The Fake Lonnie Finch

Look, I'm not going to lie. I saw the OU game in 2007 and the Clemson game in 2010. The corner is turned, yo. We had that thing at 14-7 with just a few ticks left in the second quarter, folks. At Clemson! And, our OL was poking holes in a big defensive line - against Clemson's first team in the first half! Guys, we are going to crush Rice and Army. I know most of you don't believe me yet. But, you will. And, I'm sticking with my prediction that we blow out FAU in Boca Raton. Also, I'm telling you now, we can hang with and beat Kansas State in the finale. These aren't pipedreams anymore. We're not hitch-hiking anymore; we're riding!

Yes, but some don't outgrow it. They grow up and use others people's money to fund the unicorn farts, such as with this project.

You don't have to live in Denia to recognize environmental boondoogle. It's U.S. taxpayer money wasted on unproven garbage.

It's not just the game plan that should make a difference. What I think the key is going to be is Canales seeing and understanding what the opposing defenses are doing during the game and being able to tweak said game plan on the fly. Look, as good a high school coach as Todd Ford might have been, trying to figure out how to counter a defensive coordinator on this level is a completely different ball of wax. Very few team can simply "out athlete" an opponent the way many high school teams can. And, as rare as it is in FBS (I'd say maybe a half dozen team can out athlete the other 114 schools 7 times out of 10), we certainly were not a school with the athletes to do it. The nightmare of Game One versus OU remains the example. Their defense snuffed out everything we did, and yet we kept doing it. To the ridiculous point where we kept throwing the ball out of the end zone in the fourth quarter and some third string career bench-rider at OU got a safety. My other prime example is the option in the end zone at Troy last year that resulted in a safety. Just ridiculous stuff like that. No other offensive coordinator in their right mind would have called that play.

If we don't name that new stadium across the steet from 1-35 after Hayden Fry, then we are not as green in the pants as we say we are!

We ain't gonna lost to Rice. We will beat either Troy or MTSU - probably both. Clemson is no more a "must win" than a game against OU or Texas or LSU would be. If we do win, it will be an Appalachian State over Michigan-type story. I'd take the storyline, but that doesn't make this "must win." Rice and Army, in my estimation (and, that's a good estimation based of past predictions), are the must win games. Those are the bellwethers of the season. If we cannot beat Rice and Army, I will be eating crow...and Dodge should be starting to clean out his office. We were a legitimate quarterback away from beating Army last year. And, Rice is bad. Just bad. If we can't beat those two, the hell with it. I'll go watch Texas A&M-Commerce football and see if Guy Morriss can't keep building that program up. It'll be like a scouting mission to see if he's a worthy replacement for Todd Dodge.

This stuff is so stupid and overblown. Please keep the environmental boondoggles away from our new stadium. Even T. Boone Pickens is backpedaling on the cost effectiveness of wind power these days. Just keep that crap as far away from the stadium as possible. And, the neighborhood should be concerned: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041801188.html "Along the coast of Nantucket, Mass. -- the only sufficiently shallow spot on the New England coast -- a coalition of anti-wind groups and summer homeowners, among them the Kennedy family, also seems set to block Cape Wind, a planned offshore wind farm." The cost benefits have never been proven. They are noisy. They look like crap. Even leftist biologists complain about the effect on birds; and, in another study, whales...although, that wouldn't be a problem in Denton (or, would it ). Look, if a solution seems too simple, it usually is too simple.

Also, with the special BYU television station, think of all the people around the world that would be exposed to UNT football. Fiji. Somoa. Other small islands. We'd be reaching new viewers off the continent, man! We'd be like the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, and Manchester United all rolled up into one! It's a marketing coup de tat, yo! Get on the phone and do it now, RV! Pacific Islanders from around the globe need Mean Green football! We could even make some inroads into Euless Trinity and all of their Fijan players and work our way up to a Mean Green Haka:

Look, I have personally been to the FIU campus and the stadium. Let's be honest, in terms of what we have and what we're getting, it ain't great. BUT...Miami is a city that is attractive to vacationers. Schools do travel packages with these games for cash dollars. We don't. But, maybe someday we will. My other alma mater plays at Notre Dame this year. They've got these whole travel packages that include air fare, tickets to the game, tours, pep rallies, etc. It's been a thing many big universities have done for many years. I'm sure these schools playing FIU work up a travel package for a whole Miami experience weekend similar to what Tulsa has done here. The game and experience even has it's own website: http://www.groupminder.com/cstCollAthTrv/catsite/10TulsaND/home.cfm?evtId=263&entId=10&pakId=1463#

I say RV should call Tom Holmoe/BYU and give them a long series of home and home games, 10 or so years worth. BYU's Mormonites swarm footbal stadiums the same way Nebraska Bugeaters do. You want sell out crowds, national exposure and people buying Mean Green corndogs from the concession stands, get BYU's football Cougars into your stadium as fast and often as you can, buttwheel! Do it! Do it, now, mister! Strike while the iron is hot! Let's not sit on our hands and twiddle our thumbs (for such would tickle the nether-regions). A long term deal with BYU puts us in the headlines while the headlines are hot with the news. Jumping Jiminy Cricket on a flash grenade popsicle stick! Why am I the one that always has to come up with the great ideas, then the athletic department lags behind for years before they catch on? Just do as I say AND DO IT NOW! EXHIBITS A 100% college experienced coaching staff - REQUESTED December 2006, GRANTED February 2010 A damn H-Back like Tulsa has with Charles Clay to utilized Micah Mosley-type players - REQUESTED Fall 2009, GRANTED this season, mister! Scheduling winnable games for early out of conference games - REQUESTED Fall 2006, GRANTED Fall 2009 A quarterback big enough to see over the line of scrimmage - REQUESTED Fall 2009, GRANTED this season, mister! I expect to have an announcement of the home and homes with BYU no later than 72 hours from now! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! Coach Canales is a Mormon. Have him put the call into Holmoe personally! Do it! Do it now! Do it YESTERDAY! [Howard Dean Scream]EEeeyahaahahahaahahahahah[/Howard Dean Scream]

Why are we wasting time with trees anyway? Screw trees. Put up some statues of Mean Green greats of the past. Pssht! Trees, indeed!

Why do we constantly do this? Darrell Dickey was a good coach for his time here. Honest Mean Green fans will admit that he built up a program and took it places it hadn't been. He had health problems his last two seasons and, unfortunately, clashed with his boss and a fan base his success had spoiled. Todd Dodge was hired to pick of the pieces and rebuild. In three seasons, he hasn't done it. In year four, finally with the help of a full compliment of experience college coaches, I think he will succeed and take to the same heights Darrell Dickey once did. Also, for a coach denigrated here often for running too much, it's worth noting that Johnny Quinn, who played for Darrell Dickey all four seasons, is still the All-Time Sun Belt leader in receiving yards: http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/conferences/sun-belt/leaders/rec-yds-player-career.html Just quit bickering about the two men. Be proud of the championships we won with Dickey and look forward to the ones we'll win with Dodge beginning this year. I've never seen a fanbase so opposed to acknowledging past successes as this one. So stupid.

Look, one of Dodge's main problems has been his choices at QB. He's now given QB duty to Canales. We're going to see a vastly different product on the field this year. And, we need to give Dodge credit for being man enough to turn over so much of the control to Canales. Even if, behind the scenes, RV forced it, I think Dodge has saved his career by becoming the CEO-type coach that you need in today's complicated game and by quitting the over-bearing supervisor role. You can't have a top-down type of structure anymore. Defenses are too complicated. You've got to have responsibility diffused - and, diffused to people who know the game at this level who can react to it in real time. We've got what we need. It's time to go out and roast some opponent butt for a change.

Who cares what Nate Newton thinks. His son was too small to play Big 12 ball, anyway. He'd be riding the pine here as well. Also, 103.3 and 105.3 suck it.

Sports Information Director, UT-Permian Basin, $32,000: http://ncaamarket.ncaa.org/jobs#/detail/3493672 Sports Information Director, LeTourneau: http://ncaamarket.ncaa.org/jobs#/detail/3522753 Sports Information Director, Concordia; http://ncaamarket.ncaa.org/jobs#/detail/3532870

http://ncaamarket.ncaa.org/search.cfm

As for the defense, if they can just get fundamentally sound in tackling for 100% of the plays, we're going to be 100% better. Gap discipline and making the right coverage calls as well. But, mainly just doing a better job of tackling, gang tackling and open field tackling.

...will be the brutal smackdown of FAU in Boca Raton the evening of September 25th. I think this will be the wake-up call to the Belt similar to OU's 63-14 beatdown of Texas in 2000 announced to the college football world that something different was happening in Norman. I think we will trash the Owls and put the Sun Belt on notice that we have arrived and are ready to take our crown back now that Troy has toyed around with it for awhile. This game will be the Shot Heard 'Round The Belt. UNT taking apart FAU in their own nest. We are the predators now, baby!

I think the "number" will be adjusted if a great amount of progress is shown. You'd hate for us to be a 6-6 with some really close losses and throw it all away to rebuild under a new coach in 2011. I like that there is a number out there as a target. But, I don't think it should be a hard and fast number if we're doing well in every game and don't end up with a losing record. SHOCK VALUE COMMENT: I'd even be willing to cut Dodge some slack if we go 4-8 or 5-7 and have a winning record in the Sun Belt. Go ahead. Throw your stones at me. In my opinion, we really are at Year One of this thing because it's the first year we've had 100% college assistants. I think that alone has us going in the right direction again. I'd love to see this coaching staff together with young Derek Thompson at the helm in 2011 and beyond. I just would. So blow me.

I don't want to hear "they're missing alot of tackles in the open field"...unless it's being said of Clemson defenders! Sure tackling will be key on those big WRs.

I think this season will be good for Dodge. All kidding about eating hotdogs on the sideline aside, it's got to be good for him mentally to have Canales there and functioning on his own. In the post game interviews last season, Dodge just sounded beaten down and utterly unable to understand why things weren't working. My hope is that Canales saves his job and shows the college football world that this is a worthy place to have a coaching job. If we can put together a winning season, I do think it will snowball into more winning seasons. The Sun Belt simply isn't that tough. But, we need to prove we can roll through it again. With a few winning seasons, maybe as few as two, under his belt, I think bigger schools will come looking for Dodge. Look at what happened to Turner Gill. The guy has one winning season in three at Buffalo, and all of the sudden he's the head coach at a Big 12 school. The same can happen for Dodge. In my estimation, the whole thing hinges on Canales. I fully expect that we will do ourselves proud at Clemson then beat Rice and Army. Many fear MTSU and Troy. For whatever reason, I just don't this season. I've always argued that coaching is the X-factor. Well, this season will either prove me right or wrong. Going into the season, though, I hold that new coaches Canales and Conroy are enough of a bump up in experience to match any other Sun Belt coaching staff. And, I trust that they will be paying attention to the game and making adjustments rather than chasing down defensive players who may come off the field dropping f-bombs. That's what we've needed. Coaches who pay attention and make in-game adjustments. I'm certain Canales and Conroy can do it...and, give Dodge some happier post game interviews and a more relaxing fall and winter. Beenie Weenie.

Well, we'll see. If he flops here, the argument will then be his shortcomings have been masked by coaching at schools with tough defenses who bailed out his failing offense (Arizona/Mike and Mark Stoops, South Florida/Jim Leavitt). Unfortunately, as much as I love DeLoach, Canales will need his offense to produce in order to be successful here. I've sold out for him. So, I'll take my lumps as much as the people who sold out for Dodge three years ago thinking his high school offense and coaches would succeed. One thing is for sure, though: Someone will be right, and someone will be wrong. And, we, the Mean Green fans, will suffer or celebrate at the end of it all. But, hey...that's life in the big city. Flip a coin.

True. From a customer of ours who has OU season tickets in the general admission section: This weekend game against Slapdick Utah State: $52. No grandiose stadium. Not going to be nationally televised. Just OU and the Utah State Fighting Slapdicks. $52. Per ticket. General Admission. You think the OU fan cares? Hell no! Half of them fart Benjamins from oil and gas royaties up there. The other half sacrifices and sets aside a couple of weeks worth of meth cash or holds off on their next white trash tattoo. TCU is supposed to be a private school for the Richie Riches who don't want to drive over to liberal SMU or down to conservative Baylor. I find it hard to believe that a fan base who purports to pay for a $100 million stadium revamp is seriously unable to come up with $45 to watch their beloved Horned Frogs.

Dodge said the key thing when Jah asked him whether or not he'd been to Clemson to coach a game: "No. But, Mike has." Yesssssss!