UNTLifer

What's really a disappointment is that DD talked about playing Cobbs and Thomas in the same backfield back in spring ball. He also mentioned it throughout the Fall, yet other than 10 or so plays, what have they done? Again, there is no creativity to this offense. Why would you spend the money to have a poster created and placed on the back of the pressbox or waste all of the valuable free advertising for the program that USA Today and other media outlets provided talking about Cobbs/Thomas and not capitalize on it?

Included in those 15 loses not counting conference losses: Oklahoma State which is terrible this year. Northwestern State D1AA Tulsa Akron Eastern Michigan Central Florida

Not the problem.

Now that's a head scratcher. So are you saying they lost their one win by a touchdown?

I think you have to remember that Idaho won about 4 games the last 4 years, so they are just continueing to struggle. NMSU is in its first year under Hal Mumme and his "sling it around" offense which is a big change considering they were primarily a running team under Samuels. I look for NMSU to improve and Idaho to continue to struggle.

So, based on these ratings, we have dropped 86 spots from last year. Is this acceptable?

Herein lies the answer to growing the season ticket base.

Considering how the administration, not the fans, decided to move NT to 1AA after Fry left, and how the administration made no effort to publicize the team through the 1AA years until the decision was made to move back to 1A, and how the administration never included anything about athletics or supporting your team/university during the freshman orientation process, then I would consider 23,000 for the opener against Tulsa a success and 17,000 returning on a week night after watching the Tulsa debacle to be very good considering we had 12,000 for a Thursday night Troy game 2 years ago. Look at the majority of non-BcS schools and tell me that this isn't pretty respectable. Should it be better? Sure, but it isn't half as bad as it used to be, and DD's constant criticism, poor game plans and boring style of play isn't helping the situation either.

No, PHS Coach, this group of fans didn't take UNT back to 1AA, the administration made that decision. Get your facts straight.

I wonder if Chapstick has ever considered a sponsorship deal?

Other than calling this the "Idiot Board," which he got from the posters on Scottie's board and calling the posters on Scottie's board the "Negative Board," what has he done or written that is so bad?

My problem is DD has been taking shots for years.

He was successful here as the DC, for one. Also, look at his bio. He has ties all over Texas which is important to our recruiting.

Thank you! PMG, I'm not giving up on the team, but I am not settling for the apparent lack of effort DD has put forth in preparing this team.

DeLoach is the Cornerback/Secondary Coach at UCLA. I believe he would jump at the chance to be the HC at UNT. UCLA isn't setting the world on fire with their defense, in fact, they are undefeated because of their offense's ability to come from behind. DeLoach bio From the UCLA website

From the SBC website. DEFENSIVE: Phillip Graves, Jr., LB, North Texas Graves was responsible for five tackles, including two tackles for a loss, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, one interception and two quarterback sacks in the Mean Green’s 13-10 win at FIU.

Oops. Can't email the title. Meant RF not RV DRC.com Ethan B. Szatmary: Ryan should not play like Mean Green 08:30 AM CDT on Sunday, October 16, 2005 Szatmary When did North Texas offensive coordinator Ramon Flanigan start calling plays for the Ryan Raiders? Excluding fourth down, the Raider offensive game plan against Southlake Carroll on Thursday was more conservative than a John Birch Society meeting. Draw plays on third-and-15? Mean Green head coach Darrell Dickey would be proud. I'm the first person to praise Joey Florence and the job he's done in building the Raiders into a powerhouse, and only an idiot would suggest that he could devise a better game plan than J-Flo and his staff. So, here goes. Southlake Carroll is a great high school football team. The results of the last two years prove that the defending Class 5A Division II state champion and USA Today national champion Dragons are the Raiders' betters. That doesn't mean that Ryan can't beat Carroll, but the Raiders are going to have to open up their offense to get it done. When you're playing a team better than you are, you're only going to beat them by going on the attack – trust in quarterback Austin Knight and stretch the field. That's how the Dallas Cowboys rolled over the alleged best team in the NFC, the Philadelphia Eagles, last Sunday, and that's the only way Ryan is going to beat Carroll. The Raiders attempted one deep pass in the first half. Knight overthrew Justin Fenty on the play, as a Carroll defender egregiously held Fenty as he raced down the field. Like the Dragons' holding on the other side of the ball, it wasn't called. But, the Raiders never attempted to call Fenty's number on the deep ball again, until the second half when the game was out of reach. It was just running and short pass patterns for Ryan. The Raiders weren't afraid to take chances in the game, going for it on fourth down three times, but they just picked the wrong times to roll the dice. Playing conservatively against a great offense like Carroll can work for a quarter, as it did with Ryan holding the deficit to 7-0 after the first, but it doesn't work for the whole game. End result: 41-0. • • • I was pulling for Ryan quarterback Austin Knight to go wild on Thursday. "Knight slays Dragons" was just too good of a headline. • • • Speaking of defending mythical national champion Southlake Carroll, am I the only person bothered by the term "mythical national championship?" Sure, the USA Today national championship is not decided on the field, so I guess it's a fictional national title. But, what's mythical about it? The Dragons might have a two-headed quarterback in Greg McElroy and Riley Dodge, but a seven-headed hydra is mythical. Carroll can carry the title mythical national champion when head coach Todd Dodge grows snakes for hair and develops the ability to turn people into stone. He's good, but he's not that good. • • • Lightning allegedly doesn't strike twice in one spot, but baseballs apparently do. Sean Dean went to last Sunday's Houston Astros-Atlanta Braves playoff game expecting to see some exciting postseason action. He got more than his money's worth. Not only did the Astros win the longest playoff game in Major League Baseball history after 18 innings, but the Houston Chronicle also reported that Dean caught Lance Berkman's grand slam ball in the eighth inning that cut the score to 6-5 and topped that off by snagging Chris Burke's game-winning walk-off homer in the bottom of the 18th. "Everyone was congratulating me, patting me on the back," Dean told the paper. "I had several people say I should buy a lottery ticket or go to Vegas." Brad Efron, the chairman of the department of statistics at Stanford University, told ESPN.com that the odds of this occurring are in between 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 5,000. Buy two lottery tickets, buddy. • • • Ron Artest is back in the NBA after a season's suspension for the brawl in Detroit last year, but he's still the same old Artest. "I'm going to continue playing hard and out of control, like a wild animal that needs to be caged in," Artest told the Associated Press this week. So, keep those beers to yourself basketball fans. Like they always told you at the zoo when you were a kid ... don't tease the animals. • • • ETHAN B. SZATMARY can be reached at 940-566-6869. His e-mail address is eszatmary@dentonrc.com.

I'm really not trying to "stir the pot," but I've seen a few things from other threads that lead me to believe that something is going on. This is not the time in the program's existence for this to happen, and I do hope these are all rumors, but LJ wants his fingerprints on everything, Dr. Pohl has left, etc....

DD's lack of enthusiasm. The lack of performance by our team. RV missing several games. People throwing out hints that there is dissension in the department. People stating that the BOR and not RV hold all the power over the department. Anyone have some answers or cold, hard facts?

I would love to, but I'm not commuting from Houston for the coaches' show. Now if someone is going that wants to ask the tough questions, but can't come up with any, they can PM me.

We went to the 1AA playoffs a number of years. Oh, and when we were 1AA, we beat some 1A's in OOC games with far fewer scholarships to work with, and coaches that didn't throw out excuses about fan support, facilities, etc...

Here's the truth behind those numbers: GMG.com

I don't have the total number of goals the soccer team has scored this year, but I would put money on it that they out-score the FB team this year. Fire DD, hire Hedlund.

Is that Mack Brown's job, to just sell it to the HS folks? Then why does he waste his time talking to the UT faithful and building up the program? If it is not the coach's job then why does UTEP pay Price and incentive for attendance? DD's negative comments have a negative impact on RV's efforts. It would be the equivalent of DD bringing in recruits and RV badmouthing everything to these kids.

Our gameplan has been the same for the last 4 years. Run, run, run. It doesn't matter if there are 8 or 9 defenders in the box, DD is going to run it at them. As DD says about every game, the plan is to keep it close and hopefully we'll pull out a win in the fourth quarter. In game adjustments? As you stated, "I didn't say they were the right adjustments." I have sat in the stands for many a game and heard more than one person correctly call the next play. Adjustments in the passing game? If we aren't throwing the play action roll out out pattern to the tight end, then we are heaving a downfield prayer with the hopes that JQ will go up and get it. Well, he did add the dump to Cobbs out of the backfield this year. DD led us all to believe that we would see Cobbs and Thomas in the same backfield this year, but I don't think he has the creativity to do it. Selling the program isn't also the coach's job? Tell that to Urban Meyer, Bob Stoops, Mack Brown, Franchione, etc... They go out and speak to their alumni groups in the off-season and sell the program. Meyer was known for creating huge student support at Utah. I know this is also RV's job, and I think he is doing a fine job, but when DD goes on ESPN radio prior to the UT game last year and badmouths the support of this program, facilities, etc... he does more harm than good. You can't tell me that a coach doesn't sell the program. You would have to have your head in the sand to not hear DD always comment on having to overcome so much more at poor little old North Texas because our fans don't support the program, our facilities don't match up, etc.... The ESPN radio interview last year prior to the UT game comes to mind.