eulessismore

So, that's why they were brought in to stink up the MNC for the last two years; they were good in 2002?

Paperbags are harder to throw than snowballs.

I disagree. Three points: Few people who aren't football junkies can remember the last time OSU played well in a bowl game, or against which team. Boise State v. OU lives in American folklore. Speaking of American, it's simply traditional for those without a team to root for to cheer for the underdog, especially when that dog is a mutt. There are probably more Mormons (including my wife and her extended family) than Buckeyes. Those LDS folks consider Boise State their next best football option to BYU. And yes, they'll probably swallow their pride and root for Utah at this point. Oh, fourth point; I hope I never see another "Mythical National Championship" game featuring a team as lackluster as Ohio State. Those big northern powerhouses did well when the shameful segregation era kept so many of the best southern football players from playing on the best southern football teams. Maybe the overrespecting of the Big (choose your number) teams will eventually be recognized for what it is; something that came into existence because of a great national sin.

Thanks for the clarification on this Rick, especially regarding the rules change for this year. I can now see how Miller could be granted a "Medical Hardship" discharge, simply based on the number of games in which he appeared. I guess the key word in the rule, as provided by PHSCoach, is that the NCAA "may" grant the waiver. Of course, the season must end, and the appeal must be filed, for there to be any possibility of that.

What he said. I don't even know if someone needs to be fired, but someone needs to be hired.

Honestly, I still expect a lot of those JUCO OL recruits from last year. Our opponents have been doing quite well with O-Linemen who don't look all that slim or fast. And, face it, we're going to have to a take few chances on linemen.

I have clicked on an NCAA.org link for eligibility (or something similar), and nothing was displayed, although the referred page was "done". It appears that the NCAA restricts this information to "members". As best as I can tell from various Internet sources, the limit for football "hardship" waivers amounts to 3 games(20% of games in first half of season, rounded to next whole number, i.e. 2.4, thus 3 games). I'm supposing this was the problem for Muzzy; playing in part of a 4th game. If true, that might explain the problem for Miller. Apparently, the documentation, even with only 3 games played, has to be very thorough. Of course, there are also rumors of selective NCAA enforcement and schools filing fake injury reports.

Thanks! I was among the last of the drafted: I only spent a year and a half in the Army, 1973-1975, because they were reducing the size of the force as infantry involvement in Vietnam was being turned over to the South Vietnamese. I never served in combat or overseas, but my hat is certainly off to those who did! I was at: Basic Training: Fort Ord, Ca. Advanced Infantry Training: Fort Polk, La. Basic Airborne Training: Fort Benning, Ga. Stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., with the 82nd Airborne Division Temporary duty with Army Special Services (I was a stage and lighting technician with the 3rd Army Soldier Show), Fort McPherson, Ga. My heart really goes out to my fellow paratroopers when I hear about all the sacrifices that they are making in the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dwayne Taylor, B.A. class of 1977, Geography (thanks U.S. taxpayers, for those V.A. benefits), M.S., 1984, Regional Science (thanks, Texas Taxpayers for your paying tuition of Texas Veterans who have exhausted their V.A. benefits). American veterans and those in service, have a great Veterans day and many more!

Hey now.

To tell prospective recruits they'll get to play the best? Anyway, Ball State doesn't look like a creampuff at this point, undefeated and ranked #14 by AP.

I guess I could ask who is on that list, but instead, I'll ask if anyone thinks it's unusual that a D1 college football program has a D-line that sustains this many injuries. If so, why?

Never mind. The recap provided this. "The Dolphins’ sizable bag of tricks saved them on a day the offense sputtered. The Wildcat—shut out in the past three games—produced scores on a 51-yard run by Williams and a 16-yard run by Ronnie Brown. Ted Ginn Jr. scored his first touchdown this season when he made a fingertip catch in the end zone of a 39-yard pass from Chad Pennington on a flea-flicker." Here's the link: Dolphins-Seahawks recap

Is Miami still using their "Wildcat" offense any?

Since we have so little to gain by winning the last two games (acknowledging how great an unlikelyhood that is), I would like to see the following: 1. Give the departing seniors who have played little or none this year some meaningful playing time. It could be meaningful in that they could be given one last chance to show their stuff, or it could be meaningful that they could be given the chance to use some different offensive looks (power i?, wildcat?, trick plays used while the game is still in play)?), that were more in vogue in the old regime, or just haven't been tried yet. If nothing else, maybe it would surprise our opponents enough that someone could break a long one while their defense is thinking "WTF?". 2. Give the young guys who haven't played much, not the ones who still have a redshirt or grayshirt to preserve), a chance to show what they can do in an actual game situation. For instance, after Meager has had a chance at QB, give Tune a shot. What the heck. Anything but the status quo of schemes and players, I guess.

It does seem sad that on the rare occasion that we get good field position off a kickoff return, that we either can't score, or as today, turn it over.

I'm just putting it down as one of our many special teams problems. Other than being able to make some field goals, and occasionally get a good kickoff return, it seems that special teams play has regressed for us, and been a problem in every game. We only got away with it last game because WKY was actually worse on special teams than we were. The Penn State-Iowa game today showed that it takes perfection in XP kicking to make a close game winnable by a late field goal. It sounds like Ferentz gives enough attention to the kicking game that they were able to win today.

It sounds like Nate Jenkins could fill those requirements. Honestly, I couldn't understand why it was a problem for an OL to be on the heavy side. I thought that was the whole point. Games I've watched this year (and in which we were beaten) had us playing against O-linemen who were not on the slim side, but we weren't getting a pass rush against them.

And this has what to do with the backup center from UT? Did Clinton make him do it? that sneaky devil!

Honestly, when was the last time that dumb decisions have served us well? I'm taking about the same attitude towards transfers that I do towards recruits out of the high school ranks; get the best ones you can, and don't get any with baggage that we know of. And, especially with transfers, fill existing needs. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we need defensive and special teams standouts more than backup centers who would put UNT under national (and negative) media scrutiny as soon as Dodge talked to them? As far as the justice of the whole thing, as far as I know, the kid hasn't lost his scholarship yet. Maybe if we're going to hold a pity party for a backup center, we could find a center on the roster (who has played little or not at all this year I know we have at least one, Chad Rose), and call for them to get some playing time before the year is out. As far as walk on centers who haven't had a chance yet, don't we have one from Southlake Carroll a few here have spoken well of. Besides, who ever said a kid has a right to play football? If they've been signed to a letter of commitment, I think the school should honor the scholarship, but there are a lot of players on many, if not most, college football teams who never really play much. If North Texas continues with Todd Dodge as its head coach, he'll continue to put the players on the field based on his judgment. Those family and friends of UNT players not getting much if any playing time, who are now complaining about that may have reason to complain. Why this big outpouring of sympathy for a kid we would have never known about if he hadn't gotten national front page sports news for, as you said, "a dumb comment". Maybe if you could talk about his talents and how much of a need he would fill, I would think you're approaching this from the viewpoint of what's good for North Texas, rather than what's good for an instant Internet celebrity, whose judgment, if not his intentions, seem like a problem to me. Why do we need players only well known for "dumb comments"?

Well, it's not just that UNT lives in a glass house, it's got a lot of panes missing. Why do we need a center so bad (when we're not even playing Chad Rose much, if at all), that we'd invite yet more scrutiny for off field issues? Oh, and I forgot, we haven't had any off field issues.

QUOTE(oldguystudent @ Nov 6 2008, 10:33 PM) He could also engage in a little NCAA redistribution of wealth and send some of that 9-figure Texas budget up this way. QUOTE(eulessismore @ Nov 6 2008, 10:46 PM) Football doesn't redistribute wealth, it enhances competitiveness. Sorry, I don't use emoticons. If you want, we could meet in person before one of the games, and we could simply talk; I find that emotion is more easily conveyed that way. I will correct myself for using the language "enhance competitiveness". The NFL refers to "competitive balance" in their history of the draft section on their website. See link below. NFL Hall of Fame Draft History Interestingly, the NCAA used the same "competitive balance" argument in their defense against a lawsuit by college walk ons against the policy of limiting the number of scholarships schools may grant; below is a link with the NCAA citing the same argument against student-athletes suing over what a scholarship is limited to covering (no allowance for laundry, etc.). Personally, I do agree that the limit on the number of scholarships may increase competitive balance; certainly there are articles on the Internet citing it as a reason behind the upsets we saw last year. I can't really support the limiting of such items as the NCAA does while denying student athletes a monetary stipend for time spent practicing, when other students receiving financial aid can take part time work and be compensated enough to possibly cover some personal expenses. NCAA Defense citing "competitive balance" Maybe it doesn't exist in high school, but I do believe that it is one of the reasons for district realignment. Geographic proximity certainly isn't a key, if you look at the district in which Desoto now plays. This isn't just an attempt to throw some partisan zinger in there (maybe it is to some extent). I've given some thought to responding to your reply, and I think it is important for the non-BCS schools to be aware of the issues to be considered if and when the FBS moves towards something like a playoff system. In my opinion, if it were only 8 schools, UNT and other non-BCS schools would be in a less competitive situation than at present, whereas if it were somewhere between 16 and 64 teams playing (there are 32 bowls as of April, 2008), stories such as Boise State would still be possible, and UNT football would potentially have a much brighter future. If this would be such a hardship for teams to play that many games, why is it done by FCS and high school teams? I think most teams would love the chance to continue playing through the Christmas break. Hey, they could have an actual national championship game on Martin Luther King's Birthday. All employers not presently giving that holiday would start doing so once they realized that everybody in the country would be following that game one way or the other.

Maybe he and Dominique Green could meet up somewhere and just get a bong.

Football doesn't redistribute wealth, it enhances competitiveness.

Those are good questions. I hope you have a lot of time. You could have ended that post with "fire away!".

Well, I do consider UT (and UNT as well) as government entities. However, I don't think free speech protects one's rights as an employee from being fired, or a student-athlete from being removed from a team. I see it as keeping you from being thrown in jail in most cases. The Secret Service will disagree as to whether it keeps you out of jail in all cases. I consider myself to be an advocate of civil liberties as guaranteed by our Bill of Rights. I just don't see those rights as being something that protects you from any consequences of exercising them, but rather giving you the basis for defending yourself against the consequences of government actions if you feel your rights have been violated.