Eagle1855

This all dead-on. The other thing going for them is the same thing we'll have in our corner whenever our alleged baseball team starts: they have no tradition. That sounds like a negative, but it's an asset when you don't have to shake decades of "losing" tradition. They were able to start up and become what they wanted to become. I think they're something like 20-16. By that definition, it's a winning program and it has improved (at least in conference play) every year. We can keep pretending like it isn't happening. But that's not going to stop it from happening.

If they win 9-10 games this year, play for the C-USA championship and go to a bowl game, that's not going to matter all that much. They'll keep winning recruiting battles. And then they'll be back.

I'm not going to say start a hysterical series comments about UTSA passing us by. But... they've managed to raise their profile to at least equal (if not better) a lot of other programs that have been around for a long, long while (NT and Texas State, come to mind). In fact, 69% of students accepted to both UTSA and Texas State choose to attend UTSA over the River College of San Marcos, every year. It's a school and program on the rise, like it or not. Oh and they have guys who can throw the football. It was weird to watch the successful execution of a forward pass, as I've not seen it in some time.

I may be alone in this thought, but there's a good chance the Roadrunners end the regular season with the best -- or tied for the best -- OVERALL record in the state of Texas. And that's taking into account my assumption that they'll lose tonight and next week.

Art Briles played it off pretty well with the media. As did Sumlin. Both told their respective suitors they wanted to be THE choice or they wouldn't interview. I assume to avoid this very issue.

This seems like a good arrangement.

Cool. Thanks for the info. Silo it is. I'll consider the gracious offer to buy others beer.

OU isn't in the state of Texas. I meant "no Texas teams have a reciprocated rivalry.. between one another" This board is hard.

With which part?

Yeah, I mean, TCU might prefer to call Baylor their rival, while Baylor used to call A&M their rival. Similarly, A&M used to call UT its rival, while UT insisted OU was their rival. Conclusions: Aside from UH and Rice, no one in the state of Texas has a reciprocated rivarly. Nobody cares about Texas Tech. OU is everyone's problem.

Anyone watching the game in Austin? Any suggested establishments for the game? Are the Austin Exes doing anything? Can I think of more questions? Maybe?

He's the SMU beat writer. The name of the article was "5 things SMU fans need to know about North Texas." What did you expect?

Which part did you disagree with?

I think that's the problem. These QB's are a long way off from being Derek, who himself was a good way off from being on the same level as all the rest of the FBS QB's in this state. Or even the ones ULL and ULM seem to attract. I really don't know the last time we had a QB at NT that could go out and WIN a game. I know we've had plenty who were more than capable of losing them. But hey, the season is early and in the case of Greer, the career is still young. So maybe it's too soon for hysterics. Let's just hope there's more cohesive play by the time conference play begins. I can't think of a much tougher start to a career (or greater leap from Navarro JC) than being tossed into DKR under the lights with an amped up defense and a no-nonsense coach leading a team in a must-win game.

I'll just keep with my head/heart predictions. Head: UNT - 13 SMU - 17 Heart: UNT - 24 SMU - 6

That GIF = WHOA and is also an entirely appropriate comparison for our offensive performance in Austin.

I'm down for some Mean Green Martyrdom.

Indeed. And yet, we'd still shank a homeless person if it meant taking their place in the American Athletic Conference.

But think about it this way: if we would have punted every time we got anywhere close to their side of the field, we would have totally won the field position game.

I don't really think we should do nothing but run and punt. I'm trying to find reasons to not jump off a metaphorical pedestrian bridge after watching two QB's complete more passes to the other team than their own. Making light of it is the best way I know to avoid committing Mean Green seppuku.

It's also coincided with turmoil and coaching turnover at both Texas Tech and Texas and the Aggies leaving their conference. Baylor landed in a perfect storm and made perfect use of it by hiring the right coach and investing in the program. And by doing so, may have secured themselves a lasting seat at the table of relevance.

He's right. Though I'm not sure the offense at Texas is going to get them more than 7 wins. And I'm not sure ours will allow us more than 5. But hey, the defense looked good. If we'd just ran and punted the entire game, the final score might have been 21-0... So maybe that's our strategy for SMU: run and punt. And hope they beat themselves.

FIU made a mistake by firing Cristobal.

More like the way Texas shut down Oklahoma last year.

It works well until you face a defense that knows how to tackle, play fundamentally sound football. Then they start shutting down options, hurrying the decision making process for the QB and it falls apart (see LSU, last season). Sumlin has a ton of talent on that team. If they can figure out the secondary, they're probably a 10-win team.