akriesman

We are absolutely thrilled to have you back Coach DeLoach !

Great post !

Totally agree regarding the defense. And, losing the 2 DE's due to academics certainly did not help things. Offensively, I was completely shocked at our subpar performance. I did expect some fireworks out of the offense. They will rebound. For the 2nd year in a row, Arkansas St took it to a Big 12 power. It is a little upsetting when we cannot be more competitive against similar competition. Oh well, I predicted a 3 or 4 win season before it started. This game certainly does not change that prediction. I still look forward to a very entertaining season as the team continues to improve.

Very, very nice win over the Aggies.

"Future schedules have Kansas State to making its first trip to Denton in 2010". Huh ???? Is this still true ? Sounds like this was made with the promise that there would be a new stadium to play in....

Same seats. Akriesman though (not ariesman). Don't worry about changing name if difficult.

My heart says 5 wins. But, my head says 4 wins this year. The losses at DE have reduced my earlier belief that we would pull out 5 or 6 wins this season. I expect we will see some exciting football this season, with some really shockingly close games to larger competition. But, I just don't how how our D-Line is going to be able to hang with the more experienced teams as the games wear on. The Belt is a much better league than it was 4 years ago. It will take longer to jump back into the top few slots this time around. I cannot wait to see an even more exciting offense and a much better DeLoach led defense. That alone will be worth the price of admission (and then some). FWIW, my prediction last year was 3 or 4 wins. So, I was a little off. But, not as much as most predictions here last season

I have to agree with Adler on this philosophy. A stronger Sun Belt should eventually help recruiting across the board for the conference. But, if we fail to keep pace with Troy and the others in the next few years, any opportunities for better conference affilications will be completely lost. I have faith that TD will get things done. But, losing 3-star recruits to acedemic problems is certainly not helping

Yes, good luck Justin. We would have loved to have you in green. What a depressing off season

DeLoach has enough experience to work with the talent that he has been dealt. He will make enough adjustments to at least slow down the opponents. I think Mendoza tried to force a square peg into a round hole. Just my opinions of course. It really sucks to lose those 2 DE's. That is going to hurt. I am going to stick with my original predictions when TD was first hired. I had them only winning a couple games last year and about half this year. In think the 3rd year is when you can really start to judge a new coach. Next year is when this thing is really going to take off.

Pretty cool quiz. I got 45 out of 50 in about 10 minutes after the 1st pass. Actually, I got 46, because I kept spelling Miami-Ohio, Ohio-Miami, etc. I never thought to try Miami Of Ohio. Still can't figure out #7 and #46. But, I will.

The LSU game could be pretty rough. But, I certainly don't expect the same kind of complete defensive meltdowns that we had last year. I am excited as hell about Coach DeLoach being back with the team.

This may be one of the most well thought out threads I have even seen on this board. Since this is an athletics board, it is often easy for us to dismiss the academic side of things. Thank you UntGirl for being brave enough to post your feelings. And, good job Adler on the rebuttal. My wife graduated from O.U. She was stunned to learn that North Texas had a higher enrollment than OU. She thought that North Texas was a small school, because you never hear about them on the sports highlights. This is from a lady that could care less about college sports. But, her perception of the two universities grew from the success (and relative insignificance) of the sports teams. Unfortunately, acedemics had little to do with that perception.

2.5 is ridiculous. There is a stronger chance of TD leaving by choice than to be let go after this season (not that I expect either to happen). If things are the same 2 seasons from now, then we can talk about 2.5 ratings. For now, it is just rediculous.

(1) Big 12 (dream....not going to happen of course) (2) New Southwest Conference with SMU, Rice, Houston, Baylor, UTEP, Texas State, and TCU (another pipe dream). (3) CUSA (4) Stay in the Belt unless it becomes deluted by defections from Troy, MTSU or Florida Schools. (5) Move to the WAC only with a strong WAC East with a regional flavor.

Wow. No mention of the change at defensive coordinator. Obviously there was not a lot of research put into the article other than stat pulling.

Drake and Butler are pretty evenly matched opponents. Although, Drake did beat Butler recently on Butler's home court. I actually think WKU is playing better ball than S Alabama right now and probably has the best shot for an upset. The Drake/WKU game should be a dandy. It's a shame that WKU and SA had to draw Drake and Bulter. I would have rather seen them play Clemson, Michigan St, Miami (fla), West Virg or any of the major programs seeded at 5 and 7.

Congrats Mavs. Good luck in the tourney.

I agree 100%. Go Mavs.

Thanks guys for playing your hearts out. We are all proud of you.

I would hate to hear that any player wants to be released. But if they want out, let them go. A disgruntled player will do more harm than good.

“I don’t want to take anything away from this class. This class was outstanding and the best we’ve ever had, but we’re not competing with the very top-of-the line Miamis, Floridas, Florida States, Penn States and Ohio States. " Keep going Howard.........or the North Texas's, Troy's and Middle Tennessee's of the world. I cannot wait to finally start turning the tide against FAU.

Ooops. I made a comment about this guy in the other thread. I did not see this one.

"Yourhighness Morgan " That name just cracks me up every time I see it. It is fitting that he is the gem of the Fla Atlantic class.

This is my favorite line.... "In the Sun Belt Conference, North Texas is the new Texas in recruiting. While many SBC coaches have bristled at early recruiting against the big boys, UNT's Todd Dodge was a trendsetter. Dodge rejected the notion of small programs waiting their turn in the recruiting process."