Comet7745

I don't think this makes nearly as much sense as you think it does.

It might me a merger or an actual partnership where the MWC goes to 12 teams (since C-USA is already at 12). The champion of each conference plays the other for a BCS bid. At this point, it's really hard to tell what the hell is going to happen.

It's definitely not looking good for the "have-nots." And unfortunately that category is almost 60 teams big.

There are talks going on now about a possible MWC/C-USA merger. I think the best bet for you guys would be for such a merger to happen. Clearly not all the teams in these two conferences will make the cut (we might not even make it). If such a thing happens, UNT might be able to be promoted to the remnants of those two.

You're definitely right, UNT should have started putting a huge emphasis on football 2-3 decades back. Large universities like that can really embrace a sport if done right. The biggest thing holding back SMU is the limited alumni coupled with the lingering effects of the death penalty (effectively removing a whole generation of fans). I know we all love to trash each others' schools, but even I root for TCU for what they've been able to do. I do wish success on local universities, but with the exception of TCU, it's been too little too late for the rest of us. And even the TCU might have been too late in all of this. I would pay good money to be able to glimpse the college football landscape of 2017. edit - hopefully a class-action lawsuit can help out the little man in all of this. I doubt it though, but you never know!

Another thing to keep in mind, that everyone so far has ignored, is the upcoming conference realignment. If the BCS turns into a 64 team, 4 superconference behemoth, any team left out of that is pretty much done. UNTJarhead stated that Dallas isn't an SMU city, it's a Texas, A&M, and even OU city. SMU has a bit more to go before it can sell out games against crap teams like Northwestern State, but UNT still has a longer distance to travel. Eventually though, it all comes down to who you're playing. It's going to be incredibly hard to mobilize the DFW fanbase to watch Troy, LA-Monroe, or whoever else is in the Sun Belt. If SMU and TCU get into one of those super-conferences, they will be selling out left and right against BCS teams. SMU does great against recognizable names. UNT would do the same if they're constantly hosting a Texas, or an A&M, or a Texas Tech. Until that happens though, no one in the area is going to be selling out at a consistent level regardless of alumni size, stadium quality, football program status, or anything else for that matter. I say this as an SMU fan, if SMU, TCU, and UNT get left out of the upcoming conference re-shuffling, Dallas will continue for the subsequent decades as being a Dallas Cowboys/Texas/A&M city only.

I'm not as hostile as other Mustangs due to the fact that I went to UTD for my undergrad and have been doing my grad work at SMU. So I find a lot of the bickering between UNTers and SMUers very funny.

I'm also an SMU guy, and I'm kind of annoyed by the lack of UNT in our OOC schedule in both football (though that's changing) and basketball. Just by reading comments on either forum it's clear there's animosity; it's time to turn that into a full-fledged regional rivalry on the field and court.