TWISMUNT

Well that was the case. Some were more adamant than others about it but it was a request from players. The ones that wanted it were very vocal and the rest just went along. In fact I think it all started before clinching conference in 04, I cant remember now exactly when. We showed up for Monday meeting and the offer was if we beat this team(I think ULM but dont hold me to that) this Saturday then we will wear black pants from now on. I know we had them against Idaho and in the NO bowl. Although apparently not aesthetically pleasing to others, at least they were comfortable and best of all not used! Haha! It seems kind of pointless to point this stuff out now because every shirt and sweat suit I have from my time at UNT is the wrong color of Green and our team uniform looks like Southlake University, but I never have given a crap what was worn as long as we win. I've got a good feeling about this year and cant wait until next year! GMG

You know why Dickey created the us versus them mentality with people outside of the meeting room? It wasn't an excuse. It's because of what you just said right there. We won 4 straight titles, went to 4 straight bowl games, didn't lose a conference game for several seasons and you still dont feel like that is legitimate success? And dont act like there wasn't criticism of players and coaches when we were winning because there was. Nothing will ever be enough so he chose to side with us as opposed to making the PR move. You dont like us running a draw on 3rd and 15, oh well. The problem is you are okay with it when it works and hate it when it doesn't. Do you honestly think we weren't trying to win the out of conference games? It pissed us off more than anyone else but we still played with pride and won championships. That is legitimate. You will go party in New Orleans and then talk about how bad the SBC is. Screw your variables. I'm proud of my time and can make a brass knuckle out of my conference championship rings. Not may people can say that. I apologize for getting so fired up about this, but it seems like sometimes you all forget that this isn't just Dickey's legacy, it is the players that were involved as well. Players that he cared about and knew how to inspire. Think about this, if you cant appreciate a team that wins, what is the point of putting in all of the hard work when were losing to get back to winning?

Excellent point and very well said! Between Darrell Daniels, Adrian Awasom, Evan Cardwell and Brandon Kennedy, not a single one of them was less than 240. They were all athletic, strong and most importantly BIG! Having a speed rush small DE is fine for the right situations, but it cant be your everydown guy. I'm not saying our D-Linemen aren't talented, but size does matter on the line. Our secondary and LB corp is pretty darn good, but so are the recievers and running backs they are going against. The fight in the trenches will always be important and I think that LongJim might be on to the problem here. This Defensive Unit as whole is very talented and has proven they can get the job done. I hope they show some pride, leave it all out there and shut these Hilltoppers(gay) the hell down! This Saturday I believe they will and I cant wait to watch it at Fouts!

Flush this one and move to the next? This team has a lot of pride apparently. That might work for one loss, but not multiple losses in a season and not multiple losing seasons. How about we have some freaking pride and play to win! Ask Muschamp on the link below if he thinks it is okay to just flush a loss and move on the next one? Thats why he is next in line at UT. Deloach was the most intense coach I ever played for and I refuse to believe he lost that. But it is pretty clear that if it is acceptable to lose and there is no pressure on your position what is going to happen with the 2009 Mean Green. Players need to find a way and not rely on lucky or unlucky breaks. Turnovers, penalties, dropped balls and all of that crap sucks but it is part of the game. If they believe a loss is acceptable then I believe I'm just going to continue being dissapointed when leaving Fouts on Saturdays. For the record I will continue to be there every game win or lose but for these kids sake I hope they get to experience winning because it is a lot better!

This is going to sound crazy, but at the Kroger off of University they used to sell a 30 pack of beer called Caguama. It was excellent and more important was around $14 a dirty thirty. Now this was 3 years ago so I'm not sure if that is still the case but it made my last 2 years of beer pong contests a lot more pleasant.

Let me get this straight. The NT Daily ran this article on Monday 8/31/2009 only 4 days before opening kickoff against BSU? What is wrong with these people? If you think our players dont pick up the NT Daily and look it over you are mistaken. I read that thing all the time. Okay I mainly did the Sudoku puzzle then glanced at sports but that is not the point. You are sending a great message to our team by publishing this BS article 4 days before opening kickoff. How about a freakin thank you for the month of hell they just went through to compete on behalf of our university, a season preview, predictions or basically anything other than a slap in the face and you suck before we start playing. I hope I'm not the only one that this thing really did get fired up.

We had one. Maybe not good for $125 million but Mattress Mac donated tons of money to UNT. But after they treated Dickey like $h!t the way they did Mac stood by him and haven't heard a whole lot from him lately. Then again I have been out of the loop since the end of 2006 so I could be mistaken. Personally, if that is why I haven't been hearing much about Mattress Mac lately, I applaud him and completely agree.

I was going to wait until Monday but as I'm sitting here at this abortion of a game I have to state an obvious fact. Our so called high power offense has done a great of getting yards this game, but not such a great job of keeping our young struggling defense off of the field. With a grand total of -10 rushing yards in the first half how could they? Vizza and his recievers have done well tonight besides the turnovers, but what this team needs is ball control until this defense can figure it out. They have the potential, but will never be able to realize it without something to draw on. One of the things that made our defense so good in Dickey's tenure was exactly that. As a defense there is nothing better than taking the field after a good long drive where your offense just beat the other team down. I know Dickey ball isn't coming back and it doesn't need to, but with a struggling defense Dodge ball isn't going to cut it either. This is not a squad that can rush the ball 40 times and win, but clock control stops the bleeding sometimes. Just a thought!

I like this explanation. It is funny that you phrased it that way. We were a different team then. There was a little less Under Armour, the only person that had a visor on his helmet was Evan Cardwell and that is because he sustained an eye injury and we had no budget to speak of. "Balling on a Budget" was a common phrase. One summer Coach Dickey even made us shirts that said I.S.H.P.B.I.H.S on the front and on the back it said "I should have played better in High School." Some of us had better High School records than others but it was a great team of somewhat overlooked players that knew how to win. A High School winner in College is just like a High School graduate in college. They are qualified to be there, but they might not workout. You have to work hard and not just expect things. Dickey did a great job of setting that expectation and maybe we have gotten away from it. He rewarded us with things these kids are taking for granted. We win Conference, we get to wear black pants in the N.O. bowl and things like that. We had game gear and practice gear. If we ripped an Under Armour shirt or a pair of gloves you better make it last until it wont work anymore. There was no new pair of gloves everyday. Now I see about 75 QBs on the sidelines with red Under Armour hats on and think what the hell....where is that money coming from? I know Under Armour probably gives them too us, but these guys dont know how good it is now. And to be honest, the look on the sidelines was not as concerned as it should have been after losing by 57 points to RICE. That was embarassing. I know they are working hard but are they working hard enough? Are we recruiting the right kids if losses like that are exceptable? Sorry I'm a little off topic here....the point is after 3 harsh losing seasons.......do you want High School Champions that all run 4.4 dashes or are this size or whatever else people think make a good recruit..... or do you want guys that will work hard and do what it takes to win? That is what we need to recruit on, not what an Area, State or National list says, not what a High School record says, but what a visit and some game film says. Thanks!

I have always valued everybodies opinion on this board and even more than that your pride for UNT football. Here is my opinion on a couple of subjects from this year and it is not meant to offend anybody. First off directly related to the quote above in bold. What will it mean if we dont get these top recruits in the next couple of years? Getting great players is important, but what are great players? From 2001 to 2004 we won 4 conference championships utilizing the leftover recruits of everybody else. Hardly anybodies first choice was UNT back then. The game is changing now with more emphasis on athleticism, which means we will need better players. but what we did back then proves that wins can be accomplished with hard work, good coaching and patience. There is definite value in putting Riley Dodge in the slot also for all of the reasons presented prior to this. Remember a guy named Jaamel Branch? Teams lost sleep over what Dickey was going to have him do that weekend from the slot. Half the time we didn't even know. Big time difference maker on a very successful team. That being said, I dont think that Riley Dodge is too small to be a successful quarterback in D1 football either. One of the most successful quarterbacks in UNT history is a guy by the name of Scott Hall who was just a little undersized right? Of course you will think all he did was hand the ball off, but when he needed to execute a pass it was done. Riley has more tools and experience on his belt than Scooty Mac did and has already shown that he can be successful in this system. Just ask the people he played against in High School. There will be some growing pains, but he can get there. I know this is dragging out a little and sounding almost preachy, but the final thing I will say is that we really do need to be patient. I can already tell you that if we dont win one of the next four games and things aren't changing that just about everybody on this board is going to be calling for Vizza's neck and asking why we are starting him if he isn't winning. Dont think it will happen? Ask Matt Phillips. I remember reading postings about him like he was a savior and then a couple of losses later he might as well have been the Hurricane Ike of Denton. Somebody said earlier that if we aren't winning in 4 years Dodge wont be here. I dont completely disagree with that, but it is a bit forward. It took Dickey a while to get us winning also. I think we have what we need to get back to where we were and beyond. We just need to give it time and be supportive. GMG

Although Deloach did do a good job recruiting while he was at UNT the first time, what made us succesful is his ability to actually "coach". Nobody was beating down the door to get guys like Chris Hurd, Taylor Casey, Cody Spencer, Brandon Kennedy, Darrell Williams, Jonas Buckles, Markeith Knowlton and Craig Jones coming out of High School so somebody definitely made a good call getting them here. But once they were here he coached us well. Your first time out you wonder why this man never stops yelling but you realize that is just how he talks and if you listen you will be a better player for it. He knows his stuff and it really shows when you take a group of guys that Big 12 schools didn't give a second look to and keep Texas to only 200 total yards and a scoreless second half on opening day 2002. He will get us back and I cant wait to watch!

They do take a team photograph along with individual photos for sale to the players. At least they did when I was there. We usually did it toward the end of two a days. It is a freaking nightmare to organize and get it all right. Took forever out in the heat!

You can just walk right in with it in your hand. Believe me I know!

Hey fellow Mean Green Fans, I know there is a lot going on this week for this team. But lets forget all of that BS! Forget about the QB controversy, the spread, the bottom 10, SMU's sorry ass prediction for the game....everything! Lets do what we did against Baylor 3 years ago. Lets fill Fouts up with as many as it will hold. After that lets yell mean green until the final whistle and know that we are about to put a hurting on SMU. Before that lets Tailgate up something fierce, but then actually go inside. Now I am sure that most people that post on this board do actually go to the games, but maybe we should try and make an effort to convince a few more people to come in along the way. This is our team, those guys lay it on the line for us every week, the least we can do is give them an audience that is commited to them no matter what. And I know that we all are. Then after all that, lets be ready to tear this town up celebrating our victory. Thanks for reading this, and as always..... Go Mean Green!

Some of yall are so quick to jump ship it is f'in unbelievable. You are all excited about Phillips starting against UT, Woody has one good drive and now your like Matt Phillips who???? I agree, Woody earned the right to start this weekend based on last weeks performance and that he is a great player, but this QB battle aint over. Oh...and the person bashing Meager, he doesnt deserve that. Yeah he had a rough year last year, but thats just what it was, last year. I hope he at least gets a series and shows up the way that I know he can. I'm sorry, after that long weekend I guess I'm a little pissed off to be back in the real world, but I guess my point is to stop being so two-faced.

On a more serious note, I know for a fact if its up to Johnny, he is going to play.

Nevermind, found out on my own. Sorry!

Why isn't Phillip Graves listed? Is he hurt? Did I miss something? Sorry I just recently got back into checking the board?

Last I heard Kevin Galbraeth was playing in NFL Europe but that was a two or three years ago, so there is no telling. Its a shame he didn't get a real chance with the Ravens, he was a really hard runner, just very undersized.

No not really, just like the whole the world is mine thing. I mean, I have nothing against Shaq, I'm just not really a fanatic or anything. The name just kind of popped in my head when I was making my user name.

I believe that Markieth Knowlton is playing in the CFL with somebody right now also. I dont know for sure, I haven't talked to him in a while.

Evan Cardwell....Dallas Desperados AFL

If the man wants to play...let him play. I'm sure he knows what he is doing. Besides, you think JQ cant catch one handed if he has to?

Brian Waters...KC Chiefs

This was a great post SilverEagle. I agree with you about Keronna but what I'm really glad is that your not counting J Mitch out. He filled in that fullback spot when there was no one else to do it after Claborn left and did well these past two years. He deserves to be used in the offense one way or the other. As far as the O-Line goes, they will be better next year. Foster and Lineberry are going to be a combo not to be messed with. Rose is all grown up now and has a little facial hair so look for him to be a clone of Andy Brewster starting next year. He has all the signs of greatness at center including being a tough S.O.B. and playing through pain. I say dont count Venegas or Jeremy Brown out on the other side, but the young guys will probably get a look also. Should be an awesome thing to watch in spring ball. The TE position should be solid also. We have some pretty good size guys there that are also athletic. I hope that one of them can turn out to be a big play pass catching TE like Blount, which could seriously help a young QB, but if not, at least they are good blockers. The Wide-outs are so stacked next year that it is insane. JQ is the man! We all know that, he is going to be on the field almost at all times on offense. B Jack is well on his way to take over for JQ after this year as well. Muzzy is going to be around, we just need to find a way to get him the ball. And if I'm not mistaken we have JoEl Nwigwe for another year of leaving burn streaks on the turf. As far as Brock Stickler, he has more potential than you can imagine. In the recieving corps he is the victim of there being too much talent. He is a great special teams guy and I think that they will find a way to get him the ball eventually. I always thought he could also be a great safety, maybe even a rover linebacker. He is about Graves size. Anyway, thats about it for now, I'm not even going to say anything about QB until I watch some 500 play scrimmages and make my mind up! GMG!