wardly

i find it interesting that with the exception of ull, our entire conference is comprised of former 1aa programs, whom we now look down and wish to exclude. unt historic problem has been lack of a natural rival. utsa and tex. st. could be just that. n.m.s.u. brings nothing to the table, and is 600 miles from denton. la. tech is ok with me, but they don't want to be in same conference let alone same division as la monroe. besides, they basicaly both cover the same market [ refer to smu,tcu,unt].

i'm not sure, but i could have sworn i saw ELVIS leaving the building on my way out.

i was very dispointed in the attendance. 1st time a big 10 team coems to denton and we barely break 20,000.granted, i.u. is near the bottom of the barrel, but then so are we.at this rate, with homes games against f.a.u.,u.l.m.,w.k., and m.t.s.u. we will be doing well to average 20,000.

i was and am a supporter of dickey, and had a great relationship with him. however, it was time for a change. lets give him his due, and move forward with coach mac.

everything i read says only cusa team big east would consider is ucf, and that s.florida is opposed to that unless necessary to save league. ecu brings little to the table. if big east does add cusa team, then cusa would reload from belt on east coast. they have 4 texas teams in a 12 team conference, and want no more. plus marshall and ecu want another school closer to them, such as w.k. or perhaps fau. once dust settles, i still think belt picks up enough wac schools to go to 12. don't think sjsu,idaho,utah st,or even nmsu would be considered. la tech must be wondering what the heck is going on, as wac just added dallas baptist and cal somebody for baseball only, uta for baseball and basketball, denver and seatle for basketball only. no way la tech gets into cusa with their small market.

adding mizzo brings the st. louis market, adding w.v. brings, well, w.v.what makes this work for s.e.c. is that auburn is willing to move to eastern division, which they probably perceive as easier route to s.e.c. championship game. w.v. and rest of big east/ big 12 will still be able to put together an a.q. conference. looks like mt.west/cusa are discussing some type of football only merger, whose purpose is a seat at bcs table. looks like the belt and wac might work together when the smoke clears, but only the shadow knows.

should be simular to when 1aa classification was created

in order for us to get attendance where we want, we need more that a winning record. we need to schedule "up", which we are now able to do with new stadium, but we need to schedule teams that travel well. unfortunally, no one in the belt, including us, does.

assume okla,okla st.,tt,and ut go to pac 12.also assume u.con and w.virginia go to acc. [acc wants strong basketball programs.] that would leave tcu,s.florida,cincy,louisville,and rutgers from big east. through in mizoo,baylor,k.state,kansas, and iowa st from big 12.do you have a bcs conference? [disclaimer: i don't know what sec is going to do, take either mizoo or w.virginia.] you could fill in with ucf,ecu, or houston.i still don't know if this group of "left behinds" would be considered bcs, but would be better than cusa and mt. west. just food for thought.

i watched game on fox. my observations, for what they are worth:1] bama did not try to run up the score. they put in #2 quarterback middle of 2nd quarter, replaced him with about 2 minutes to go in half so they could run their 2 minute offense.they did want a shutout, and substuited accordingly.i don't think we had 50 yards total offense the 1st half.2] our players did not quit, and played hard the entire game 3]speed. they got it, we dont'. on their kickoffs we were lucky to return to 15 yard line. their secondary is much faster than our receivers.4]their D line just overwhelmed our young O line.5] i was susprised at our conservative play calling the 1st half. appeared our main concern was eliminating turnovers. 6]in summary, we were in over our head, but barring injury will be much better mid to late season. we are a 3 to 5 year work in process.just an old man's opinion.

dunbar is going to have a tough season. our o-line is not nearly as good as last year.

i think we need to look at this as a natural evolution in the growth of major college football. just as division 1aa was established, so will a division 1a+, with unt in 1a. think of high school football with classes 3a,4a,and 5a. it doesn't make sense for ut with athletic budget of $100 million to be in the same classification as ulm with a $10 million budget. just an old man's opinion.

regardless of 4,000 or 2,000, how many nt fans would travel to houston? hopefully we will play them in a year or so and find out.

we will get consideraton when we turn our football program around in next3 to 5 years, increase mens basketball attendance, and SMU gets religion.at this point we bring nothing to the table but "potential". if/when big 12 implodes an opportunity in cusa may present itself,depending on the fallout. untill then, we need to take care of business, and good things should come.our new stadium levels the playing field. i personally am against adding another underfunded non revenue sport such as baseball, but that may be the price of admission into another conference. interesting times.

it will help our cause. beacher report list 25 "worst of the worst" programs, and we are #1.

i saw and spoke to him in passing at the game saturday night. i'm sure he was in either Rick's or Dr. Lanes box.

plus one

at this point, we are the cupcake.

we will not be as good this year as last, but will get better as season goes on. last year we had about 22 seniors. we replaced them with about 6 freshmen and 12 sophs. we are starting from ground zero. T.D. had more talent left over from D.D. than coach MAC found on campus. look at FIU and ask yourselves how many UNT players could start for them. that's how far we have to go.

and i just turned it off! guys, the cupboard was bare when coach mac arived. remember that last year was T.D.'s senior team. hard not to look back, but reality is that our program was set back by at least 4 years, maybe more, by T.D. we should of had a winning program going into a new stadium, but it will take coach mac at least 3 to 4 years to get it done. we are that bad now, will be better by years end with some experience, but its going to be ugly early.this game shows us how far behind we are in the belt.wheres D.D. when you need him?

if big 12 had no interest in tcu, they sure don't have any in smu. football stadium 30,000, poor basketball program, and no baseball program. also, i don't think byu is wild about big 12. they just went independent in football, put other programs in wcc, and won't play any sports on sundays. any addition to big 12 would need to be in a new market, with possible exception of houston. arkansas not coming back after escaping ut shadow 19 years ago. at this point,i don't have a clue, except why would an existing bcs school want to join the big 12?

i always thought the mean green club was one of the marketing arms for donations as well as ticket sales. i was susprised to discover their new location was in the stadium merchandise store along with ticket sales, far removed from the athletic department. does this strike anyone as a downgrade in responsibility, or am i just reading something into it that isn't there? it certainly is not located "where the action is", more like being next to the mail room.

do you have game times?

you are right about 10 teams, which is all the big 12 needs or wants. tcu and smu bring nothing to the table.[market share] houston maybe. i see no interest from byu.don't have a clue who 10th school would be. air force seems a reach, as does any big east team. i don't have a clue.

i think that after a&m leaves, this season or next, the big 12 sits tight with 9 schools. byu went independent in football because they see their tv network as part of their church mission.houston is the only school that might be able to help the big 12 in market where a&m is strong. if houston does leave cusa, the conference will add a school in the east, not west. they would still have 3 schools in texas, and only 1 in florida, and cfu might be big east bound.plus marshall and ecu really want another school in their neighborhood.fun to discuss, but until we turn our football program around and average 27,000 butts in seats instead of 17,000,we are probably are going nowhere, as is la tech.