untjim1995

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.

This guy is being brought here because he will clean house in the other sports, too. There other revenue sports have really dropped down badly. Football is obviously the king, but I suspect Mack stays if he doesn't lose more than one more game this year. He wants to be the alltime leader in wins at UT and it would take one more year to get there. I think the Big Money Cigars down there will let him have that, unless they fall apart down the stretch. They have WVU this week (W), Okie Lite at home (50/50), Tech at home (W) and at Baylor, which usually is apro-Texas crowd. IF they can beat OSU or Baylor, I think Mack survives. But, as far as basketball goes, Barnes is a dead-man walking (has looked that way for years, literally) and Aston needs to win quick down there or will be led out the door. Augie Garrido is old and will have to be replaced sooner, rather than later, so this AD coming in will have a lot of work ahead of him. To me, the question about UT's future lies more in conference affiliation than it does with coaches and the AD. If A&M keeps going strong in the SEC and the recruiting keeps going the Aggies' way, then it becomes a question of who gets the leftovers, which are still very good. Right now, Texas and A&M are schooling OU in recruiting and on the field, so that will hurt the Sooners big time. To me, this state can keep two of those big three schools floating near the top ten every year. The cycle of those three schools being the top place for Texas HS kids has been in place since the 50s, with one of the three being the clear loser against the other two. Usually, its been the Aggies, but when they are good, usually the Longhorns or Sooners are bad. Now, the Aggies are at the top and don't appear to be falling back anytime soon with the SEC being the recruiting diamond for them and having Sumlin as the coach du jour right now. Texas cannot trump the SEC card--they are pretty much blocked from ever getting into that league. The Pac-12 sounds appealling to the high-brow UT educators, but it will not help football recruiting, especially when A&M plays top-notch competition that is driveable and plays in the same time zone for the most part. UT playing at Washington State at 10pm local time on a Saturday night won't help them in recruiting against the Aggies and the SEC. To me, the perfect option for Texas is to join the Big Ten--they would still play opponents far away, but they are well-known names and would generate great interest to compete with the SEC. But, then you run into the so-called Tech problem and the Baylor lawsuits if you go that route. Patterson is gonna have his hands full trying to push this cart forward, especially in trying to find the right place to move it to.

I stand corrected...thanks for letting us know. I still cannot see Notre Dame playing a team from anything lower than the top end (as in the top 2 or 3 teams) of the MWC or AAC. And, even then, it better have a strong name attached to it.

I'll go one step further--the black uniforms made us look like we could just jump out of the stadium...like we were more urban!!

I don't see the Big Ten or Big XII filling out their bowl slots. The Big Ten will have 7 teams bowl eligible most likely, while the Big 12 will probably get 6-7 teams that will be bowl eligible. The Big Ten has 8 slots available, with the last being the Little Caesar's Bowl game in Detroit against the Mac Champion. The Big 12's last spot is the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in New York against the #3 team from the AAC. The Russel Atlhetic Bowl in Orlando would have the Number 3 ACC team play the #2 team from the AAC. With Notre Dame's tie-in to the ACC, I'm fairly certain they will get to play a team from the ACC (like Miami or Clemson) in this game. There's no way that this bowl game, with the ACC as their main benefactor, will let ND slide so Miami could play Houston...

There is no way this matchup will ever happen--Notre Dame will never play a non-AQ not named Hawaii, Boise State, Houston, SMU, or BYU in a bowl game. There's no way... Besides, ND will get picked up by another bowl before they would slip down to the HoD bowl. If we end up in the HoD bowl game, I suspect it will be against Iowa, unless they just fall absolutely apart in the last month of the season. The HoD Bowl game is the big ten 7th team versus CUSA's 4th, but as with any of these non-AQ bowls, the conferences will use travel to their best advantage. iowa, at 5-4, needs one win against this schedule: @ Purdue (1-7)--highly probable win Michigan (6-2)--possible win (50/50) @ Nebraska (6-2) possible win (50/50) Indiana and illinois are both 3-5, while Northwestern is 4-5. I don't see anyway that Indiana or Illinois get to 6 wins, best I can see for either of them is 5 wins. NW has lost 5 games in a row, including that miraculous loss at Nebraska this past weekend, with games left at home against Michigan and Michigan State, and finishing at Illinois. Again, its hard to see them getting to 6 wins with that schedule, but its more possible than either Indiana or Illinois getting to 6 wins. I will be the biggest Iowa fan there is over the next few weeks. If we cannot win CUSA outright, then I want to play the Hawkeyes in a bowl game, not Texas freaking State or some other SBC team that manages to get bowl eligible playing the absoulte dregs of college football. There's great history between the coaches, both past and present, and it would be a nice preview to our games up in Iowa City here in a few years.

That matchup would be the perfect example of the term "North Texas Luck"--as in there ain't much history of having any... We finally have a good team for the first time in a decade. We finally have a local bowl game who is clamoring to have us be in it against a Big Ten team. ANd SMU and TCU are nowhere to be found in any bowl predictions. And this would be the year that the Big Ten, now having twelve teams, cannot place a bowl team here when all you have to do is win 6 games...and that leaves Texas State as the opponent for a 10am New Years Day Game in Fair Park. In keeping with said "North Texas Luck" meme, it will probably be about 25 degrees and sleeting, meaning the big ass Cotton Bowl will have about 250 people in there to watch the game...

Well, next year, we replace Tulsa on your list with Western Kentucky, but your point remains...its still nice to get away from the awful name recognition of the Sun Belt Conference. Even when the SBC has been decent, it still got no respect...

Lefty is a very good OL coach. He left the first time because Steve Kragthorpe took over in Tulsa and the worked together here under Simon. When he came back and left again, under Dodge, it was because he knew that Dodge's tenure was about to be over and he headed back up to Tulsa again. Lefty knew he'd be out of work if he stuck around, so he cut bait and headed north. He did what any coach would've done under Dodge's watch--leave if offered any chance to get out of town to another FBS opening. If Canales didn't have experience with Coach Mac and hadn't had a nice run as the interim coach after Dodge left, he would have been fired, too.

I want Tulane to win this game over UTSA. Rice will beat the Green Wave in Houston because they are a better football team than Tulane. But, that said, we need Rice and Tulane to win as many ballgames as they can. It only makes us look better. That's why I am rooting for Georgia, Ohio, Ball State, Tulane, Rice, and MUTS to win as much as possible. The dream scenario for me is that UGa wins out, somehow gets into the SEC Championship game, and beats Alabama. Also, Ball State wins out, including a win over Northern Illinois and then beats Ohio in the Mac Championship, after they win all their games up to that point. Rice needs to win out, too. So does MUTS. Tulane needs to just lose once, to Rice. That makes us look even better, where our three losses look extremely strong, while our three biggest wins look even better, too. Believe it or not, this scenario is possible...

No, I don't think so...that would cost a lot to give up a home game against a good team.

Doesn't this just confirm how important having a head coach that can "coach up" recruits to perform better than any star rating suggested? Patterson at TCU and Briles, especially when he was at UH, just turned lumps of coal into diamonds. I'm not saying McCarney belongs in their same category, but he is doing what his reputation said he would do--clean up the program, get the kids to take classes seriously, get stronger and faster through a legitimate S&C program that is in sync with a legitimate FBS coach, and getting the fans more involved. I think we will win out here in the regular season, or at the bare minimum, win the remaining two home games. The folks in Dallas with the Heart of Dallas Bowl have to be drooling at the thought of having us fall into their laps for that game, especially against a team like Iowa that brings a lot of people, too, when they travel. That game could have a very large turnout, bigger than anything they have had for that bowl game in Dallas on New Years Day since the Cotton bowl moved to Jerry World.

There have been few times in my life as a fan where I have gotten to enjoy some major revenge in a win. I remember feeling this way for the first time when the Cowboys beat the 49ers in the NFC Championship game in 1992, exacting revenge for the Dwight Clark catch back in 1981. I felt that way when the Rangers finally ebat the Yankees in the ALCS in 2010 to finally get past them and make the World Series. And I felt that way back in 2011 when the Mavs finally beat the Lakers in a playoff series, having watched LA run the Mavs into the ground all those times during the 80s on their way to titles. That sweep was so awesome, especially when LA quit in that last game. And, of course, the Mavs went on to win it all, which completed the deal. But I never had anything like this to enjoy for my alma mater, UNT. Sure, I've witnessed a lot of beatings--and there are many teams that I feel we owe a huge butt-kicking back to if/when we play them. ANd I know that opening at Texas gives us another opportunity to right the wrong of 1988 in Austin, which was just pathetic. But this Rice game represented, for me, the first time that I have enjoyed the fruits of revenge over an opponent. I've posted before on this, but I truly believe that losing at Rice in 2008 77-20, when we could have easily lost by 80+ if Rice hadn't called the dogs off of Dodge's 1-11 team, was our low point as a FBS member since 1995. Rice's team was really good that year, but there is no conceivable way that freaking Rice should have beaten us in that manner. At that point, I was convinced we had the second worst program in America, only enjoying Western Kentucky's status as the worst team by being Dodge's biatch for 3 straight years. Yes, we played Rice to a close game in Fouts two years later (typical of Dodge's later teams, they choked at the end), but the amazing embarrassment and sting from that 77-20 loss could always be felt when I saw Rice beat us out for a recruit or get someone that we couldn't even touch because we were so low on the Texas totem pole. Not kids that chose TCU or Baylor or UH or SMU or Tech over us bothered me like it did when they chose...Rice, freaking mathlete Rice, freaking always in last place in the SWC, Rice. I mean if we couldn't even compete with Rice, then why were we really wasting our time at this level. All of that is now over--we pulverized them in a way that was a signal to all these kids in Texas that aren't Big XII or SEC material but can play college football at a strong level at schools like those in the AAC, CUSA, or the SBC. We have a great coach who specializes in rebuilding--and is now showing everyone that he has damn near accomplished a full turnaround in 2.5 years. We have a defense that is gaining a lot of notoriety, all during a time when offenses control college football and tackling is the worst we have seen in maybe forever. Those Mathletes are still a good team, they'll end up bowling at the end of the year, for sure. But we beat their ass by just brutally hitting their entire team ALL GAME LONG!! Revenge tastes very good, a lot like my grandma's Italian RICE... See you guys in Houston next year, Owls...you've been officially warned. Prepare yourselves.