ChristopherRyanWilkes

Any Fort Worth watch parties?

Another trivia question, when was last time (if ever) North Texas received votes in polls in both football and basketball in the same year?

Well I guess an alternative point would be where is that disparity in support coming from? Could be that their college football teams are only show in town while we have 7 pro sports and D1 football schools in DFW alone. Also, I still don’t think competing with 11 other FBS schools in your own state helps. Always first and foremost over all of this is the coaching and administration, which we’re in agreement on. It’s just interesting looking at the root causes for lack of past success and the lack of support you mention. I tend to think that almost all teams have some disadvantages due to geography but the coaching staff is the most important factor of any team’s success.

I think if you take away historical success and perhaps facilities ( getting there and definitely upper half already), North Texas is the best job in CUSA. Keep winning and building facilities and the sleeping dragon will officially be awoken for a long time. I think we are definitely trending in that direction. I love the fact that Wren is attracting and retaining coaches with local ties. Our biggest advantage is that so many coaches would rather be in DFW, and likely already have family here, than Ruston or wherever the hell WKU is. Think about things like even finding housing in a desirable neighborhood in those areas and the advantage becomes clear.

I don’t know, I go back and forth on this one. Understand it’s not a bad thing in theory to be in a recruiting hotbed, but it seems like the Western Kentucky’s and LaTechs of the world consistently do better than the mid-major Texas and Florida schools. Doesn’t make sense on paper, but historically that’s how it’s been. I think it’s more the fact you’re not going to go undiscovered as a high school athlete in DFW, while you can find guys like Mason Fine in rural Oklahoma with no offers. These geographically challenged schools are forced to look for hidden jewels in BFE which they seem to hit on more than we have. But you’re right, it’s more about the coach and their evaluation skills than geography in general.

Don’t worry, we’re a second half team...

Lane is an a-hole, but he’s had Seth’s number. Don’t know what P5s would come knocking at this point except Kansas.

The coaches are coming unraveled just as much as the players. As much as I loved the punt return, I almost wish that play and game never happened. This team hasn’t been the same since. Young coaching staff consistently showing their lack of experience in these games.

Great punt, but let’s tone it down a little bit there, punter. Your team blew 17-0 lead so far and had to punt again.

Nope, I am! Could have swore they were D1, that's a pretty big school. So those tourneys were also DII tournaments. Disregard, this team is still good but A&M Commerce is not as big as I thought. I think I was thinking of A&M CC.

Don’t disregard this beatdown just because it’s A&M Commerce. That’s a good program that has been to quite a few more tourneys than us. Last year they were a 22-win team in a pretty good Southland Conference. This team is good.

I can see why they’re frustrated, but they are definitely seeing the name North Texas and underrating us. This is the same 20-win team as last year plus some much needed depth. Jahmiah “the other Simmons” Simmons should be a key contributor and Gibson is back. Our passing, perimeter shooting, and defense has impressed me so far. A&M Commerce will be a test. Don’t overlook them because of the name, that program has had more tourney success than we have by a pretty good margin. That was a 22-9 team last year.

4-0 doesn’t feel as good as it should for some reason...

It’s basketball season my dudes.

Sorry. Hey, if we lose we’ll still be 6-3 and should be proud of our record!

To say the offensive line is not doing their job would be an understatement.

See you at the Cotton Bowl, Georgia Southern!

I’d also start looking at some scraps from P5s with this new transfer rule. Guarantee you a backup or even 3rd string at just about any P5 school would immediately be an upgrade here.

Yeah Seth Littrell and others before him have figured this out.. Finding speedy skill positions players to run your spread air-raid offense is one thing. Not saying they are a dime a dozen in Texas, but you can certainly find them even after the big boys pick through the schools around here. The problem is finding big, tall, athletic monsters for your lines. Ones that carry their weight and height well (think Jordan Murray but not looking like they're on skates all the time). That has been the demise of quite a few good passing teams when they face more athletic competition. I agree with a previous @Harry post, we really need to see what is out there in the JuCo ranks after this season. UAB is literally all JuCo players and they looked much better on the lines.

My basketball comment was a bit of a post-game overreaction. I am excited for the basketball team this year, though. I still can’t get behind the “look how far we’ve come, just be happy we are winning games now” mentality. First off, there was no reason we should have ever been that bad. It solely due to bad hires from the past administration and losing despite so many advantages. I don’t think having expectations and having higher aspirations is a bad thing for our fan base. You can be disappointed in losing to two conference opponents you beat last year with essentially the same team with another year of experience. That doesn’t mean this season isn’t a success in its own way, but we are playing for a lot less than we could have been. I always think of how the Houston AD said that going 8-5 here may be cause for a coach’s termination. He didn’t follow through with that last season, but that’s the type of mentality winning programs like UofH have. The fact is we aren’t playing Alabama and Georgia every week. In fact, our schedule these days is the easiest it has probably ever been. We are playing schools with way more obstacles to climb than we do. There’s no more excuses, winning should be expected.

To clarify my original point, I’m just saying we as fans don’t have to settle for being happy with a better record but a worse overall result (not making it to the conference championship game, when you did last year with essentially the same team). The salaries are the reason It’s not unreasonable to have those expectations. If you are the New York Yankees and have the highest payroll in the league, you have every right to expect your team to contend for championships. When they fall short, you’re disappointed. We don’t have the disadvantages or excuses of other teams in our conference. I’ve been to Louisiana Tech as my only road CUSA game, and let me tell you our advantages don’t stop with the salaries of our coaches. Our facilities blow theirs out of the water, yet we will once again finish below them in the conference standings. I have no problem with fans raising expectations based on all those of things.

We have the highest paid coach and coaching staff in CUSA. Why would we expect to win the conference with a team of mostly upperclassmen?

To me, this season and the aspirations I had for it ended after losing to LaTech. If you can’t even repeat a division championship, it’s a regression from last season. The team and the coaches set the bar high last year, and they’ve failed to meet expectations. It’s not the end of the world or even the season but I have doubts we win our bowl game. The inability to beat a good team or even a team we should consider our equal has haunted us these last 2 years. We’ve feasted on lesser talent (and yes that includes a rebuilding Arkansas and SMU this season) and can’t answer the call in big games. Hate to say it, but I’ve already shifted my focus to basketball.

Again, to me this rule only helps G5’s as current constructed. If you’re a stud at a G5 you’re going to be playing more than 4 games and have to sit out to transfer to a bigger school. But if you’re a bench warmer at a P5 that could start at a G5, you can transfer immediately and help that team out right away. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out for us in the off-season.

Clearing out earlier than expected, I bet they do start at 1:30 now.