ntmeangreen11

Our school will be left behind if we don't develop a series with natural rivals such as NCTC, Quad C and NCTC-Gainesville

Here is the 2012 schedule. 9/1 @ LSU 9/8 VS. Texas Southern 9/15 @ Kansas State 10/5 @ Houston N/A @ ULM N/A vs. Troy N/A @ WKU N/A vs. FIU N/A @ MTSU N/A vs. ASU N/A @ FAU N/A vs. ULL * I don't know the date or time of any conference games, just which ones will be home/away next season. Looking at this realistically, we should go 1-3 in OOC. I'll get to the conference slate later. Our most notable losses will be Akpunku, Hill, Downing, Dunbar, and Tomlinson. *This is how I grade players: Bad, Below average, decent, above average, great, game changer Offense Returning starters- 9 Chris Bynes(WR) Ivan Delgado(WR) Brelan Chancellor(WR) A. Johnson(LT) Mason Y'Barbo(LG) A. Fortenberry© Cyril Lemon(RG) Andrew Power(TE) Derek Thompson(QB) The offense hasn't been great this year, but they have shown signs of being an above average unit. Returning 4/5 starters on the o line is going to be a boost for next season, as well as having Cam Feldt come in and take the RT spot as I expect him to while Boone plays backup at C/G and gets ready to contribute in 2013. Thompson has kind of been up and down, but for the most part, a decent player this season. Is he a world beater? No, but he's also just a sophmore, and with a year of experience under his belt, I think he'll be a good, not great player next season. The WR's got off to a slow start, but Bynes has been pretty good(if people can forget the two drops he had yesterday) Delgado emerged late too and has been consistent, and Chancellor is a decent player as well. We should be fine at WR next season provided we can find a 4th WR that warrants attention on obvious passing downs. Power is no A. Blount, but he is a decent run blocker and showed he can catch the ball against Troy, we'll also have Prior back when they want to go 2 TE. I fully expect this offense to pass a lot more next season, without a proven running back. I would assume Byrd will get the nod to start, but the offense should be much improved next season. I don't think Chico would have any job security issues, and maybe with a more pass oriented offense next season he'll feel more at home and be able to put the offense in a better position to win. Defense Returning starters- 7 Brandon McCoy (DE) Ryan Boutwell (DT) Tevinn Cantly (DT) Michael Stok (OLB) Zach Orr (MLB) Will Wright/Phillips (OLB) Freddie Warner (CB) I'm not sure who will be taking over the safety spots, from what I've read, Lamarie Lee is a great player, and should have a good shot at taking one of the spots, Kerry Swarn is another player that could get a safety spot, along with the incoming playr Devante Davis, we look to be pretty thin here in experience and depth. At corner, Warner will be a decent player, he proved it this year beating out the senior Steven Ford before being lost to injury for the year. The other corner spot will go to Marcus Trice who transferred from Oklahoma or Hilbert Jackson. I am not sold on Trice, just because we have a history of transfers not working out. The secondary is a major question mark and is the unit I am most concerned about going in to next season. At LB, we have three starters back, basically four with Phillips coming back after missing time. Although we lose Forlando Johnson and Julian Herron who were contributors, they weren't great players and we have younger linebackers that will be capable of spelling the starters adaquetly. We will be solid at LB and have two game changing potential all conference players there (Stok & Orr). On the defensive line, we'll be replacing AK47, which of course is going to be pretty much impossible. KC Obi will take over, and should be a decent player, Mccoy is a decent run stopping DE, but as per the usual, DT is a position in which we have below average players. Boutwell has heart, no one can deny that, but he's a DE playing as a DT giving up 50 pounds on every play. I would hope that he can gain 20-30 pounds in the offseason, come back to 2012 at 290 or so, and be an above average player, although those expectations might be unrealistic. Cantly is a pourus player, I know the run defense has improved, but the truth is just like the past 7 years, we need to try and find 2 or 3 JUCO DT's that can contribute immediately. Cantly is just not the answer even though he has the size. If we can find a decent replacement for Cantly and KC Obi or Everman or Lincoln step and become decent players, then our front seven will be top 3 in the sun belt. If that doesn't happen, we'll be a middle of the pack defense again, because breaking in 4 new starters in the secondary is going to be brutal. Conference games. N/A @ ULM N/A vs. Troy N/A @ WKU N/A vs. FIU N/A @ MTSU N/A vs. ASU N/A @ FAU N/A vs. ULL If we go 1-3 OOC, we have to win 5 conference games to have a shot at a bowl. The schedule could not be set up better for next season, we have the best three teams at home, and the only tough road game will be WKU who I imagine will be worse next season after losing Rainey. If we can go 2-2 at home at minimum, then we can go 3-1 on the road at minimum. MT/FAU/ULM will not be good teams next season, UlM will be the best of the bunch, and I think we're better than them. We should have a good shot at beating WKU, but ASU/ULL look like they will be very strong next year, specifically ASU because Aplin is only a junior this year. FIU will be down after losing Hilton, Troy will still be rebuilding next season, and it looks like there's only two teams that will be clearly better than us at the beginning of next year. Folks, we have 16 starters coming back, a great conference schedule, and atleast 1 easy OOC game. I don't think it would be out of the question to say we'll win 7 games next year. We can easily go 6-2 in conference and take the game against Texas Southern. So stop all this doom and gloom, the truth is, if Dodge was allowed to stay to open this stadium, this team would have 1 or 2 wins right now. The coaches know what they're doing and are doing the best with what they've got, which isn't much. However, Dodge did leave behind some younger players that will be above average sun belt players next season, and we have 9 of them back on offense next season. Calm down, the future is bright regardless of what conference we're in. Finishing at worst 4-8 this season is a huge improvement. I know, we all want success now, but the truth is, quite a few of these players aren't FBS material, that's why we have so many FR/SO playing. Now give those young guys a year or two to progress, and I have no doubt we'll be a bowl team. And we will be a bowl team in either 2012 oe 2013. Just have patience folks, there's a lot to be proud of, and Johnny Jones has been my savior for making me forget about football the past 5 years, so get on the basketball bandwagon, and soon enough it will be spring ball. GO MEAN GREEN

I don't mean to make anyone less happy about the programs future, but I don't feel very confident we will be moving up. There's a good chance that CUSA will either stick with the 9 they have, or invite eastern schools. If we get stuck, it's really going to be a test of the true fan base. I'm sure a lot of people's support will fizzle, but we have some good players in place to be good in the SBC over the next couple of years.

Quick search of rivals turned up this kid, who unfortunately is already committed to Baylor. Ryan Reid

What do you guys mean by too complex? Like the plays are too advanced or something? Because that's not one of my complaints, I think they need to completely re do the playbooks, they haven't really changed since 2010(so I've read). And I don't know about ya'll, but even though the gameplay is screwed, it's better than it has been in years past, and when you play on all american you get a pretty realistic game. If you're playing as UNT and likely a C- or worse across the board, and play a team that's a B- across the board, they'll beat you by two touchdowns or so, and that's the way it should be. When Lance leaves after year one in dynasty and Byrd takes over(66 overall) he shouldn't explode for 1000 yards in a season. I don't like starting as the coach at UNT and going 12-0, doing outlandish things like going to a BCS bowl in year two. I like to build up the team slowly, in my most recent dynasty I went 4-8, 5-7, 7-6, and then 5-7 again while building up my recruiting. I do like the recruiting that's been implemented. That's one positive I can take from this game, I just think they have a lot of work to do if they ever want to please the hardcore college football fan. But I guess they are so busy putting in great features like mascot games. Silly of me to think they could make a realistic sim when they have no competition. That's a monopoly, how is that not illegal that their the only ones allowed to make a college football game.

That has nothing to do with it. To be honest, they really only get detailed on the top 50 teams. I would be completely content if they just took the Madden game engine and put it in NCAA. The truth is since they had the turnover in game developmnent in 2004, this game has been pretty much unplayable. The only thing I enjoy is dynasty mode, I don't play online because of the cheating and lack of a real gameplan. What college team runs the same five plays over and over again no huddle than consistently work no matter how you change your pass defense. I mean no offense, but if you think NCAA is a "good" or "realistic" game, you're not playing the same game I am. I didn't buy the series from 2007-2011. I bought it this year, and I have regretted it.

I'm completely aware of that. I knew it wasn't going to be in there in 2010 for that reason. Slim chance it will be there next year. And my opinions on the game play are facts. NCAA is geared more for kids and arcade type play(57 to 66 type scores) while in Madden they have to make the game play somewhat realistic. All I'm saying is that the NCAA team does a terrible job of making a sustainable game.

No new stadium. No new unis. EA puts out a product every year that is below average because they have a monopoly on college football. No one else can make a college football game due to their contract with the NCAA, and as a result, they put out a game that almost always has a lot of issues at release, and they'll do this knowingly because they can put out patches after its been released. The game engine is horrible and it's just not a product I would suggest buying, there's too many bugs, the gameplay is pretty bad and unrealistic(Just took 35 sacks in my firt season) and EA just sucks.

Tech 74 North Texas 63 I know Tech is not a great team this year, but I still don't think we win this one.

Smart.

If we get to 6-6, New Orleans has first pick, they will take the Cajuns. The Godaddy bowl has to take the champion, so they'll take ASU. The sun belt has a secondary tie in with the Little Ceasers bowl which is MAC No. 1 vs. Big ten #8 or Sun belt if there is not 8 eligible teams in the big ten. The big ten already has 8 eligible teams with two games to play, and two more with 5 wins. Unfortunately, the other secondary tie in the sun belt had in the past is no longer current. The MAC is the back-up for the BBVA Compass Bowl. Even if we go 6-6, I really don't think we'll recieve a bowl bid. I'm pretty sure I read that 74 teams already have at least 6 wins. It would be a amazing if we got to 6-6, and a miracle if we got a bowl invite.

Honestly, I would put flyers/posters up everywhere. Have 15 players assigned a day(15 have Monday, 15 have Tuesday etc.) to promote on campus for an hour, maybe outside of classes waiting for students to come by and then ask them if they're going to be there to watch us fight for bowl eligibility. I'd send an e-mail to every professor and ask them to make a mention of it at the beginning of their classes. Honestly, if I was being paid to do this I would work from 5 AM to 10 PM every day this week on campus and jam it down their throats till they wanted to go. We have to have 25k+ this weekend.

Troy 24 UNT 13

I think we're in a really, really good position. If any of you listened to the podcast last night, Brett Vito said CUSA officials have been to our games occasionally over the past few years and especially this year. That's why these last three games are very important, we need to win atleast 2 of them and have over 20k for both WKU and MTSU. You bet your sweet ass CUSA officials will be at those two games. I keep hearing that the alliance will prevent the MWC/CUSA from adding teams, but that doesn't make sense to me. If CUSA doesn't add us and a Florida school and whoever else they want to for the third spot, they'll lose significant TV contract dollars, and they'll owe ESPN for breaching the championship game contract. I don't expect them to move quickly, but the good news is this is happening when he have a new stadium, have an athletic budget that will increase to atleast middle of the pack in the new CUSA and have a lot of excitement around the basketball program. Another thing is, if CUSA chooses to stay at 9, or if they want to do the alliance, they'll have such a huge landscape it will kill the non football sports in travel. It just doesn't make sense, trust me, RV has had this goal to get in to CUSA for a long time, I feel pretty confident it will happen. I want us, one of FIU/FAU, and either Temple, UTSA, or MT to get the invite. I've read that CUSA minus UH/SMU/UCF plus UNT/FAU/MT would be about equal in terms of football strength, and to a certain extent, that's true, but I think two years down the road that will not be the case at all. FAU will be getting a new coach, and the current CUSA schools will vault to the top over the next couple of seasons.

We need that kind of atmosphere for LSU this year. I'm sure it will be highly attended...wait, isn't that one Dec, 22nd? Won't most students be out of town when Tony Mitchell dons the mean green uniform for the first time, and miss it? We need more home games like the Tech game scheduled, IDC what we have to do, those games are program builders. Like Williams, I haven't experienced anything like that in college basketball, that was by far my favorite game, the OSU game couldn't hold a candle to it. So excited for this season, GMG!!!! Chris Jones will make 2nd or 3rd team All SBC. Mark my words.

Here's the awesome thing, we have Houston and SMU in OOC games, well only one more with Houston but 4? or 6? straight years with SMU starting in 2014. With the youth of this team, if such a move happens, 2012 will be rough again, but 2013 is shaping up to be one helluva year. We will have multiple 3 year starters on that team that are already decent players as FR/SO. So starting in 2014, we'd have games against SMU/UTEP/Rice/Tulsa/Tulane/USM. That's six schools people will have a lot more interest in than FIU/FAU/MT/Troy/USA(next year) I have no doubt that 2013 may be the year we finally reach our potential, have a team that has the talent to make a bowl game, and have better home games, and hopefully average 25k+ maybe more. Too much kool aid this morning, I know.

Of course I see this 5 mins after I pay ASU 8.95

Nothing will ever top Tulsa 2005/6? I felt like someone ripped out my heart and ate it, kind of like how I feel right now.

ASU- 23 UNT- 13

The most exciting thing about the front seven is that 6/7 will be back next season. With KC Obi taking over for AK. I think he'll be a fine replacement. Boutwell gets another offseason to put on more weight, and hopefully Cantly improves, or we go the JUCO route. This front seven is going to be straight nasty next season. If Trice is as advertised, he'll take one of the corner spots, Warner will take the other. Ryan Downing, Brad Graham and John Shorter are all seniors this year. I do not know who is line to take the safety spots, so I'm pretty scared for the pass defense next season, but if they're decent, the defense in 2013 when we have 10 starters back will be reminiscent of the 2003 defense IMO.

NOB has first pick this year, I bet they'll be all over ULL. Mobile would be our best bet. We need a win over ASU to have a chance though, IDC about the records this year, the ASU game looks more winnable than the game @ Troy. If history is any indication, this game will be a dogfight, they're #1, and top to bottom a little better than we are. The one thing that gives me hope is that this team looks like it's playing for the bowl, not playing for the season to be over. Hopefully last weeks passing explosion will make them respect the passing game a little, I expect this one to go down to the 4th quarter.

I have a complaint, whatever frat that was tailgating and didn't come in, seems like I saw about 200 on that hill when I got there at 4, continued to play music way too loud, I had to drown out Lil Wayne on the student side the whole game, that is ridiculous IMO. What is the point to setting up that tent and tailgating all day to continue to sit out there and listen to an average cover band.

Am I the only one who thinks the food is just bad? The popcorn, the chili dog from general concessions have been almost uneatable and then I tried the frito pie from sonic and that was bad too, not to mention all of these items were four dollars. I don't care that the items are expensive, that's a given at a sporting event, but the food is just bad IMO Again, I'm not trying to feed in to the "we win and still complain" group but I just remember reading that concessions were going to be amped up, and I have been disappointed so far.

I heard Akpunku was injured. Anyone know his status?

I agree with everyone, and once again I'd like to say if I find that diet coke boy I'm slappin that coke right out of his hand and beating the tar out of him.