Smitty

Considering that his record is 0-0 and he hasn't coached a game yet, he should not be ranked at all. This ranking has no basis. Such a poll should add a disclaimer that a coach like Dodge is not being ranked until after he has at least one season to be evaluated.

It was a big deal when it opened. Until then, I guess the biggest gathering of shops was on University, but they were spread out. I haven't been in there in years, but it was a nice place when it opened and for several years after.

"Paint yer own butt, pal. I'm ready for some football!"

"You talkin' to me?"

WOW. Look at these current totals from that poll: North Texas (Sept. 8) - 78.6% (4962 votes) Texas Tech (Sept. 3) - 17.8% (1124 votes) Rice (Nov. 10) - 1.8% (115 votes) UTEP (Sept. 29) - .8% (52 votes) Tulane (Oct. 20) - .5% (31 votes) UCF (Nov. 17) - .5% (30 votes) How they fare against Tech and then rebound a few days later against North Texas will be interesting.

How is that talking down to him? With the exception of the comment that his speed is marginal, that's a glowing assessment. And in NFL terms, his speed IS marginal. That's not disrespectful, it's the truth. But it doesn't mean he can't be a successul NFL receiver. There's more than a few receivers in the hall of fame who had marginal speed. That reviewer saw all of Quinn's assets, and it sounds like he believes Johnny can play in the NFL.

Here is a link to the NFL.com's page for undrafted free-agent signings. There's not much reported yet, but hopefully this will fill out in the next few days: Undrafted free agent signings This looks like a decent spot to watch for Lineberry's signing.

Good luck to any team that tries to play Arkansas with five defensive backs. Either they'll switch to a 4-3 or they'll watch Darren McFadden go for 250.

It's unbelievable that they list Brian Waters's career as 2000-2004. Brian was named to the Pro Bowl in 2004 and 2005, and he's been AP first-team All-Pro for two years. He's one of the elite guards in the NFL.

Kassell left the Titans and signed as a free agent with the Jets last April. He is still there.

Quinn has the same chance of making the team as every other undrafted player - it's very difficult. Patrick Cobbs did it, so did Brad Kassell. Tony Romo did it. It's not easy, but it can be done.

I believe Patrick is still with the Miami Dolphins.

According to ESPN, five players were drafted from the Sun Belt Conference this weekend: ARKANSAS STATE Orenthal O'Neal, FB.6th round to Oakland FLORIDA INTL Antwan Barnes, OLB, 4th round to Baltimore Chandler Williams, WR, 7th round to Minnesota LOUISIANA MONROE Kevin Payne, S, 5th round to Chicago TROY Brannon Condren, S, 4th round to Indianapolis It wasn't much better for the local universities: SMU Justin Rogers, ILB, 6th round to New England TCU Marvin White, S, 4th round to Cincinnati Herbert Taylor, OT, 6th round to Kansas City No one from North Texas was drafted.

I just wonder if we can get into a better conference while still playing in Fouts and with no concrete plans - or more importantly, no solid funding in place - for a new stadium.

Score one for the Luddites as NCAA nixes texting By Ivan Maisel ESPN.com Give a coach a video terminal and he will get to work. Put him at practice, give him a whistle, and unless you want to run until you puke, get out of the way. Coaches love competition, and every last one of them understands how much preparation a good performance demands. So how in the name of all that is Cingular did coaches lose the right to text message recruits? The NCAA Division I Board of Directors voted Thursday to end the practice, effective Aug. 1. The board didn't vote to control it or curtail it. Coaches didn't lose permission to text a recruit during, say, school hours. They didn't lose permission to text a recruit during certain months of the year. They lost permission to text a recruit, period. OMG. That's Oh My God in textspeak, for those of you who aren't bilingual. The answer is, the coaches got beat by the recruits. The NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee lobbied the board to stop the practice because it had become too invasive. The coaches killed the goose that laid the golden cell phone. "Sometimes, coaches are our own worst enemies," Syracuse coach Greg Robinson said. Over the past two years, text messaging became the lingua franca of coaches anxious to stay in contact with recruits. Why? Because the NCAA ruled that a text message is not a phone call. The NCAA Manual devotes three single-spaced pages to telephone calls and recruits. There are many fewer restraints on e-mail. The phone rules came into being in 1991, during a time when the NCAA first began to pay attention to the welfare of its student-athletes. The NCAA doesn't always side with the athletes who keep the organization alive -- witness the dunderheaded decision several weeks ago to rescind permission for students who have graduated and still have eligibility to transfer without having to sit out a year. But as recently as last year, an NCAA Presidential Task Force decreed, "The primary focus in intercollegiate athletics should be the student-athlete. Therefore, student-athletes should have direct input in the management of intercollegiate athletics." When the student-athletes complained that text messages grew like kudzu, overtaking lives and taxing wallets, the Division I Board listened. It saw text messages as nothing more than a loophole that mocked the intent of those three pages of rules. Coaches love loopholes. As competitive as recruiting is, once one coach found the loophole, the rest of the industry poured through. For instance, Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen estimates that he sends 50 to 100 texts on a typical day. "We're big proponents," Mullen said. "That starts with the head man [coach Urban Meyer] down. He's been one of the big text-messagers out there." Since the phone rules came into effect, coaches have complained that they don't have the opportunity to get to know a recruit well enough to decide whether they want him in their meeting room six days a week. With text-messaging, Mullen said, "You can converse a little back and forth and get a feel for what type of person you're dealing with." Most coaches have expressed dismay over the loss of text messaging. The American Football Coaches Association beseeched the Division I Board to delay action and find a compromise. The AFCA didn't know the game already had been decided. The ban won't hurt all coaches. Florida State director of football operations Andy Urbanic said through a spokesman Wednesday that the Seminoles staff didn't begin to use text messaging until Bobby Bowden brought in five new coaches over the winter. And as you may have guessed, Arkansas coach Houston Nutt, whose cell-phone and text-messaging bills were outed earlier this month by boosters intent on embarrassing him, said Wednesday that he favored the ban. Nutt's stance had nothing to do with seeing his text messages discussed across the country. He just believed that it might bring a semblance of order to his workday. "It's gotten to be such a tough, tough thing," Nutt said. "We spend a lot of time text messaging, all day long. I think it [the ban] is good." So score one for the Luddites. The NCAA may have become an old man at the beach, bucket in hand, intent on holding back the tide of technology that has washed over modern life. Said Mullen, "I have had a couple of recruits ask, 'How are we going to communicate?'" Sit down, Sonny, and let Gramps tell you of a time when communication went through the post office. The coaches sound as if they are resigned to going back to the future of writing letters. Robinson, who first began recruiting in the dark ages of the 1970s, already has tried it. "It's funny how with a handwritten letter, you get [a recruit's] attention," he said. Maybe recruiting tactics, like X's-and-O's, never die. They just get recycled.

The stadium is much more within our ability to do something. As difficult as it may be to raise the funds, it is not contingent on a vote from SMU or TCU or whomever. And we may need a new stadium to get a conference to vote for us. However, this topic does lead to an interesting follow-up question, which is also at the heart of the stadium debate: Do you spend less on a stadium today, build a respectable but not spectacular stadium, then parlay that into entry into a better conference? Does the better conference then act as a base to pull in better opponents, increase attendance, and build the program, allowing for a significant stadium upgrade later on? Which, now that I think of it, kind of sounds like what RV is doing. Maybe that's why the direction may be to not build it bigger and better today, like we're all itching for, and instead build it respectable and upgrade later after the conference situation is improved.

Stadium. I don't think you get into a better conference without the new stadium.

Don't get mad, be thankful. I'd love to hear that from all opponents. Go ahead and take UNT for granted. Look past us. Chalk us up as an easy win. Please.

If North Texas beats Oklahoma on the road, Arkansas on the road, Troy on the road, and Navy at home, I would be shocked if North Texas was not ranked. That would be three quality road wins, and two wins against top 20 teams, and a home win against another bowl team.

More attorneys. Oh, goodie.

The really amazing thing is they give an estimated time for the whole trip: "about 30 days 14 hours" So I guess they figure it takes a month to swim the Atlantic. Or does it just take thirty days for the body to wash up on shore in Boston?

Fentriss and Casey Fitzgerald were impressive, but I thought one of the biggest standouts was Meager. He does look completely different. He was poised, looked very comfortable, and threw some terrific passes. Started slow, but then he was hitting receivers in stride for big gains.

I missed the first couple of minutes, but here are some highlights of Coach Dodge's appearance on Dunham and Miller Going back to 4-3 defense, in part because they had more depth on the defensive line than expected. They've moved some linebackers to defensive end. Strength is the linebacker corps and the experience in the unit. He is being a little less hands-on as a coach than he was at Southlake. The bigger college program is more demanding, but he will always stay involved. He's not going to be the Bear Bryant, Tom Landry type who just walks around the field. He wants to stay involved with the players and the play calling. One player on each side of the ball that has jumped out this spring: Casey Fitzgerald, a walk-on WR that is a great fit for their passing game, and Eldrick Gilmore, a 6-6, 245 DE. The next step for the program: the goal is to win the conference and return to the New Orleans Bowl, but the next step is to gain a level of consistency, not have the peaks and valleys. Consistency of winning will bring the fans out. Finally, Todd has completely won over George Dunham. George is friends with Dickey and was understandably disappointed when Dickey was fired, but George is tremendously excited about the potential of Coach Dodge. They confirmed that the band will be present Sunday, and this is going to be a big event. The team will be on the field at 12:45 for pre-game warm-up.

It sounds like Dodge is going to be on at 9:00 a.m. They said he's going to be on in fifteen minutes, and they've teasing other programming at 9:15 and 9:35. So tune in at 9:00.

Close. It does say: Plen'y of air and plen'y of room, Plen'y of room to swing a rope! Plen'y of heart and plen'y of hope. I'd say this photo qualifies on all counts.