Eagle1855

JFK Jr doesn't think that's all that funny.

Texas actually contacted him after he had committed to Mizzou once they lost out on Brantley to Florida. He told them thanks but no thanks. Scout shows he had offers from Mizzou, Northwestern, Ok State, and Standford- but Im gussing OK State was the other offer to which the broadcaster was referring.

And to add more to your case, look at what happened to Oregon once Dixon went down for the season.

Yeah, I've come to eat my crow. Very surprised with WVU's level of play last night. After losing their coach, they really brought it. Nice to see

TO's publicists can think of 1.5 million more reasons why he might come to SMU.

That's an interesting scenario I haven't heard talked about very much. I think Shula would be a great hire for SMU.

I've heard them talk about this phenomenon some when talking about parity. I think you're dead-on. In fact, in 10 years, it will probably get to the point where just about any D-1 program could beat another on any given day. ULM beating Bama is evidence of that. In the end, I don't think 2007 will be an aberration, rather a turning point. Of course, this is a relatively meaningless proclamation on my part, as it is impossible to dispute/refute...ha But the fact that this is happening gives hope to schools like UNT. And in my opinion, reason to invest in athletics.

Well it actually DOES change some things because instead of a student body (it is, after all, COLLEGE football) planning a trip to some obscure bowl destination, they need only make it back to their campus for the first round or two, which would be decided by whoever was ranked/seeded higher (which is the same way they do it at the 1AA level). So, yes, Hawaii would have to travel. And no, that's not anyone's problem but Hawai'i. By having a D1A program in the middle of the pacific ocean, they understand there will be associated travel costs. I doubt very seriously that this would be a huge issue, as they would likely only be in the playoffs once in a blue moon (same for the rest of the non-BCS schools). You have to plan for post-season REGARDLESS. Whether your team is going to the New Orleans Bowl or a playoff, you still make last second plans. The same is true for the NCAA tournament (though at least the last couple games on the way to a title are in the same place). (And the picture of the haggard opportunist in my avatar is just a joke.)

This is a good point. Which is why I think you would have to play the first round or two on school's home fields. I don't think it's practical to have a game at a diff bowl site every week.

can someone explain to me how Hawaii could possibly be considered a recruiting "hot bed"? In my opinion, the only thing that makes Hawaii a better program than SMU is the fact that they have won games. SMU is in a far better market, one of the best recruiting areas in the country, and has a lot more money.

so what does that say about LSU? I mean, they lost to an average-at-best Arkansas team and a Kentucky team that could barely beat an FSU team that was missing 36 players. Maybe the 2 best teams in the nation have already played. Give me OU, USC, and Georgia over either of them.

we should win 7, which should be good enough for a Sun Belt championship. We'll win @ Rice, so we just need 6 SBC wins. We should beat Ark State, ULL, ULM, and FIU. Then we just need 2 out of FAU, Troy, WKU, and MTSU for the title.

yeah, I agree. Didn't mean to include SEC when I said impressive. They have been far from it, which is why I edited it out of my post. I was surprised to see Michigan beat Florida, surprised to see Colorado almost come back on Bama, and I was really surprised to see Arkansas get manhandled.

I think there will be more BCS blowouts this year than any other. OU is gonna roll on WVU and I don't see Ohio State staying within 10 if LSU plays their game. Kansas is in for a world of hurt facing off against VT's defense. Not surprisingly, the Big 12 South has been impressive thus far. The Sun Belt should get another bowl tie-in. After seeing what Georgia did to Hawaii, Im convinced Troy was by far the best team left at home this post season.

If it's June Jones, recruiting just became that much more difficult.

not a great video, but: Clip from youtube sorry, I get a FAIL for attempting to embed it.

if by some miracle Hawaii beats Georgia, i think the cries for a playoff will be even louder. That would make give 2 WAC teams back to back undefeated seasons, making them the ONLY undefeated teams of the past 2 years. Im not saying it's gonna happen, but it has to be considered. That being said, I think Georgia rolls, big time.

Im not sure this kid will get to play at Baylor either... a 4-star duel threat STUD is following Briles over there, but it's good to see some of the state's talent come back home. It was frustrating hearing all players from Texas that play for ASU last night.

if it was after the play was over, why wouldn't it then be Texas' ball and the penalty be taken out of that? Only thing I can figure is that as soon as it was allegedly touched, the play is dead. If so, the 4th down makes sense. Still, I saw no indisputable evidence that it was ever touched. Of course, it didn't really matter as the Pac10 co-champs were way overmatched with Texas' size and speed.

they did a pretty lousy job through most of the game, both ways. I can't stand when officials get in the way of the game, throw teams out of rhythm. Had those been Sun Belt refs, all we'd be hearing about today is how "bush league" they were, and how they weren't ready to officiate "big time" football.

same thing happened to me.

I dont really care what happens to A&M or Arkansas. Both could go 0-fer for the rest of eternity and I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep. I think this is a great deal for both programs, but it'll never be the RRS (which includes 2 other teams that could go 0-fer for the rest of eternity and I still wouldn't lose any sleep). As for all this crap about UNT and playing in Jerry's World- aint' gonna happen. They want to fill the place, not just a couple sections. Get our stadium built, start winning games. People will notice.

No doubt. And we're obviously going to have differing (biased) opinions as to why each school is better... But the fact remains, the Sun Belt is still the worst. Not to say others aren't close. And I completely agree with your original point, which is that programs should set sights higher than the SBC and C-USA, but those are factors of that success. As I stated before, I couldn't care less about the Sun Belt or C-USA. My only interest is seeing UNT win every game it plays, in every sport.

oh yeah , like Southern Miss has ever had any legendary sure-fire hall of fame NFL players... ha, but seriously, you do make some good points. A lot of people on this board don't want to see the reality that is the Sun Belt. It's still the bottom of the D1 conferences. We all know this (or at least, we all SHOULD know this). It has improved, but top to bottom it isn't all that great. C-USA has had a couple down years, which is to be expected for a conference that sent 3 teams to the Big East (which are doing pretty well, I might add), but top to bottom it is clearly a better conference. As is the WAC. That doesn't mean it's a better conference for UNT, but they ARE better conferences, both in perception and in results. This is not to say that the Belt can't improve, but it's a much longer road for the SBC than it is for the WAC of C-USA. I think the thing our fans see is that despite our (USM, UNT) current respective situations, UNT has more "upside" potential than USM. This is not to say it will ever amount to anything- it's just potential- but it is there and it shouldn't be ignored. To beat a dead and bloated horse, it's a large (and ever-growing) state school in a state full of talented players, including the DFW area, which is among the best in the nation. In THEORY, we should ultimately develop of a respectable top 50 team that occasionally breaks the top 25 and be able to maintain that. In THEORY. Of course, U of H is in a similar position with many of the same problems and has hard a difficult time getting back to a level of respectability, but they have done so to some degree. The problem for USM is they are right in the middle of SEC country (which is not unlike UNT and the Big 12), in a state where 2 out of the 3 programs are BCS schools. Plus, State and Ole Miss are both poised to have decent 2008 seasons. I do think Fedora will prove to be a good hire, but it will take some time (much like our situation). UNT just needs to take care of their own situation and hope by doing so they open themselves up for an invite to a better conference. I assure you RV and the rest of the UNT admin would accept any invite from C-USA or better. They'd be stupid not to. If for no other reason the bowl tie-ins. I'll sit back and wait for ArkStFan to come dissect my post and explain how C-USA is going to lose bowl tie-ins, etc... but until then I'll look at things as they are, with hope for what could be, and the understanding that despite of our relative success these past 2 years, our little conference still has a ways to go.

There is no reason why A&M shouldn't be a 8-10 win team every year, so I don't think their fan's expectations are unachievable by any means. There is no reason for Javorsky Lane to not touch the ball til the 4th qtr of their game against OU. The guy made questionable- at best- play calls and gameplan decisions all year. Where was the offense we saw against UT all year? I think Fran is an above average recruiter and a below average coach that basically rode LT to his last 2 coaching gigs. Anyways, Im glad Jones isn't interested in the SMU job. Last thing we need is more competition for a high-powered passing offense.