. He had to wait a week before his parents sent word through a friend who fled to Houston that they survived. “It was a tough few days,” Gallup said. “I still had a job to do here, but it was very tense until I found out that they were OK.” After making contact with their friends and family, UNT’s officials turned their attention to assisting in the relief efforts. “Just seeing pictures of the damage is tough,” Bethea said. “I have gotten several pictures of our house from my parents. It looks like somebody put all of the furniture in a blender, threw it all over and poured mud all over it. Our parish president said the area won’t ever be the same.” Most of the homes in the area where Bethea’s parents lived will be bulldozed. Gallup’s parents were able to return to their house after the storm, but the damage was extensive after three feet of water flooded the area. All the carpet and sheet rock from the walls were washed away. Only four of the 30 pine tress in the backyard remain standing. Gallup’s parents have been sleeping on an air mattress since moving back to Slidell. Seroka’s parents stayed with him to escape the aftermath of the storm. UNT’s athletic department responded to the tragedy that hit so close to home by mobilizing all of its student athletes to help with a fundraising effort. UNT raised $22,000 worth of cash and supplies for hurricane victims. The Mean Green’s players and coaches believe playing a game in Baton Rouge is just another way they can assist the people of New Orleans. “Anything to help those people who have been displaced from New Orleans and give them a sense of normalcy will be good,” Seroka said. “It will get their minds off of it. After it’s not on the news every day, people tend to forget about it, but the lingering effects of the storm will be tremendous.” Those effects have put the game in perspective for the entire UNT athletic department, including those who still have relatives in the area. “When something like this happens, it makes you think that there are more important things than football,” Gallup said. “Going back to Louisiana will remind us of that.” BRETT VTIO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .

Isn't this the reason for the article?

NT Daily article Football contends with more than top-ranked LSU No vacancy left from Katrina aftermath Rian Johnson Staff Writer October 27, 2005 As if playing the No. 8 team in the country on a Saturday night in one of the most hostile environments in college football is not enough, NT must tackle another challenge. The Mean Green will be forced to do what all teams that have played in Baton Rouge, La., have done this year: travel the day of the game. Traditionally, NT would arrive in the host city the night before the game. However, because of the rebuilding of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina, there are no hotels for the team to stay in. Therefore, the team will travel on game day. Mean Green running back Patrick Cobbs said it is something the team can overcome, but it does play a small role in preparing for the game. “It will be different, but I think we are in good enough shape that the altitude will not bother us too much,” Cobbs said. “It will be important for us to get out early and get stretched out, get our legs loose and stuff like that.” Normally, the Mean Green would leave early enough Friday to arrive at the host city in time for an afternoon workout. The team would then spend the evening preparing for the game and having a team dinner, before 11 p.m. curfew. Saturday morning, the team would meet for breakfast and more meetings, before having its official pregame meal and leaving for the stadium. This week, the Mean Green will have a similar schedule on Saturday, but it will be interrupted by an hour flight to Baton Rouge. NT will have its traditional 8:30 wake up call, its team breakfast and meetings, and then depart for LSU. Once the Mean Green arrives, it will have hotel facilities to house its pregame meals and game preparations, but the players will have to spend their downtime before the game in conference rooms as opposed to a relatively comfortable hotel room. “It gets you out of your routine, but it is not that big of a deal,” NT coach Darrell Dickey said. Teams that have been forced to address the same circumstances this season has been somewhat successful. Tennessee spoiled LSU’s home opener after flying in the day of the game, and last week Auburn missed a game-tying field goal in overtime. The Kansas City Chiefs managed to pull off a victory when it traveled to play the Miami Dolphins when Hurricane Wilma was threatening Florida.