WanderingEagle

Seth has beaten UAB once and it was a last second miracle in 2017. The games are consistently fun and competitive but Seth is 1-2 against them. We're also facing them at home fresh after the SMU game, and if we play the ponies like we did last year it could absolutely destroy a lot of the optimism we do have surrounding this team. I don't know. I just don't see UAB being a safe bet. Maybe! Screw it. 12-0.

I agree entirely. Mizzou has a not great secondary and lost a lot of talent to transfers. Their front seven will be tough to handle but I don't think they have the weaponry to blow us out if we're at our best. By no means do I think we win but I think if all the cards fall into the right places it is possible.

The 2020 SMU game was an outright embarrassment and I hope our guys are pissed off and ready to come out swinging. Obviously I hope we win but we just need to compete with them. A 35-27 loss would sting but I'd take it a million times over than a 60-31 esque loss for the fourth time in five seasons. Regardless I will be there yelling my rear off just like I was in 19 and 17. No video of this yell will ever capture the true level of ear piercing loudness. It was legitimately deafening for a 30k seat stadium. This and LaTech 2018 are the loudest I've ever heard apogee.

Title says it all. Assuming all our opponents perform as advertised for 2021, which game can we realistically sneak in and upset? If you had to choose which game you want/think we can win, would it be SMU, Mizzou, Liberty, UAB?.... In my humble respectful opinion, Northwestern State and UTEP are games we "should" win based on the talent on the roster. I personally choose to believe we have the advantage in both staff and talent over So. Miss, FIU, and Rice. Realistically, I think we've all kind of centered between 5-7 and 6-6 ish for this year, but my thoughts we absolutely must win a really big game or show massive defensive improvement to trend upwards as a program. I.e. If we go 6-6 but beat SMU and/or Liberty I'm content. I feel like we're still waiting for Seth to really give us a memorable win over a great team. I'm hoping this is the year. 6-6 and a bowl win would even make me ecstatic. We just need to win a big one.

Mizzou won two SEC East titles fresh off joining the conference. They've had two losing seasons in the last decade but they have been... fine in the SEC? They're not Arkansas or Nebraska levels of disappointing right now.

Maybe for NWSU but not afterwards.

I am also anxious for scrimmage notes. As conductor of the Jace Ruder hype train I must know how my guy did with first team reps. Bummed I had to miss this morning. Going to pick up my tailgating/parking tickets this week. Are there any more practices open to the public before the season starts?

I was just predicting what I think the realistic outcome of each game is. 9-3/3-9 is just where i feel like the team will end up in reality. They’re more than likely to end up massively over or under achieving than they are to meddle at 6-6 or 7-5. Methinks anyway

I see 9-3 or 3-9 and no inbetween. I know it's a point that has been beaten to death but I really believe if our defense makes marginal improvement, even to the point of just being bad instead of being awful, we can win a handful of close games. Losing Darden is huge but it's a position we're deep at. NW State - UNT wins along the 55-21 lines and we get a clear picture of who the QB is from here on out. @ SMU - I would like to think our players are pissed off after last year's embarrassment - at least in my young fan's memory the worst UNT game i've ever watched, but i've only been a student/fan since 2017. Blessed. Anyway I hate them so much and would rather go 1-11 if it meant beating them but give me a 50-30ish loss along the lines of the 2017 game. UAB - We absolutely have to win this game or @ LA tech and i don't think we win that one. Marshall is good and Liberty may be the best team we face all year. A 1-7 start derails the entire program so they have absolutely got to win one of these. I think UAB is the most realistic at home. Give me a 28-24 UNT win. @ La Tech - Tough loss that falls apart in the fourth quarter but not a blowout. 41-28 loss. @ Mizzou - Loss and not close. We don't stand a chance unless we're 4-0. Marshall - Give me a 40-31 UNT win. Once again a must win after what's very likely a 1-4 or 2-3 start. Liberty - Likely a big loss but it's at home? I don't know. Obviously they're way better now but Liberty wasn't awful in 2018 and we handled them - again obviously with a much better roster, the sides have flipped, but something tells me we don't get blown out again. I'll say something like a 38-24 loss. @ Rice - Need a road win. 30-20 UNT. @ USM - Will Hall is an exciting prospect but I don't see him making the turnaround year one. If the defense has improved enough by this game we take it in an exciting road win. 45-37 UNT. UTEP - We better not even think about it. 52-21 UNT win. @ FIU - On paper this should be a win. If we're healthy and FIU continues on their downward spiral the last few years this is a winnable game. I don't know that UNT is capable of four consecutive wins this year but to hell with it. Mean Green win 34-13. UTSA - I think we lose this game but I also think it's one that we can win. If McCormick doesn't push for 300 rushing yards against us last year it's not a blowout loss, or at least it's not as bad. Entirely depends on the defense but i'll chalk it up as a 48-28 loss. Or Jace Ruder kickstarts a heisman campaign and we go 11-1. A good defense gets us 8 wins in this schedule. An okay defense gets us 6 and a bad to awful defense gets us 4-5 at best. Defense defense defense. Man I am ready for football.

I have said it before somewhere in these forums. It should be a universally obeyed rule to respect the decisions of these 18-22 year old kids as they are massive, life-altering decisions that heavily affect their future. If Siggers feels he has a better chance at making the pros or ensuring a better future for himself in or out of football at SMU then all the power in the world to him, and best wishes. At the same time, when one of your more reliable players up and switches to hands down *our* biggest rival and a team that already has a leg up on us in most categories, it's 100% justified for people to be bothered by it and not give one lick of care for him moving forward. In this case, you can have your cake and eat it too. Siggers was a fun, exciting player for UNT who - definitely through some shady tampering - now plays for a school we all dislike that does not respect us. It sucks. It's not an indictment of hypocrisy from the fans at all.

OLD MAN FOOTBALL!! LETS GO!!!

I want Aune to somehow acquire an extra year of eligibility so we can have a 30 year old QB in 2023.

How'd you know?!?!?! Hahaha in all seriousness though I do see those two guys as stepping up big time. Might as well take the safe picks right?

Offense: I'm excited for Oscar Addaway. I think he's going to blossom this year. Defense: Deshawn Gaddie. He's been a highlight play guy and should be a bright spot for a defense that needs to be anything other than putrid this year.

One of those 3 guys has to be *the* guy after Northwestern State. I honestly have more than enough faith in Seth to choose the best candidate at that position but you follow NWSU with @ SMU, UAB, @ La Tech, and @ Mizzou all in succession. Not to be dramatic but that four game stretch could very well decide Seth's fate here. You cannot - cannot - start the year 1-4. It ultimately rides on the defense getting better, duh, but I have no doubt the staff knows they can't juggle three guys. It's Aune's job to lose and he only loses it if Ruder or Martin are all-conference level ready for the job. So I have confidence there.

Aune’s success in 2021 boosts our chances of being great. Barring massive regression he won’t be the reason we lose games. We just need him to be adequate, and hopefully a little better than he was in 2020. And there’s plenty of talent behind him that can do it if he can’t.

Anything P5******. Or we could just drop to FCS D7 and go 14-0 every year to boost morale.

Literally anything, anything!!!!!, is better than Conference USA. It's ridiculously difficult to convince friends and family to come to games when we aren't playing SMU or Houston and are instead playing UTEP and Rice on a back to back. Get out of Conference USA. Anything is better.

This is what I would want. The player entrance is cool but there's a way they could do it with a berm. Split it down the middle or something.

So I'm a little bit of a stadium nut in all sports. I don't have money and i don't have power at the university. And this is obvious that I'm bored and can't wait for the season. But I can't help but think... how cool would it be if we had a berm instead of the giant wing? Schools such as Wake Forest, Baylor, Missouri and even SMUt have added them and they're so nice. Personally I am just not a fan of the wing in the north endzone either. I dont think it looks tacky or anything but I don't have any emotional attachment to it as being a "cool" part of a 10 year old stadium. It's not like they can just wipe that out though and taking out the entire south endzone of seating removes like 10k seats. But it's never full unless we're playing Houston or SMU or somebody local and/or we're winning. Even the LA Tech and SMU games in 2018 didn't get the wing full to the top. Regardless of whether it's in the north or south endzone... Give us grass! I mark this the official petition to expand seating on the visitor side and put in a berm under the scoreboard. Thoughts?

I will be there. Might sound a little embarrassing but I have season tix and a tailgating spot to pick up and I'm only 24 and not many - well, none of my friends really give a damn about our football team. So if anyone is trying to meet up or something lmk. Would love to get to know some alums/students, my age or not, at games this year.

Historically I agree. Personally I don't think Baker goes down swinging through all this but we will see.

No. Art Briles, regardless of your opinion on him, will bring massive - and i mean large scale, massive - negative publicity with him wherever he gets hired in football. I want UNT to propel to the next level as a program just as much as any of us but there are a million avenues to doing so that don't require that luggage.