untjim1995

SMU Army BYU Ohio

I think the eastern jewels will be MUTS, an F_U (interchangeable, really), and one of the urban schools that are moving up (Charlotte or ODU). Marshall and WKU will probably be fine, but I don't see a huge upsiade for either of them. I just think Middle Tennessee has a lot of advantages in being in a state with a lot of talent that has one behemoth school (Tenn) and a big private school (Vandy) with high admittance standards, and a basketball school in Memphis. MUTS has a lot of potential, IMO. In the west, I've always said that UTSA has the most upside because of the market they serve and they have no "bad" years to recover from. That said, I think UNT, La Tech, and USM are right up there, too. Rice, to me, as a small private school with high academics, will slide back down. And UTEP and UAB are lost causes, I think, for the next 5 years.

This is your mind on drugs... I just want to hit 10. I'm not even kidding. OU is nowhere near as good as they were last year--they will finish around 8th in the Big XII this year. And we gave up 95 points to them.

WVU and KSU will get to 6--both Kansas and Iowa State are just awful.

The Big Ten has already gotten their 7 teams bowl eligible IIRC, or they are fairly close to having them sew it up. Iowa beating Purdue was big for them ebcause it got them to 6-4 with games left versus Michigan at home and at Nebraska.

Look, the HoD Bowl is dying to have us in their bowl game this year. They have to get a CUSA entry in there and we are EASILY their best hope for a nice turnout in that game. This is the dream come true for the HoD Bowl and CUSA--to have giant UNT play in its backyard while playing a BIg Ten team that travels very well (basically anyone not named Northwestern). They want us to play Iowa. The only two things that can trip this up is Iowa to beat Michigan, which could happen, but I think Michigan wins that game, and us winning out and going to the Liberty Bowl. Ironically, us making to the Liberty Bowl, while making us CUSA champions, also gives us a farther venue to travel to against a tougher opponent. Anyone from the SEC that will be bowl eligible will be much tougher than anyone that the Big Ten sends down here. I want to play Iowa in Dallas on New Years Day at the Cotton Bowl. I want Hayden Fry to flip the coin before the game and to be honored at halftime by both schools. But I'd gladly "settle" for being CUSA Champs and playing a team like Ole Miss or Vandy in the Liberty Bowl, too!!

You'd be surprised at how much more Cross could make here and not have to change his life dramatically. CUSA job in DFW is way above being a coach of a SBC school in DFW.

I think we would still a very attractive job, just because of location and facilities. We just need to hire an experienced head coach--its shocking that the only time we've done this in the last 30 years at UNT in football or men's hoops is McCarney and now we are finally seeing the light at the end of this very dark tunnel there. But hiring an assistant coach with no previous head coaching experience damn near killed our football team for 20 years, which is my fear here with our hoops team.

Our perfect candidate is now at Texas State because he couldn't get an interview here. My choice would be Cross first, then i'd go hard after Shields at UALR or Marlin at ULL.

Message board approval is very important to you, so I will give you this... We better celebrate this victory tonight...its probably one of about 4 we will enjoy this year (and that might be aiming too high) Benford'd...thanks RV

Interesting talk on the Aggies and Longhorns on The Ticket right now...making a big deal about the Aggies SEC advantage on recruiting in state talent, which is why they are surmising that Texas is no interested in playing A&M and why A&M has done a nice 180 on playing Texas anytime, anywhere, as they espoused during the split.

I remember how badly I felt for him in that NO Bowl game against Southern Miss when they put 9 people in the box. USM was just so much bigger and faster than us. Between that game and the Tulsa debacle at home in 2005, it became very clear that we had certainly fallen backwards from where we wanted to go.

We had some very good offensive SLC players during the first 5 years of the 90s. Mitch Maher was a great QB. Troy Redwine and David Brown were awesome WRs. Luis Silva was a terrific TE. And we had several OLinemen that were also very good, too.

This. Plus Alabama will match anything that Texas offers. Saban and his agent are about to cash in big time.

In the grand scheme of things, a five home game schedule with a game in Dallas against SMU and having just one OOC game at Apogee being Army is still way better than what 2012 gave us. Also, if we still need a money game, and it appears that we still will, then the games at Iowa, Tennessee, Florida, and Texas are not going to change anytime soon. I still think CUSA will go the same route as the others, by playing 9 conference games, which gives teams the opportunity to schedule 1 or 2 bodybag games, with 1 or 2 even series, and 1 bought win (FCS or FBS dreg). We will have that, when CUSA starts playing 9 conference games, too. I have come around to giving RV a little bit of a break on this stuff. OOC scheduling has been atrocious here for years, but it is just getting harder, as the AQs circle their wagons even tighter. When the conferences go to 9 games, seeing an AQ team here anytime soon is just not gonna happen. Especially when you factor in the DFW location already being full of AQ games, I just don't see where an AQ would come here. If you're Okie State, you have 9 Big XII games right now. That leaves you three games left to schedule. If you have a year where you have 4 home conference games, they aren't going to schedule a road game out of the three remaining games in OOC at a non-AQ in an area they already play in every ear to pull local recruits down to watch them play in Ft. Worth or Waco. They'll schedule 2 home-and-home series, most likely against other AQ leagues, and then buy a home game against someone else. OSU is no different than any other AQ in that equation--you could replace them with Tech, Baylor, KU, KSU, ISU, etc... RV, for the thrid time, I apologize for my scheduling rants for our future OOC schedule. There's not much you can do about it in today's college football world to get AQ teams to sign a home-and-home series with us in the future.

I actually posted about this a few months ago, using it as an apology for being so upset that we signed a 2 for none with Iowa, when we were told that our new stadium would help us entice bigger named opponents. Well, it did--for one season against UH and Indiana. Since then, we have had Texas Southern, Idaho, and Ball State. And SMU for next year. But that said, the Big Ten going to 9 conference games will probably get copied by the other AQs, so we weren't going to get a home game against Iowa, since their league also makes each team play one Pac-12 team in OOC, as well. I still bet you that in 2015 and in 2017, we will have 5 home games and that RV will tell us that a game at SMU "might as well be a home game if we all show up and support the team". That way, we can save money and use it for future bought games to balance out our games against Florida, Tennessee, Iowa, etc...it really isn't that hard to see this happening.

I'll make this clear, I hope. I could care less about A&M, just like I can care less about UT, Tech, Baylor, UH, SMU, Rice, UTEP, UTSA, Texas State, etc... Because of that, i just call it the way I see it. Texas will never disappear--sorry if that was insinuated by me earlier, but they are far too rich and too big to ever even remotely hide, much less disappear. I feel like they do accomplish very little with all the resources and advantages they have, though. But so does A&M, for that matter. That said, I just think Sumlin has a great gig, one that will be better than jumping to South Central LA and all the mess that goes along with that USC job right now. The scholarship cuts USC had to take were huge and still have a few years to go, yet USC fans, like Texas fans, think they should win the national championship most years, even if they have Lane Douchebag Kiffin as their coach. Only thing about that is that USC has won exactly 2 national championships (2003,2004) in the last 40 years, one of which was shared with LSU, while Texas has also won one in the last 40 years--against USC in 2005, before the SEC ran wild over the rest of the country. I just think that SEC card is too much to overcome for Texas when recruiting against an A&M team with a great coach who is also winning. Maybe that turns back quickly, especially if Sumlin leaves to the NFL, which is where I think he'll end up. But, Texas is already seeing recruits flock to the only SEC team in Texas right now. They are running circles around everyone because of it. With Texas having one game a year that interest anyone nationally now (vs OU), I think that is going to be tough to compete against A&M on that. Especially when that OU program is being hurt more by the Aggies ascension to the SEC than anyone else in the country, Texas' one huge rival that is nationally respected could very well slip back into mediocrity. Meanwhile, because of the SEC interest and success in Collie World, A&M raised around $750 million, IIRC, just last year, which dwarfed the Big XII schools revenue raised, even Texas. Again, maybe that just stops as soon as Sumlin, Manziel, and Mike Evans leave. But I doubt it... .

Only thing about playing either of those two FCS schools is that they are both really good. You cannot lose to these guys as a non-AQ. You need to schedule a SWAC school or a school like Lamar.

If Sumlin leaves, it will be for the NFL. He isn't going to USC--they can't pay him more, the taxes in that state are horrible, and they have fans that think they should win the national championship every year, no matter what. Aggie fans are probably the least demanding fans in the country. All that want you to do is keep football competitive enough to allow them to gather together for their yell practices. Its always been that way down there. A coach like Sumlin has it made in College Station. Great fanbase, great facilities, great recruits, great conference, huge money, etc... Nick Saban isn't going anywhere...his agent is busy making him even more millions to be the head coach at Alabama by linking him to the job in Austin. First of all, Saban ain't puttin up with the LHN watching practice everyday and then broadcasting games to literally tens of people across the state. He has it made at Alabama with an AD and administration that adore him and recognize he brings in hundreds of millions of dollars to the university because of his successful football team. They won't lose him.

UTSA uses San Antonio as a nice lure for these other schools to get in front of Texas recruits and providing the visiting fans with a great destination for a weekend. Plus, the Alamodome is big enough to hold large crowds. And, lastly, the Alamo Bowl committe has strong ties with the folks in the Big 12, Big Ten, and Pac-12. That helps them to get big names opponents to play UTSA in San Antonio. Its something we don't want to bring up, but its one of the major advantages that UTSA will always have on us. The Southern Big 12 teams and Texas A&M already play in the Metroplex, at least once every two years. Some will play here twice in a year (OU, UT, Baylor, Tech). SMU gets those schools their DFW OOC exposure. The Big Ten teams that will come down here to Denton to play would be so much better off for the recruiting exposure it would bring, but it hasn't happened yet, which is very surprising to me. I still think a school like OSU would come here as a part of a series. I think Kansas, K-State, Iowa State, Nebraska, Colorado, and Mizzou would too. But, as UNT90 put it, we don't have any wiggle room. We have SMU and Army for a long time ahead and then still play one bodybag game. That just doesn't leave you any place to sign a new deal with someone for an even series. We will either have 5 game home schedules or 6 games at home with a game against an Idaho or Texas Southern team. Not much you can do about it, with SMU and Army already in the mix for a long time in the future.

Marshall has nowhere to go...they aren't going to the AAC becuase they bring no tv market. They aren't going to the MAC, either, because they left it years ago for CUSA. Marshall and Southern Miss are both stuck here...they have no market to sell other conferences. Probably the same for the future for La Tech and WKU, too, except they wanted this conference badly. UNT, MUTS, F_U, UTEP, and UTSA have the most potential to move upward, similar to Charlotte if they get off to a great start in CUSA in both sports. RIce can also move up, but only if UH ever leaves the AAC. Those schools represent DFW, Miami, Nashville, El Paso, San Antonio, Charlotte, and Houston. That is a lot of TV sets that USM, Marshall, La Tech, and Western Kentucky cannot ever deliver.

I wouldn't be surpised to see NMSU end up on the schedule...or an FCS school. We will buy a game just like we did this past season. ULM could be a possibility, too.

We will never be in the AAC as long as SMU is there. We will never be in the Big XII. CUSA is a good spot for us, but the reality is that we are higher up on the pecking order than most of the other CUSA and SBC schools right now, but those schools in the AAC have no interest in being assocaited with us as conference mates. They have shown us that for the last 40 years. Whether it was the SWC, the original WAC that came about after the SWC disbanded, CUSA after the old WAC split apart, or the MWC with TCU in it, none of those schools have EVER wanted to hook up their conference trailer with us. I don't see that mindset changing anytime soon. I'll say this about the MWC--I'm still a big fan of that league, even if its down from where it has been in the past. This year, Fresno State is the king of the league and is highly ranked. Boise State, AFA, Colorado State, Hawaii, SDSU, and Nevada have all been highly ranked teams at times over the last 20 years. I still believe a team from Texas can duplicate the success TCU had in the MWC. If a group of teams ever go west from this state, I hope we are a part of it. The MWC is the highest non-AQ league and it will probably stay that way because of the name recognition of its teams and the success they have enjoyed. The AAC has UCF and UH right now that will stay in that league, but over the last 20 years, Boise State, Hawaii, Fresno State, and Nevada have all made bigger impacts on the college football polls than anyone that will be left in the AAC. To me, its a moot point, since we aren't ever going to move out west anytime soon, but the MWC is ahuge step up from CUSA, in both revenue sports. And its not close...just like the locations of most of those schools. But its anything but WAC 2.0.

UTEP is one of the worst 5 teams in a FBS conference. Only Southern Miss, NMSU, Idaho, and Hawaii could compete with them for that spot. We killed Idaho and USM, so I expect us to murder UTEP at home. The last game is the most dangerous, at Tulsa, to me just because they will finish off their last game of a very disappointing season against us. They will want their seniors to go out with a win, since it will be their bowl game, basically. And their coaches know that thye recruit against us, so they will pull out all the stops in that game. Add in our conservative nature on the road against decent teams and you have the recipe for a tough game. Plus, historically, Tulsa owns us like no other school in the country that is not an AQ power. Some of the aboslute biggest butt-kickings we have absorbed have been at the hands of Tulsa over the last 40 years.

Coach Mac has proven to so many people around the college football world just how much he can develop and rebuild. This job at UNT is damn near remarkable when you consider just how far down we had found ourselves, both in record and in talent. His strength and conditioning is the thing that stands out the most to me--we look like a legitimate FBS team from a size standpoint. I give McCarney the credit for this. Recruiting hasn't been good here, but it was never going to be good until he showed that he could develop this program into a winner by taking no and low rated kids and building a winner. He's now done that. And with his attitude and personality, people just want him to do well. I still think a school like Kansas or Purdue would be well-served to call McCarney and feel him out about whether he would be interesting in leaving UNT. Kansas still has Chalie Weis' contract to deal with, so that may not be doable for them, but Purdue is just terrible now and McCarney's style of play could do very well in that league at a school like Purdue. I hope it never happens, that he will stay here until he retires because he's very successful and likes it here, but he's a very young guy at heart--and his attitiude is infectious, as we have seen. Imagine what he could do at an AQ school that already had skins on the wall and facilities and fan support in place...that is what I fear about McCarney leaving here.