The Fake Lonnie Finch

Also, we are not like Marshall. They actually won some national titles as I-AAs. It was a good program with decent support already in place when it moved up.

We didn't really leave the Sun Belt; we inherited it with the help of the C-USA commissioner. Then, to top it off, he picked up some East Coast versions of Southland Conference schools.

Yes. One FCS or TBC a year, preferably the opening game of the season.

Except that TCU still has a divinity school preparing preachers for Disciples of Christ churches, with a smattering of Methodist ministers as well. So....

1952. In 1998 and 2001, they agreed to play us at Texas Stadium in Irving. And, according to this (http://www.texastech.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/092201aaa.html) only 20,852 bothered to show up. So, wouldn't have even filled up Fouts.

Yes. I agree, and said the same thing. My point was, you cannot just look at FAU/FIU and say, "Wow! Hitching our cart to these guys will help us make a splash with them in the Miami market." I think several schools iin our position have been drawn offsides several times by the notion. Same goes with Rice/Houston in Houston. The truth is, no one in Houston really gives a shit what Rice and Houston are doing. And, I'd wager that less than 5% of the population can even name which conference they play in. And unfortunately, ditto for us. If we stuck someone on a sidewalk in Dallas or Fort Worth, or any of their suburbs, and asked random people about UNT and its conference affiliation, few would know. More would be able to tell you Texas and TCU are in the Big 12 and Texas A&M jumped to the SEC. And, further I'd guess that less than 1 in 100 would be able to tell you who we are playing this weekend. Like I wrote earlier - and you alluded to as well - the ship sailed in 1982/83. Kudos to RV for doing what he's done. But, it will never be enough to overcome the trajectory Division I-AA membership put us on.

Stop, unless you drink the Dajon Messiah kool-aid. I don't know why it's not obvious to you that because we beat Nicholls State that we also would have beat Texas. Where are your powers of deduction, VE? We all know that Texas has fallen to a level probably below Southland Conference-grade. Henderson State would obviously scorch the 'Horns as badly as they did Nicholls, and on the road in Austin no less. It's highly unlikely that in all of his years of coaching defenses that Charlie Strong would have been prepared for a kid like Dajon who just read the playbook the week of the game. That's where Strong has made his bones - not knowing what a quarterback will do. The guy's totally lost. He's just kind of accidentally had great defenses and winning records everywhere he's been.

Not really. It just means the OUs and Texas' of the world will have Kentuckys and Indianas and Dukes and Wake Forests and Purdues and Washington States on their schedule. There are enough bottom-feeder Criminal 5s to allow the traditional powers to stay aloft. Coming soon to stadiums in Alabama: Kansas and Iowa State at Alabama and Auburn instead of Florida A&M and Georgia Southern. This puzzle isn't one with so many pieces that it gets confusing - or hazardous - to the Criminal 5s, believe me.

He's high because Oklahoma State doesn't need to come here when they've got a conference mate in TCU and Big 12 bowl ties to JerryWorld's Cotton Bowl to nail down Metroplex interest. They don't need to throw us a bone that would mean one less OOC home game at Boone Pickens; and, so, they won't.

Tulsa will always think of itself as a basketball school first. That's just where their old money is. It's uncanny, and I've discussed it before. I can assure you that none of their old, deep pocket basketball-first alumni are shedding tears about the shape of the football program. Sad, but true. There is a reason Donald W. Reynolds gave millions to the Tulsa basketball program and millions to the Arkansas football program and not the other way around. When Connecticut, Cincinnati, and Memphis get pulled out of the American Athletic Conference, we need to be standing on the doorstep with UTSA to get into it to pull it up to a good, even, ten team conference. We should not care what Banowsky does. We should not wait on him. He's done nothing but turn the C-USA into another Sun Belt. There is no way the same bowl contracts with be renewed. The thing is we - and, by we I mean our administration and athletic directors - need to be out ahead of the game here. The MWC surprised the WAC in 1999 by having the best programs at that time defect and form the MWC. We have to be planning the same type of "us-first" move. We cannot - please, please, please - be caught in yet another reactive situation and get stuck back with more former Sun Belts, former DIIs, and upward FCS schools. We accept that UTSA has more to offer than any of those, accept that they do have a market where they can be viable to the citizenry, and put up a united front to get into the American Athletic once their best schools are peeled away from them.

I honest to God believe that the Mountain West Conference has done best for itself during these perilous conference-shifting years. And, I think if all were to be done realistically, they'd go ahead and invite UTEP and NMSU into their folds. Both are good basketball schools, matching pretty much what the Mountain West has in the way of decent to very good basketball. Your only FBS Pacific/Mountain Time Zone straggler at that point is Idaho. And, look, Idaho needs to bite the bullet and drop back to FCS-level. It would exist well there. It cannot be helping their athletic department at all to have to travel the way they do as an independent. And, BYU...I know they are awaiting that Big 12 invite. And, I do think they will someday get it.

I agree with much of this, and have said that we need to keep in contact with UTSA as much as possible. Here's the reality to everyone who will open their eyes: schools without strong football or basketball history are really just shuffling deck chairs on the realignment Titanic. I've already done the business of pointing out that its a false sell that FIU/FAU means owning or even getting a good share of the "Miami market"; and, ditto Houston/Rice for the "Houston market." At some point you quit deluding yourselves, look around at your fellow mates, and form a serious, long-term strategy for the future. And, you really have to be willing to accept that the Criminal 5 are not going to take you. They have no reason to take you. With no market clout and no historical clout, they have already swept you aside.

Tulane will always be bad. It's good enough academically, and they should leave it at that. We already know they won't have a real coaching search; so, they don't really care whether they win or lose. Tulsa and Houston get what they deserve for not having real coaching searches when they hired their current coaches. SMU only proves what we should fear: new stadium, good coaching hire, and successive bowl seasons do not necessarily equal fan interest beyond the few thousand die-hards for schools without longstanding football traditions. Over the past twenty years, every major program you can think of has had down periods: Texas, Miami, OU, Alabama, USC, etc. But, they've all bounced back. Michigan is currently worried that their 250+ streak of 100,000+ attendance might be broken due to their current state. Can you imagine: A losing record and ann unpopular coach, but 102,000 people show up, and you're worried that in the next month you might only get 99,999 showing up? We watched the ship sail from port in 1983. You can talk Boise State all you want, but even they have had their run and are fading back. You'll throw them on the same pile as the Fresno States of the world. It's just tough to sustain when people don't have a reason (tradition) to fall back on when times get a little rough. I don't feel like piling on the former C-USA teams because, after all, we are in the same boat they are - if we look at the thing realistically. Rick Villarreal has done some nice things. But, he can't go back to 1982/83 and change the past.

I've lobbied for a Kentucky series. They're a beatable SEC team with virtually no future schedules set beyond 2015: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/sec/kentucky-wildcats.php Other schools with many OOC games to fill past 2015: Wake Forest: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/acc/wake-forest-demon-deacons.php Mississippi State: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/sec/mississippi-state-bulldogs.php Memphis: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/aac/memphis-tigers.php Purdue: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/big-ten/purdue-boilermakers.php BYU: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/indep/byu-cougars.php Navy: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/indep/navy-midshipmen.php Air Force: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/mtn-west/air-force-falcons.php Colorado State: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/mtn-west/colorado-state-rams.php New Mexico: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/mtn-west/new-mexico-lobos.php Wyoming: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/mtn-west/wyoming-cowboys.php Fresno State: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/mtn-west/fresno-state-bulldogs.php San Diego State: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/mtn-west/san-diego-state-aztecs.php San Jose State: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/mtn-west/san-jose-state-spartans.php Colorado: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/pac-10/colorado-buffaloes.php Utah: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/pac-10/utah-utes.php Syracuse: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/acc/syracuse-orange.php Virginia: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/acc/virginia-cavaliers.php Pitt: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/acc/pittsburgh-panthers.php South Florida: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/aac/usf-bulls.php Central Florida: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/aac/ucf-knights.php Northwestern: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/big-ten/northwestern-wildcats.php I am against playing Sun Belt schools. I just am.

I expect 3-3 as well. A 2-4 start and I think we have trouble cracking 17k. At that point, the writing will be on the wall for the casual fan. A 2-4 means we've got nothing at QB with what we thought we had a QB, and it'd be down to pulling guys off the bench and burning their redshirts. Which...as you say, after four years isn't really acceptable.

We also (and, by we, I mean our conference commissioner and athletic director) need to keep a close eye on what the Criminal 5 conferences are going to do with out of conference games due to the new post season monopoly they've created. It could be that they chuck out of conference games against non-Criminal 5s altogether. We'll see after this first year's playoff, because there will be BCS-type discussions to the nth degree because of Strength of Schedule and Conference Strength excluding some schools who will believe they deserve to be in the playoff.

Oklahoma State: already plays in DFW every other year at TCU; also played in JerryWorld against Florida State; have been in three Dallas-based bowl games over the past five seasons. Kansas State: before TCU joined Big 12 in 2012, Kansas State coming here made sense from a recruiting standpoint. Now, like every other Big 12, they are in DFW every other year against TCU; and Big 12 is tied to the Cotton Bowl, which they will be in the hunt for pretty much annually. TCU being in the Big 12 pretty much kills us. I think the only realistic Big 12s you can hope to get into Denton are the two at the bottom of the Big 12 football barrell - Kansas and Iowa State. Kansas gets picked clean of the best recruits from Kansas and Missouri by Oklahoma, Missouri, and Nebraska. Iowa State is behind Iowa and Nebraska when it comes to Iowa preps. Kansas and Iowa State have dug around in Texas and Florida for preps because they have to do so. I think a series with either of them is the best we can hope for with the Big 12. The upper echelon of the Big 12 is not giving up a home game to come to Denton when they are already in Fort Worth every other year, and inthe race for the Cotton Bowl at JerryWorld every year as well. Because they play nine conference games, Big 12 schools only have three out of conference games now. Here are the future schedules of Kansas and Iowa State. Iowa State has no openings until 2022. Kansas has openings beginning in 2018: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/big-12/kansas-jayhawks.php http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/big-12/iowa-state-cyclones.php You have to remember that these contracts are made years in advance. Some even a decade in advance. For example, this week, Texas A&M and Notre Dame announced a home and home series for 2024 and 2025. That's how far along these things are planned.

LSU is a special case. They asked the NCAA about 20 years ago if they could go back to wearing home whites and got permission. They wore home whites until NCAA banned them in 1982.

Lose to Indiana and UAB...then what?

Oh, how the semi-mighty have fallen: from Sun Belt champs to denying an FCS move-up's jersey request. What a legacy they are building at Middle.

It also helps to play a team as bad and disorganized as Nicholls State. We could have run the fullback dive 30 times and won that game by 100.

To be douches?

I think the answer to the "kids playing soccer/football, etc." is night games. We have an eight year old and a six year old. Both play soccer. The boy also plays lacrosse, baseball, and basketball. The girl is going to begin softball/t-ball in the spring. Many of their piano recitals and competitions are also during the day on Saturdays; and, there are three or four of those a year. Most kiddie-league games are in the morning. We've had the very, very rare 4 p.m. kickoff or first pitch, but many only once or twice. The majority are in the morning or before 4 p.m. I think 6 p.m., 7 p.m., or 8 p.m. kickoffs would do wonder for those with kids who can't make day games. Somehow, though, I feel like the game times are slave to television contracts. So, again, you're back to the negotiating power of your commissioner...and, the backbone of your conference's athletic directors.

Well, whatever the case may be for "value" tuition, this much is true - the suburbs and population are growing towards us now. So, it's not foolhardy to have a campaign for a school which the population escaping Dallas County is racing towards. I think Rick is dead on with his campaign to the younger generation of students. We've never gotten enough interested alumni even when we've had periods of success. And, we don't have the toothless t-shirt fans that love the OUs, Texas', and A&M's of the world. To me, you've got to look at the lay of the land and take a three-pronged approach: (1) Keep the current and recent students as actively engaged as you can: And, here, you can check it done. We're doing a great job of that. (2) Market to those who are moving closer to Denton by way of flight out of Dallas County: On the academics side, check; athletics...we'll see. (3) Keep you eyes on the conference shifting - do not simply trust your commissioner! We cannot have a day where we share a conference with Texas State and Abilene Christian (who beat Troy two weeks ago, by the way). If that day comes, we will have damned ourselves to many more decades of football anonymity. I've been in sales for the better parts of two decades, and I can tell you this: If you're going to sell something, you have to have something to sell. We're already been duped into Sun Belt 2.0. If we get stuck in Southland 2.0...we'll have the prettiest empty stadium in all the land no matter what marketing effort we try. Look, I just can't do many more decades of football anonymity. I've got more gray hairs now than brown, and my fiber intake is far greater than my alcohol intake these days. If there ever comes a day where I see the news of "Abilene Christian joins (Conference North Texas is in)"...that'll be the end. At some point, a dog's got to stop chasing its tail.

Kevin Wilson coached against Skladany when he was at OU's OC and Skladany Iowa State's DC. As long as Wilson has been around, it's not likely that he has to pick Joseph's brain to figure out that Texas and Lousiana Tech skewered us with, really, pretty run-of-the-mill quarterbacks. A kid who couldn't crack the starting line up of a Big Ten school lit up our secondary for five touchdowns. Wilson surely notices, then, that sub-Big Ten talent at QB can have its way with our secondary. Anyway, it's not the offense that is a problem for Indiana. Even with Wilson there, it's been their defense. Only Wisconsin and Ohio State held Indiana below 28 points last year. This season, no one has. This one will be on our offense. Indiana will get their points; there's no question about that. They will get at least 28 and probably much more. But, everyone has been able to move the ball on them. If we can't move the ball on them, it'll be a long day. Their defense is not great. That being said, again, don't panic if we lose to Indiana. I'd even say, don't panic even if they blow us out. The time to panic would be if UAB gives us a beating. As stated before, I'll be pleased enough just to hang with Indiana, given our inexperience at so many positions. A bad loss to UAB...that's when I'd be counting parachutes.