PlummMeanGreen

Except for one very big deal, TIgreen01..... .........Rice U still being in CUSA and our making football trips to Houston every other year--that is huge for our program.. We only had that one other time but very briefly and that when UH and UNT were both in the Missouri Valley Conference; but UH soon bailed so I'm not sure we ever made the trips to UH (and the Bayou City) over 2 times subsequently; that is as conference foes. GMG!

Thanks for the input especially on Banowsky, Harrry. I do agree that Commish' Banowsky did handle the defections in a classy way. He could have been a real turkey about it but he wasn't. At this point CUSA would be our best option, but would really hate to lose Tulsa and a few Texas schools because I perceive that could change a few minds on this board including my own. It is imperative that Rice U hang in with CUSA because North Texas needs that trip to the Bayou City every other year. It will just be nice when this round of re-alignment is over with, but I think there will be other rounds no matter what because those who used to play Big Time football who are now in the 'Gang of 5" conferences I don't think will ever be happy with their so-called box of chocolates. Must be a source of real frustration for their fans and alums to never be content with who they have to call as conference neighbors I suppose. GMG!

Is CUSA going to try to talk into coming back to CUSA some of those schools who left for the Big East if it folds this year or even next? I know, a most hypothetical question there. I know the smack board circuit says one thing about SMU, UH, and others, but sometimes they just don't match with what is really going on from an official standpoint. Anyone close to the CUSA office or officials know anything? Jeff? GMG!

___________________________ And why some of these college & conference smack board posters cannot seem to understand that the school which has the largest constituency (enrollment, area alumnus numbers, very healthy city/county population numbers, etc etc, etc) in that large TV market is most likely the one school that can deliver said markets TV ratings is beyond me. He whose school's constituency obviously has the most TV's in said U.S. Top 10 TV market wins? We could only wish that would be the case instead of much smaller schools who do one helluva' job with Smoke & Mirrors to make things appear to be something that they are not. Seems to be more difficult to understand with even some of these "Gang of 5" conference commissioners, too..

Cinderella didn't get her $ilver $lipper$ last night, but ESPN seems to have gotten theirs. Anyone else get the feeling that the U of L Rajun Cajuns could have made this a much closer football game last night; maybe even won it? And (of course) the Mean Green beat UL in our ESPN game albeit some will say their injuries helped us do that. (Didn't we have some injured, too, though)? http://www.marketwatch.com/story/orange-bowl-tv-rating-climbs-44-espn-2013-01-02?link=MW_home_latest_news GMG!

Find out who our "one" biggest recruiting nemises is, give him a fancy title, pay him for that title and turn him loose tomorrow! GMG!

My bad....make that a "1935" national championship for the 'Stangs. A Timeline Perspective: In the late 1870's Indians were still raiding ranches in the part of Texas I reside. 1935 is closer to that era than the present. I guesss we were still churning out teachers during that same period--which was (and still is) a good thing. http://www.susannataliefreeman.com/SWC/Champions.html (SMU's NC listed toward bottom of page) GMG!

From a Coogfans.com poster: We've been in C-USA for 18 years. In that time, we won the conference title twice. We did well enough to have two recent coaches hired away but also badly enough to have to fire two coaches. No one was hired away from us in basketball. _______________________________________________________________ I didn't realize UH only won the conference football title only 2 X's. One of the threads on coogfans.com says UH and SMU (as of today) are still committed to the Big East. GMG!

Just a flesh wound, Big Least?

So with recent Group of 5 conference revenues that Side Show Joe did some great research findings inasmuch that SMU and UH would actually leave a conference with more TV revenues per school (CUSA) for another that has less TV revenues per school, ie, the MWC? Pardon me while I have my first big belly laugh of 2013 on that one. GMG! PS: The MWC would only make sense if more than just 2 Texas schools went along for the ride.

Agree, ArkStfan, on the La Tech part. I do admire what La Tech has done with smaller budgets in a smaller market with a few big time wins at different intervals of their program plus a recent Top 25 ranking during part of last season but on the other hand....... ........La Tech must have one helluva' P.R. or sports information office that has an uncanny ability to conjure up mass memory loss with some of these upward bound conferences and their respective message board posters who think of La Tech as the 2'nd coming of Notre Dame with all that still based on as many losing seasons as winning ones for the Dawgs the last 30 or so years; or in other words, we are hardly talking dynasty here. This link sorta' proves that with the Dawg's football roller coaster ride of the last few decades. http://mcubed.net/ncaaf/teams/latech.shtml (I'd still trade what they've done recently over what we've done of late but some fans on other message boards have still gone a bit overboard with what I see as limited La Tech gridiron successes as the above link very plainly indicates). GMG!

And even more key for North Texas is that Rice U hangs in with CUSA (which appears that it will) and still give UNT football trips to the Bayou City every other year. SMU and UH can dance all over the "we want to be in this conference" or "we want to be in that conference" NCAA map till the cows come home, but just watch a school from CUSA pull a "Northern Illinois" while those 2 Texas schools continue their "search for some version of the NCAA holy grail." Hint to UH and SMU: You ain't going to find your holy grail in the Group of 5 in any way you mix it.......sorry. GMG!

I voted no...but like that great looking chick that we know we don't have a chance to get that date with, do we change our minds if she suddenly shows interest? North Texas because of its last 30 plus years of mostly under-achievement just does not have the brand as much as that is difficult to admit. Don't think we'll have to worry about a Big East invite but in today's NCAA....who knows? We all know the uncanny upside our school has along with the largest DFW constituency of any Texas-based school, but few on the eastern seaboard seems to know all this. And their propensity to "NOT" research schools they've already invited and such schools who have terrible fan followings even during winning seasons (Tulane, SMU, etc) means that its still all about branding; even if those brands were earned well over 70 years ago. Of course, SMU who first entered CUSA with an 18 football season losing streak still has that 1939 NCAA N.C. and the Doak Walker Era. It never ceases to amaze me how much milage they get from that. Of course, SWC membership didn't hurt them, either. Perception, folks, its still all about perception and for UNT to copy-cat Boise State as our model (which we have yet to do) would still be a most worthy goal, IMHO. Boise catches hell about their academics, ie, truck driving school, ect, ect, etc, but isn't it amazing how their 10 plus year Top 25 football successes seems to have more than over-come any of those academic criticisms? GMG!

The schools that we recruit for players would rarely involve LSU. Focus on assistants from La Tech, ULL or ULM that we know are burrs under our saddles in the recruiting wars.. Very few times thru past decades have we had head to head battles for recruits with LSU. Of course, an LSU assistant would probaby be a good catch, too. GMG!

And Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl as a bowl buster as proof of your saying, Harry..... "I think we will be ok whatever happens." As many have said for decades now: North Texas just merely needs to take care of North Texas (and all the good stuff will eventually happen). Hellsbells folks! It's not that we haven't been there before in our history because there are some who cannot say that they have. (I still defer to the rainbow colored signature below as a huge part of our past football legacy at North Texas) GMG!

The 2 Texas schools see TCU's Bowl Buster & B12 entry success and I think they see the Horned Frogs removing themselves from the rest of the Texas pack as a reason that was able to transpire---of course, one of several reasons for TCU's fortunes. IMHO, that reasoning and big time investments helped TCU get into the Big 12 albeit unfortunately for Frogdom I don't see UT and OU as long term keepers in the B12. Only time I wanted UNT to even consider the MWC is if 2 or 3 or 4 other Texas or Oklahoma based schools formed most of what would have been a new "East Division" in the MWC; otherwise, stick with the more regional CUSA of which that is probably the real future of any of the Group of 5's eventual budget successes truth be told. SMU and UH want into MWC for the reasons TCU did and (for the life of me) I'd wager to insure 2 other Houston and DFW based schools would not get surprise invites. (It's the NCAA among our Group of 5, folks, and anything is possible at this point to gain a supposed inside edge over others; Casepoint: Tulane and all 500 of their fans to the Big East if that sticks). AND......... I would bet my New Year's Eve gig pay check on that reasoning from SMU and UH as a prime reason they'd want in the MWC; of course, probably not at the top of their list, but pretty darn close to it. GMG!

Was it a matter of money or maybe a connection to their present staff; family lives nearby, etc, etc, etc, ???? Good luck, coach. GMG! PS: I've always said North Texas should raid 2 or 3 Louisiana schools (exempting LSU, of course) of 1 or 2 of their assistants that have kicked our butts in recruiting last few years; especially some of those assistants who recruit northern Texas and Houston. They seem to know how to recruit speed that develops into teams with Top 25 rankings (La Tech) and winning bowl teams (ULL). Sometimes you just have to swallow a little pride and copy somone elses success? Happy New Year, fellow Mean Greeners! And please be safe so you can get back on GMG.com and be pissed at some (or most) of my posts, OK? GMG ! !

Again, I put this disclaimer in another post: PS: I should qualify that I called it a recruiting video---not North Texas Athletics.........(and, of course, in my favorite color of red). Also, any recruiting video that North Texas athletics would produce would actually be intended for 17 and 18 year old Texas HS (and beyond) potential recruits....not the GMG.com Cannes Film Festival growing list of film and video critics a la...... Siskel and Ebert Should we also be reminded that any ideas (even for recruiting videos) that come from this forum will "still" be largely ignored by the ones for whom they were intended? GMG!

Remember TCU's late BB coach Jim Killingsworth's "gangster" poster schedule (and his 'Killer Frogs') with Coach K dressed up looking like Al Capone? Hell, that's been years ago. North Texas making impressive inroads in the Houston Chronicle's Top 100 http://blog.chron.com/prepsports/2012/12/houstons-top-100-football-recruits/ No one complaining about Coach Mac's JUCO hauls last week all of whom will be playing Spring football, too. Anything else nice you want to say about your alma mater, 'picker? I think that video was not mean't for alums of North Texas, quiet frankly. GMG! PS: I should qualify that I called it a recruiting video---not North Texas athletics.

Interesting photo of a young (former Houston Oiler/Oakland Raider) George Blanda half way down link. Also, check out the Refrigerator Bowl's player's entrance. http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2011/12/the-stories-behind-9-defunct-bowl-games-including-the-gotham-bowl-the-cigar-bowl-and-the-refrigerator-bowl/ GMG!

Put some black horn rimmed glasses on this kid and he looks like the typical TCU student from the 60's and 70's. Heard the strong rumor that TCU was the main inspiration for all those nerd movies, too, which is easy to believe. "The Campus of Cool" TCU would have never made its Top 100 annual list---and still hasn't to this day. The 70's? You know' another one of those decades like the 50's and 60's when TCU was smart enough "NOT" to put North Texas on their football schedules? (TCU wanted no part of the Mean Green padding the UNT/TCU all time football series with "W's" in that 30 year span). Ever notice the trend of when TCU would play North Texas and then when they would back off of playing the "way too Mean Green for us to put them on our football schedule now?" Well, uh, I have. Below: Poindexter of the Nerds--a TCU honors graduate from the TCU Department of Rhythm Band----------AND THIS TCU DUDE CAN DANCE, TOO!

Did they learn their manners with video games, too?

shaft, that looks more like, uh, cranberry cream???? Just sayin'...Would one have to go to Lowes or Home Depot to get strawberry cream mixed up? I apolpogize as I digress with this sarcasm color scheme subject. GMG!

Sarcasm on message boards should have its own distinct color so all will know when someone is most definitely being sarcastic; myself I think strawberry cream would be that color.