emmitt01

I think this thread, as "ridiculous" as it is, proves a point. There is a lot of moaning and gnashing of teeth about how we need to fire Dickey but nobody can give us an alternative. That's the worst kind of whining. It's like when you ask your wife where she wants to eat and her only response is "Just not Chili's...I hate Chili's." That's not an answer, that's a complaint. As much as we may hate where this ship is headed we need answers not whining.

Just thought I'd break up the pity party with a funny story. As you probably all know when New Orleans and the Texas gulf coast were hit by Katrina and Rita some of the people evacuated to Dallas. We kept them inside of the Convention Center and at Reunion where we could use the floor space to let them sleep and so that the Red Cross could set up aid. Well, all of the evacuees are gone but the ever wise beaurocracy of Dallas left behind about 150 police radios and some computers when they pulled out. So, what did I get to do for 8 hours last night? I got to sit in a room in the bowels of Reunion arena and surf the internet...on city time...so that the cleaning crews didn't help themselves to radios or laptops. Who says we have a manpower shortage at DPD?

http://www.hallmark.com/wcsstore/HallmarkS...rds/nfg1969.swf

Ok, so Mapquest estimates the time from Denton to Shreveport at 3 1/2 hours and the time from Shreveport to Ruston at just over an hour. So, if we could get a group down in Shreveport on Friday to have a little fun and then leave out early Saturday morning it could make for a good trip...regardless of the outcome of the game. My wife *gasp* is taking that Saturday off and taking a half-day on Friday. If she's willing to spend several days centering around a football game then we all can.

I think we'll get at least 12k...maybe 15 if we've put together some wins (not counting of course the game at LSU).

I don't know why anyone is worrying about whether UT will be in the national title game. If it's even close you'll see Mack Brown with a box of tissues begging the national media to "take control of college football."

"You guys are forgetting about Virginia Tech. If USC, UT, and VT all win out, I have a feeling that Texas will be left out of the Orange Bowl." I agree. They would be left out of the Orange Bowl and would play in the Rose.

You may be right but, unfortunately, there is NOBODY left on their schedule prior to that game that will touch them.

Your confidence keeps me going at night.

We tried pretty hard to do just that...the kid's name is Zac Taylor and he's the quarterback at Nebraska right now.

There's been a lot of talk about wanting us to run the option and Danny's speed but I don't think you'll see it this year much. In fact I talked to Meager's dad at halftime of the game and he told me that Danny got basically chewed out when he tucked it and ran for that fairly big gain in the first half. Seems the coaching staff's biggest concern is keeping him on his feet for a season. As rusty as many have said they think he looks he's also the guy who got the majority of the practice snaps and has been installed as the starter...and our backup is a true freshman. Wrong or not, I can see the coaching staff's thinking.

Funny, I just did it.

That I'll agree with.

Here's why I'm not down on our team or our prospects for the rest of the season (except against LSU). 1)Five turnovers! Name a team, any team, that will win games where they are giving the ball away five times...or even one that will only lose that game by 3. 2)Dropped balls. You complain that we don't pass enough. Anyone remember a pass to Muzzy across the middle early in the first quarter? That ball was catchable. How about the long pass to Brock Stickler? Either of these passes puts us in a position to win. 3)Running mistakes. The infamous first and goal towards the end of the first half started with a handoff to Patrick Cobbs that he tried to bounce outside instead of lowering his shoulders and picking up the yard or two. Rewatch the film, even Craig James says "you can't bounce outside on a team with Troy's speed." Yet we tried it time and again. 4)17,000 fans. Never in the time that I've been watching North Texas would I have expected this many given the scores of our previous games. 5)There is a God. Given the way Middle Tennessee fans are viewing our loss last night as somehow validation for their delusions I am sure we will win the belt by divine intervention...that's the only way justice can be served. Be mad if you want guys, just realize that we did some things that made it very hard to win...the biggest of them being FIVE turnovers. But these are all things that can be corrected and I think our team will mature and make those strides.

Obviously we'll have to agree to disagree but here's the question that I don't think you've asked yourself. For all the "sucess" the other teams in the belt have had against non-conference competition (Troy's win against Mizzou, MTSU's several wins against Vandy, etc) which program has the hardware to show for it and the better perception nationally? Want a clue, cuz you need one....North Texas. Look at the preseason prognostications, look at the national media attention, look at the common perceptions. We are the "big" game when we roll into many SBC towns...our SBC brethren are still met with "who?" And another thing. How many times has ANYBODY said they would be satisfied with this production in a year when we actually return a team with games under their belt? Or, how many times have we said we'd be satisfied if we look the same in game 8 or 9 as opposed to game 3 or 4? The answer...none. The problem with many of our fans is we whoop and holler about our national rushing champions and how we're "going to the next level" but then bitch and complain when those same schemes, those EXACT same schemes, don't produce with different talent running them. And I find it cute that you chose to respond to the last sentence of my previous post, the statement made entirely with a sarcastic tone, as opposed to acknowledging that Dickey's playbook alone does not make or break our football fortunes. Figures. Hell, by your logic Idaho should have won several national championships the last few years or at least the Sun Belt title. Their offense was "creative" and fun to watch.

No apologies, just facts. And, yes, the following are all facts regardless of whether you choose to view them as such: 1)Poor fan support(though getting better). A generous estimate would put us at 4,000 season tickets. Even if you say that 10,000 seats go to the students you are looking at 4,000 out of the remaining 20,500 or about slightly less than 25%...and I don't believe that we have 4,000 season tickets sold. And how many of our "fans" bitch, whine and moan about when the game's start, seat cushions, umbrellas, etc. when discussing whether they will attend games? 2)Second/Third rate facilities. We all know it but we just choose to discount it when looking for stud recruits to come here. Yeah, Fouts has new turf and a Jumbo tron. Great, now the players have a better surface to play on and our fans can get a better view of the game by watching the jumbo tron than they can just looking at the field. And don't begin to talk about the new athletic center, it's been here for a grand total of ONE recruiting class. The benefits of the AC and the other new facilities won't be seen for a good 3 to 4 years if not longer. 3)Teams lose games. I'll say it again, teams lose games...and they lose badly sometimes. Oklahoma hung 70+ on Texas aTm a few years ago. OU has drubbed UT by big point spreads in the past few years. Tech hung 70 on TCU last year and put up 70 on Nebraska the last time they played. Did I mention that the teams on the losing end of these scores also boast multi-million dollar football budgets that dwarf our athletic budget? Seems Dickey should have some esteemed company in the ol' unemployment line. And the Sun Belt streak was going to end sometime. Personally, if you'd have given me a choice I would have picked to have it end the year we had a rookie QB, an O-Line that had yet to gel and a brand new defensive line. Throw into that mix a QB and a potential starting d-lineman who couldn't get their heads on straight in the classroom and I'd think this would be the opportune time to take your lumps in conference. But I guess we should all take the hardline stance of "we won't tolerate losing!" 4)Players have to grow up on the field. When you have inexperience across both lines you don't walk out onto the field and dominate people. I know, I know, Dickey should teach them to block and tackle and be better players...in between holding his players hands in class, teaching them discipline, revolutionizing his playbook, raising his daughter, making time for his wife, being a good-will ambassador to fans and potential new fans, sleeping, and finding time to grab a bite to eat. Jesus, if a man can't do all of these things then we need to fire him yesterday! Or, and I know I'm asking for a leap of faith here but bear with me, could it be that young kids make mistakes in football games and will get better with time. When Danny Meager is a senior, our defensive line has more than FOUR games under their belts, our secondary isn't playing together for the first time, and we're not replacing names like Adrian Awasom, Scott Hall, Andy Blount, Andy Brewster, Jonas Buckles, the list goes on, and if he hasn't recruited somebody to fill in the holes...then talk to me about how the coach should have his team better ready to play. Hell, what do I know though, I'm just an apologist.

Uh, I think you're a little late on the whole benching TJ Raymond thing. He's academically ineligible and hasn't taken a single snap this year. But yeah, he embarrassed me too.

1)Turnovers- Darrell Dickey didn't throw either interception last night nor did he put the ball on the turf any of the THREE times it was fumbled. 2)Penalties- Anybody remember an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that sustained a crucial Troy drive? (You should because it was an iffy call) Talk all you want about how the coach should teach discipline but Dickey can't be on the team to physically restrain his players. What's he gonna do....bench them? Yeah, cuz we're so blessed in the depth department. Ok, if you're willing to blindly overlook both of these things then fire away at how you don't like the playcalling.

Baseball isn't boring to me. Red Sox fans on the other hand..... GO YANKEES!!!

I'm there with 4 first timers. One is an OU alum, one is her husband (now he's an OU fan under penalty of death ) The other two are friends of theirs and I think OU alums as well. They hate UT just as much as I do so their good people in my book...be nice to them. Oh yeah, and two of them are DPD as well so be really nice to them.

Ok, my birthday is the 23rd of this month. Because I just know that you're all racking your brains for gift ideas I'll make it simple: http://cgi.ebay.com/JOE-GREENE-signed-NORT...1QQcmdZViewItem I don't care if you all pitch in or if just one person makes the purchase...I'll consider it from all of you regardless.

The caption reads "An Aggie receiver makes the catch in front of North Texas' Jamel Branch"

Here's an idea....focus on a few images for more than 1.2 seconds at a time to actually make an impact. And, yes, let's pretend we don't still live in 1982 musically.

I think it's HUGE that he would say "they've been on me for quite some time and they say I'm important to them." That means that 1)We're putting forth the effort to stay after him (And DD personally to boot) and 2)We're conveying to him how much/how early he could make an impact here as opposed to elsewhere. Even in an run heavy offense a kid with talent and the ability to tuck and run himself would have to give us at least a look.

I talked to that same guy and he told me Joey Byerly was academically ineligible.