NT80

Southern University has Nov. 19 open the same as UNT, and they need another game.

Plan to reschedule LSU game could be dropped 11:40 PM CDT on Monday, September 5, 2005 From Staff and Wire Reports DENTON – A three-team scheduling switch that would allow North Texas to play its game against LSU this season could be dropped because of the effect it would have on Louisiana-Monroe, Sun Belt Conference commissioner Wright Waters said Monday. UNT's game against LSU on Saturday was postponed after Hurricane Katrina. Proposed changes: • UNT and LSU would reschedule their game for Oct. 29. • UNT would move its game against ULM to Nov. 19, a bye week for the Mean Green. • ULM would push back its game against Louisiana-Lafayette from Nov. 19 to Nov. 26. The switch would leave ULM without a game from Oct. 15 to Nov. 5, which could kill the deal. UNT has signed a $500,000 contract to play its game against LSU. UNT officials said they hope to have a decision on whether the game will be rescheduled within the next few days. Brett Vito Briefly ... The Sun Belt Conference will move its offices from New Orleans to Tuscaloosa, Ala., instead of Lafayette, La., because workers helping New Orleans recover from the hurricane are occupying office and hotel space in Lafayette.

Makes me ready for NT football.... Muts vs. Bama Pics

I'm glad we had 4 bowl games there but the Dome was a little dated inside, the vinyl plastic seats needed replacing and the floors sticky with beer every time I was there. The exterior looked nice and will be missed if they tear it down. We were lucky to visit New Orleans in it's prime.

It appears LSU still plans on their open date game for Oct.29. The last paragraph in this article mentions there will now only be 6 home games for LSU, the NT game would be the 6th, unless they find another team to fill that date (Utah St.?). ............................................................................................................... LSU-Arizona State Game Moved to Tempe, Ariz. BATON ROUGE -- LSU's home football game against Arizona State on Saturday has been moved to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., as the recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina continue in Baton Rouge. The LSU campus, particularly its athletic venues, has played a central role in medical services during the recovery effort. Those activities, as well as other factors resulting from the aftermath of the hurricane, have created logistical problems for the football game that was scheduled for 7:45 p.m. Saturday in Tiger Stadium. "There are considerable logistical issues that either affect the execution of a football game, or detract from providing recovery services in this time of need," said LSU Chancellor Sean O'Keefe. "We have collected as much information as possible and deliberated this issue carefully over the weekend, but the myriad of details and questions that remain unresolved dictate this move." The use of athletics facilities for the hurricane recovery effort may impact the game, based on the intensity of medical recovery activity in the Carl Maddox Field House, Pete Maravich Assembly Center or Bernie Moore Track during the coming week. LSU has assured immediate access to these medical evacuation units to meet fluctuating and varied demand. For a football game, all parking lots north of Tiger Stadium would likely be unavailable, and traffic flow may be greatly curtailed. "There are so many things that we don't know right now, and that we won't know until later in the week when it would be too late to change the site of the game," said LSU athletics director Skip Bertman. "We certainly need to support the medical services and there is no indication that they will diminish in the days ahead." Among the significant issues is the securing of hotel rooms for the Arizona State football team and traveling party, Southeastern Conference game officials and members of the ESPN television crew. LSU officials have advised fans that hotels are booked and evacuees from the southeast Louisiana parishes have the highest priority. Services normally provided for a football game at Tiger Stadium could also be impacted as many medical personnel and health care organizations usually assigned for LSU football games are involved in hurricane recovery services. "We are thankful to Arizona State University President Michael Crow, athletics department personnel and the Fiesta Bowl who have already worked out a number of local details for making this game happen in Tempe on such short notice," O'Keefe said. "They are prepared to make travel and hotel arrangements for our team and traveling party, and Arizona State has agreed to schedule a return trip to Baton Rouge in the future." LSU will now play only six home football games during the 2005 football season. Bertman said LSU will develop a plan in the near future for addressing ticket and parking issues for season ticket holders who have already paid for a schedule of seven home football games.

LSU admins have already been quoted as knowing they are the ones to postpone the game and will pay all damages to fix the schedules, including costs to ULM if they have to change. If NT could get another home game plus a cancel fee from LSU that would be fine with me not to play that game.

Excellent, any win over SMUt is a good win!

Welcome Jon. We all want better opponents at Fouts. We are a big fish in a small pond in our conference, and we all hope to find a bigger pond some year soon. NT would like to get into CUSA and play some of those teams you mention regularly. NT has always played a tough OOC schedule, the largest programs. The problem again is getting them to visit Denton, and part of that is our football facility. It would help if students supported the building of a new stadium. Bring a friend that has never been to a Mean Green game to one this year.

Sooner fans can dish it out, but not take it when they lose! They will now be calling for Stoops to be fired.

Missouri 44, Arkansas St. 17 By R.B. FALLSTROM, AP Sports Writer September 3, 2005 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Brad Smith thrived in Missouri's new spread offense, throwing four touchdown passes and just missing 100 yards rushing in a 44-17 victory over Arkansas State on Saturday. Brad Ekwerekwu caught his first two career touchdown passes for the Tigers, who rolled up 657 yards in offense while playing in Kansas City for the first time in 60 years. It was the home opener for Arkansas State, despite a 6 1/2 -hour drive from Jonesboro, Ark., to the Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium, which was about half-full with an announced attendance of 32,906. Smith, a dual threat his first two seasons, was primarily a dropback passer last year and Missouri suffered for it with a 5-6 record after going to the Independence Bowl a year earlier. He operated out of a no-back offense most of the time Saturday, mixing it up with handoffs, off shifts, short and medium-range passes and keepers, going 29-for-37 for 317 yards and gaining 95 yards on 12 carries. He now has 3,083 career rushing yards, passing Brock Olivo for second place on the school's career list, and trails leader Zack Abron by 115 yards. Missouri, which beat Arkansas State 52-20 in Columbia last year, did not punt until Smith left the game midway through the third quarter. By then, it was 37-0. Two lost fumbles by wide receiver Sean Coffey were the only minuses in the first half for the Tigers, who scored on their other five possessions and had 417 yards total offense for a 30-0 lead. Smith threw a pair of short TD passes to William Franklin and Ekwerekwu, Marcus Woods scored on a 23-yard run and Tony Temple had a 6-yarder. Arkansas State, held to 165 yards in a half, was plagued by dropped passes by wide receivers intimidated by some crunching hits in the secondary. Antonio Warren had 121 yards on 18 carries and a 6-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for Arkansas State, which opened away from home for the 10th straight season. Nick Noce added a 10-yard scoring pass to Patrick Higgins that cut the gap to 37-17 before the Missouri starters re-entered and quickly scored on a 10-yard pass from Smith to Chase Coffman. Before the game there was a moment of silence for Aaron O'Neal, the Missouri linebacker who died of viral meningitis in July after a conditioning workout.

I think you'll see the NT/LSU game rescheduled for Oct. 29.

That would be USC, TAMU, and TTU so everyone knows which school you're talking about. Got to have that "U" in there.

Well, if the "U" of Notre Dame can go by just ND to everyone in the world and Georgia Tech "U" go by GT and the "U" of North Carolina can have just "NC" on their helmets and "U" SC have just "SC" on their jersey collars and Texas A$M "U" have no "U" on their helmets and likewise Texas Tech, etc., etc., etc. then it's OK for "NT" to do it too!

Schools can now either report actual attendance or tickets distributed.

That would look real nice without the "U"... and I have a green sharpie (permanent marker) too. If we could only then make the "NT" interlocked it would be perfect!

Attendance: 19981 (and that's being very generous) Reliant Stadium looked VERY sparse on ESPN-2. By the end of the game there were maybe 2000 in the stands. Pretty poor showing for an opening game vs. PAC10 and on National TV.

I saw it was called both a scrimmage and a practice in different articles... "This Saturday, the UNT Football Team will conduct a practice open to the public at Fouts Field from 8am-10am. From 10am-12pm the team will be available to meet with the fans and sign autographs. They are asking that the fans bring non-perishable items that will be donated to the Salvation Army Fund which will go directly to the refugees and victims of Hurricane Katrina. The most ideal item that you can donate is bottled water however they will also accept non perishable food, diapers, soup, toothpaste and other items that will help the victims get through this most difficult time."

I like the new plate a LOT better than the old plate designs...much more color...I'll buy one.

Tulane officials say school will have athletic season 08:20 PM CDT on Friday, September 2, 2005 By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News Tulane officials said today they will have an athletic season. After meeting for several hours in Houston, Tulane president Scott Cowen, athletic director Rick Dickson and Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky determined it was in the best interest of everyone involved for the New Orleans private school to carry on. Tulane's senior officials have moved to Houston and will remain there for the foreseeable future. As for the football team, currently based in Dallas, it possibly could move to Houston, but that hasn't been determined.

For you that like your favorite beverage in a bottle.... NT bottle jersey

I'd vote for San Antonio or Shreveport first, then maybe Houston and Lafayette next. Not crazy about Memphis in December.

Arizona @ Utah, 7 pm, ESPN

Too bad they didn't open up the logo competition to those outside their little group . This board could have done better.

Influx of refugees swells Baton Rouge By Lee Feinswog, Tom Vanden Brook and Mark Memmott, USA TODAY BATON ROUGE — Until Katrina, about a half-million people lived in greater Baton Rouge. Thursday, it was anybody's guess. The only certainty: The population increased by the hour. As New Orleans empties, this metropolitan area and its biggest city, Baton Rouge, are filling up. Every condo, every apartment, every hotel room is filled. Traffic is a snarl. Parish, city and school officials, like everyone else who has witnessed the exodus, are overwhelmed. Shelters burst at the seams, schools struggle to accommodate an influx of children, and police hope to hold it all together. "It's human for it to be overwhelming," Mayor Melvin "Kip" Holden says. "You can look at a mountain and say it's too high, or you can take it one step at a time." The first step may be getting a handle on how many people are in the city and parish, Louisiana's version of a county. The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Department estimates there are 10,000 people at three shelters. Fred Rayford, a spokesman for the department, says they are at their capacity. Yet a stream of people from New Orleans, 75 miles away, continue to arrive. Some are dropped at the shelters by buses. Others wander in on their own. "Some, as we understand it, are being dropped off at the parish line and told to fend for themselves," Rayford says. Tommy Teepell, 54, chief marketing officer for Lamar Advertising in Baton Rouge, says he hears from friends that displaced professionals from New Orleans are snapping up houses, apartments and office buildings. "The word I got Monday at the Rotary Club meeting was that we could expect 500,000 people would be moving in," Teepell says. Many of the evacuees are schoolchildren. The Louisiana Department of Education estimates that more than 135,000 students have been displaced and are looking for new schools. That's evident at St. Joseph's Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school. Principal Linda Fryoux Harvison says the school has about 800 students and could accommodate about 200 more. Applicants were lined up at 7 a.m. Thursday, two hours before the school opened. Teachers from New Orleans have also showed up, looking for work. "They no longer have jobs," Harvison says. "They no longer have schools." Brittany Young, who would have been a senior at Ben Franklin High in New Orleans, manages a smile as she fills out an application. "It's horrible," she says. "Your friends are going everywhere else, and you don't know how to get in touch with people." Because cell phone service is spotty, she says, text messaging works best. She says some of her classmates have settled in California, Alabama, Texas, "everywhere." Housing the refugees has squeezed the real estate market. State Rep. Roy "Hoppy" Hopkins, from Oil City in the northwest corner of the state, says the apartment he keeps near the Capitol is jammed with refugees. "Right now, there's 11 people in that apartment — families of legislators from southern Louisiana," Hopkins says. "We're glad to let them use it. We don't know how long they'll need to be there. Neither do they." Shelly Nolan and her family moved to Baton Rouge after the roof blew off their home in New Orleans. They have found an apartment, and her husband, who lost his State Farm agency, is working for that company here. They hope to place their daughter, Kelly, at St. Joseph's. "It's just weird being put in an environment you're not used to," Kelly Nolan says. "Your whole world is turned upside-down." There are concerns about crime, too. Deputies were called to check out reports of looting at a shopping center, Rayford says. They found nothing. Mostly, the crimes have been petty, such as purse snatchings, but officers respond to all the calls, and that has become taxing. "We are getting kind of maxed-out on security," Rayford says. Mayor Holden acknowledges his city will have growing pains. The airport needs to triple in size, traffic is a headache and the police and fire departments are stressed, he says. "God has blessed me with a lot of different talents, and handling this is one of them," he says. "I can't panic, because if I panic, a whole city collapses."