Side.Show.Joe

Current NET from Jan. 6, 2023 12. FAU 39. UNT 56. UAB 86. Charlotte 125. MTSU 147. LA Tech 163. Rice 201. UTEP 203. WKU 258. FIU 301. UTSA

I love the Ramones, but they don't have a UNT connection and I think there are other songs that better lend themselves to the game of football. I like the idea of maybe playing "Heartache Tonight" by the Eagles, with a montage of UNT football highlights featured on the video board. Plus, I think this song naturally allows the crowd to be interactive and clap along to the beat. I think this would be among the best and most unique intros in all of college football and generate positive media attention for our program and university.

I propose that UNT host a Flag raising night to start off the Fall sports season. Have a collection of athletes from the teams that play fall sports carry the battle flag to its place near 35 and assist in raising it, while the band plays and the cheerleaders lead the fans in the yelling the North Texas Chant. The same thing would occur for the spring sports athletes, but they would be taking down the Battle Flag after all the seasons have finished.

This was a great interview. D1Softball has been picking up their coverage of UNT since DeLong arrived at UNT. Glad they are warming up to our program. I believe it will only benefit our softball program. Thanks for posting!

Yes. But no one foresaw UNT jumping 14 spots after a 4 point win against a #198 NET ranked WKU. Seems to me for that to occur other teams that were ranked near us had to really crap the bed. I'm going to keep tracking this anyway. Maybe there is nothing to it, but it isn't a great effort on my part to track it.

UNT 70 WKU 66 Final Despite a slim 4 point win on the road over a #198 WKU team, UNT beat the spread by half a point and should see a slight bump in their next NET ranking. We will see.

Western threw everything and the kitchen sink at UNT just to get this thing close in the closing minutes. UNT adjusted well enough and secured the win. But, we have to do a better job of getting to the foul line.

Are they going to pull your parking pass too?

Coca-Cola Stadium...

I admitted up front that teams will rise and fall based on other teams' performance. That is to be expected. But it doesn't change the apparent predictability of how covering the spread has resulted in an improved ranking. In the NET Rankings thread, I am going to track our ranking versus each opponent and include the spread. We will be able to track how we move in the NET based on our results against the spread.

#53 UNT is currently a 3.5 point favorite against #198 WKU in tomorrow's game in Bowling Green. It has been my observation that UNT rises in the NET when we beat the spread, and falls any time fail to cover the spread. I will post our movement in the NET following the results of the game, so we can track if this is actually a predicable indicator. Rankings have been adjusted to reflect those on 1-5-23. (UNT had been #54 & WKU was #200) The spread has not changed.

Jan. 4, 2023 11. FAU 53. UNT 62. UAB 76. Charlotte 113. MTSU 140. Rice 164. LA Tech 200. WKU 203. UTEP 295. FIU 318. UTSA

I agree, but we can't exclusively schedule OOC games against P5's and MWC teams. This season we were in a bind and needed another game. FIU is very winnable. From that perspective, it's not bad for UNT. And, if look at our future OOC schedules. UNT isn't signing up for very many Sun Belt or C-USA games.

Not going to lie, I'd have preferred we bought a 7th home game. But at least we signed on for a likely win. Since we'll be playing a tougher schedule in the AAC, this game might just get UNT bowl eligible next season.

Since you got the other thread booted, I'll just say this. My family has been in Texas since 1748, and we've seen the flags of multiple nations fly over this land. But through all of that change, Texas has always been consistent with our culture. And it is based in tradition, family, and community. If you don't want to be part of it, that is on you. But, you won't change it. And, labeling our culture as narrow-minded, or assigning it to some inbreed mentality is discriminatory. You need to look in the mirror before calling others names. As for UNT, I also attended UNT for free. I was awarded a fellowship, and take pride in the fact that I earned that chance at my education based on my abilities and effort, and for no other reason. No one coddled me, and I didn't expect anyone to change their mentality to accommodate my feelings. Grow up and get over it.

Nope. UNT is currently 5-0 vs. Quad 4 teams, and we beat the spread in all of those wins, except for the FIU game. In the other 4 wins UNT moved up in the NET. Only our FIU game where we won big, but didn't cover the spread has hurt us.

I hate it because the girl makes no compelling argument for entering any of our programs while running around in her pajamas. Nothing about this poor-excuse-for-a-commercial speaks to actual education. As a proud UNT alum, it doesn't inspire me to continue my donations the school's general scholarship fund. I guess athletics will be getting more of my money at the expense of our academics. Old alums with money aren't going donate to the endowment just so the university can fund this kind of crap. UNT isn't supposed to be a daycare.

We were favored to win at home by 2.5 against FAU. Going into that game we held a NET ranking of #41. After losing the FAU game by 4, we dropped to #56. By the time we played FIU we had moved up to #50, due to other teams playing. After missing the spread by half a point against FIU, we again tumbled in the NET to where we are now at #54. We play on the road at WKU, Jan 5th. I've not seen spread for this game posted yet. But I predict that win or lose, if we beat the spread, UNT will move up in the NET. But if we fail to cover the spread, UNT will drop again. This is the pattern I have observed. I'll post the spread and our rank heading into the game, and we will see how it pans out.

My favorite Leach comments...

Plus, it was in the middle of a very bad flu and virus season. Lots of sick people around the middle of December.

They can officially say what they want, but I follow our performance against the spread and how we move in the net rankings, and my observations stand. Win or lose, when we beat the spread our ranking improves. When we fail to cover the spread we have fallen.

Last night we failed to cover the 15.5 point spread. A 15 point win should be a great thing, but not in the eyes of the NET. That .5, cost us 4 spots in the most important ranking for earning at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. It's seems to be a fairly simple formula. When we beat the spread, we move up or hold our ranking. When we fail to beat the spread, we drop.

I think we see variations of the Leach system all around college football. I think the best versions are still adaptable enough to put their offense in a Power I and fight for a yard. Also, a lot of the failures of the Leach system come from undervaluing the importance of defense. Morris spoke in his introductory press conference about his adaptability, and even taking plays from high school systems. So, he's willing to adapt his system to improve on the results. That is a good sign. I think Caponi's defense will be rooted in 21 century schemes, so I'm hopeful for next season. Not saying I think we will win the AAC, but if we can post a 6-6 record in year one under a new coach, that would be a win in my book.

I'll try to update this throughout conference play. (Teams leaving for the AAC in BOLD) Jan. 1, 2023 10. FAU 54. UNT 59. UAB 74. Charlotte 112. MTSU 142. Rice 164. LA Tech 193. UTEP 204. WKU 291. FIU 316. UTSA

That's a solid schedule. I love all the series with P5 programs. But, I do wish OU would have been on the schedule this season. I feel like DeLong has the girls are ready to make an appearance in the Top 25.