GrayEagle

If we take one more receiver this should be the one. He won't be under anyone's radar very long as 247 has given him a rating of .8299.

Fulp, Krasniqi, Mose, Siggers, Thornton, White and (I truly hope) Zach Williams will be good contributors. Several more should help some next year but will likely be more effective in 2019. Among those are Johnson, Newman, Pearson and Parish.

I totally agree. We will have about 17 scholarship offensive linemen and a few more walkons after NSD. Only three are seniors and eight will be freshmen. On the other side of the ball we will lose our currently two top defensive linemen and two top linebackers. English (if he can shake the rust off) and Hamilton will return on the line but Krasniqi is possibly the only other non-senior who has shown a lot of potential. Linebacking is about as bad. After Ejiya and Garner graduate next year only Fulp looks really promising and will weigh more than 215 pounds. We desperately need quality help with size at that position. So, unless a 3-4 star cornerback is uncommitted, I hope that we spend whatever scholarships are available on the defensive front seven.

He is a dual-threat quarterback (a pretty loaded position for us) and his other experience was as a wide receiver (another loaded position). He does seem to be a good athlete with above average speed but he has said that he prefers passing to running so I doubt that he would want to compete at running back. He does appear to be FBS quality but I believe that we have a quality quarterback now with three more waiting to compete. It's good though that you seem to always have your head up when it comes to looking for football talent. Now, if you run across any quality linemen or linebackers...

Exactly...and why should this be any different? Do the students decide if the university wants to increase funding for research? Or to building another classroom? Or hiring distinguished professors? Or to buy new lab equipment? The list can go on and on and this should be no different. The final decision should be up to the Board of Regents. They are the ones that approve of the budget. Athletics are the closest alumni tie to the university and denial could adversely affect alumni giving. True, it could also influence the decision of prospective students but if we remain competitive with other Texas universities we will likely lose very few students. There are limits on the amount of athletic fees that can be charged in Texas by state institutions.

For now it's Reggie Williams. I think that in the future it will be Kason Martin.

Great!!! I thought that we had lost him to Vanderbilt. He is a linebacker that we needed.

For crap's sake guys...why are we against every G5? There is an old adage that I've found to be true..."The best way to have a friend is to be one." If and when it comes time to move to another conference and no one will support us because we don't like them, we'll bitch and moan. With the possibility of Connecticut and/or Cincinnati leaving the AAC we could be in line to be a replacement. Even though it's a G5 conference (and may be as long as the separation exists) it is still a better conference than our existing league. Of course, now that it's over and UCF won I can reveal that I was pulling for Auburn. The reason is that my granddaughter is marrying an Auburn grad this month so it's becoming a family thing. But secretly I was pulling for the G5 to win and I would have done that even if it had been SMU. In fact, I don't dislike SMU except when we play them. I hope that they win every game except with us and we then beat them 70-0. I realize that every FBS school has UNT haters and vice versa but I hope (for our sake) that that can be held to a minimum. The rank and file of most are not out to get us unless we give them cause. Since I'm remembering old sayings here's another of my favorites..."We must all hang together or surely we will all hang separately."

Why? Can all of them play LB as well? We need some quality linebackers.

Lest anyone believe that it was Hayden's leaving that caused us to drop to 1-AA that's another misstatement of fact. The NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, voted to split Division 1 into two parts. The upper tier required a stadium of 30,000 and attendance of 17,000. Dr. Hurley had decided that he wanted to improve academics at North Texas and the additional expense to comply with Division 1-A did not fit the budget. To Chancellor Hurley's credit, he did hire some noteworthy professors, tighten the entrance requirements and improve facilities to raise the stature of attending NTSU/UNT. He said at the time that he wasn't doing athletics any favors by doing so and he was absolutely right. We lost nearly all of our fan base and I believe soured the people of Denton and Denton County on the university. PS One other misstatement of fact by Hayden was that Iseed Khoury was Iranian. He was born in Bethlehem, Israel.

Regarding a kicker, what about Zach Williams? I thought that he was an all-american rated kicker who was the something like the sixth rated kicker at the top kicking school. I also thought that he was given a scholarship. I could be wrong but why would a kicker come here from Louisville to take a chance as a walkon? While punting started last year as somewhat of a disaster, Blake Patterson has improved his average per punt from around 38 to about 41 with seemingly more hang time. While there may be room for improvement I don't believe that it's time to panic with the kicking situation.

I think that Sonny Dykes success at SMU will depend on who he can get as a defensive coordinator. Sonny is a helluva offensive coach and coordinator but his record as a head coach is four games under .500 (41-45). That is attributable to a 1-11 record his first year at Cal. Still, he has only had three winning years in seven as a head coach. I'm a little surprised that SMU was willing to take a chance.

A lot depends on their size and the number of game minutes, Jim. Many of the freshmen that play are still undersized and inexperienced compared to upperclassmen and to what they will be in the future.

If only Jeff Wilson were healthy for this one I believe that it would deserve such a high ranking. Nic Smith will be very good in the future but remember he's only a freshman. So, it looks to be our passing offense against a more balanced offense and a better defense. Troy's win over LSU alone would make them the favorite. Still, it should be a fun game.

They are probably going to throw a tirade. Ironically, the ACC and SEC are the only two conferences with enough qualified teams to cover their bowl commitments but there are six large payout bowls that are at-large. What do you want to bet that at least two of the six are filled by the ACC and SEC which would leave them short of fulfilling their obligations? By the way, there will be three teams that have six wins that won't have a place to play (assuming that Florida State and New Mexico State win this week). There will be 81 teams with six wins and only 78 bowl/playoff spots.

Even if we lose to FAU in the championship game that won't necessarily mean that the Independence Bowl will take FAU. The Bowl is responsible for the payout which means selling tickets so that means that they'll have a huge voice in the selection. If they believe that we can bring 20,000 vs. FAU's 1,000 that would weigh heavily in their decision. Remember, the Independence Bowl is not contracted to CUSA. As Wren said, there are multiple voices in the decision of who plays where.

He played in four games that year and it was his second most productive year. If he was entitled to a medical redshirt why wouldn't they have already filed?

One other hiccup. We would only have him for the 2019 season if we were lucky enough to get him. He played in 2015, 2016 and 2017 so he would sit in 2018 and be available in 2019. Couple that with the fact that he would be in a similar situation to what he would be at Texas in that we do not have a fullback either. He would be a H-back or something similar. We would have Smith, Johnson and Siggers who are faster, more elusive and would get the majority of the carries and are also threats as receivers. He's a terrific athlete but I'm afraid that he needs to go where his talents can be utilized.

Let's see... We're spending millions to upgrade facilities and increase salaries. We're adding coaches to get on par with AAC and MWC. We've hired an Athletic Director who is liked and respected by others in higher conferences. We have implied that we would like to be athletically with Tier 1 universities. We're turning a sow's ear campus into a silk purse. Does that sound like we want to go back to where we came from? For crying out loud, give a little respect to the administration that has us turning the corner to respectability. If we don't succeed it will be because of our apathetic alumni and students but I believe that we will overcome that in time. We are so used to being the red-headed stepchild that we have virtually no faith in anyone's ability to change our lot. You know, WB may not succeed in his endeavor but I believe that he'll bust a gut trying. You saw the quote from Commissioner Aresco. Does that sound as if he is saying "don't bother". Seth pitched for this job because he saw the potential that North Texas offered and it appears he's on his way to proving that he was right. Teams are improving. I believe that recruiting will improve also which will begat even more improved teams. I believe that he will leave for one of the best paying jobs in college coaching in due time but he may need another two or three years for the right job to open. His/our ride may not always be smooth but progress isn't always straight ahead. I hope that none of us get discouraged at an occasional setback. No disrespect for any Sun Belt teams but I don't see us going back as that league now stands. There are three or four teams that I would not mind being in a conference with but they are in Texas or an adjoining state. But, I would want them to move up rather than our going back to the SBC. So cheer up and try to improve your lot. Keep talking about North Texas in a positive manner. Support in whatever manner you can afford. Heads up! There's an old saying that I believe to be true. "If you don't think that you can you're probably right!"

I believe that Fine may be the best quarterback in Texas. Tech's Nic Shimonek has a slightly higher Rating but Mason's coolness under fire and leadership put him at another level. Inch for inch and pound for pound there's none better.

I believe that they are allowed to count tickets sold/reserved and do not have to specify the number of no-shows. It's obvious that there are many who buy season tickets and do not attend all of the games. I have no idea how many students reserve tickets and then fail to pick them up. The average attendance this year was up about 3,000 over last year and that seems reasonable to me. I believe that we are on the right track and there has been much more effort to get fans to the stadium than there ever was under RV.

I wonder how many couldn't come because they were involved in the playoffs, either that night or the night before.

North Texas 31 Army 28

This has to be Denton crowds only. Our top attendance when we were the home team was around 45,000 when we hosted Texas A&M at Texas Stadium.

If they play 4 quarters against a FBS opponent it will be their first. They're getting closer but they aren't there yet. Now I will admit that UTEP and Rice are lower rated on paper but DON'T ignore them (and I don't believe that we will).