MGW

Well, since you're supporting Dennis Kucinich, I suspect you're wrong. I don't think there was any sandbagging. TD strikes me as a fan of winning. Every game. I do agree, though, that he knew we would take our lumps. Unlike DD, who evidently saw some kind of moral victory in keeping it within 60, TD's team goes into every game w/ a "let's duke it out" attitude, as opposed to the "I-hope-we-can-keep-it-close-and-that-God-smiles-upon-us-so-that-we-can-somehow-win-late" attidude we a saw from the DD "inspired" teams.

As a Texas guy, I proclaim the Kentucky job is a better job than the Baylor job, unless you've got a thing for crappy towns on I-35.

Didn't he leave Kentucky after helping to turn around that program? Leaving Kentucky to go to Baylor turned out not to be such a good move, eh? And who the hell pees on a bar?! Go Bears!

Oh, yeah? What about Coach Johnny-Five, who if memory serves me correctly coached ULaMo to the Toilet Bowl in 1986?

PMG, first, thank you for this to-the-point post. I love your passion for the Mean Green, but often I do not get to read the entirety of your post because I tend not to read more than three paragraphs unless I'm getting paid for it (or I paid for it). Second, too bad your question is limited to the "main positive" (singular). If it were plural, I would say (1) an exciting offense (including a 99 yard pass play), (2) a defense reminiscent of that which Mean Green fans used to expect, (3) points scored by the defense, (4) close to 20K in the stands, (5) meangreensports.com premium video that included sound, (6) a mobile QB presenting an added dimension to our offense, and (7) a WIN! (to name a few). To answer your question, the "main positive" if I were to only choose one is the attendance. As a pragmatist, I thought it optomistic to expect greater than 15K for this game. For us to draw almost 20K shows me that TD's hire has had a more immediate impact on the overall excitement about our program (as measured by attendance at games) than I expected. To me, the attendance shows that TD can be our Lucy. The missing link from our Southland-mire to a program with national respect. The first step on that road is to up our attendance numbers. To know that an 0-5 squad can draw close to 20K for U-La-freaking-Mo tells me that with a winning TD squad we would be selling out Fouts consistently (and hopefully a new and bigger stadium thereafter). Great win, Mean Green! God Bless (North) Texas!

Romo was 9/11 on the last touch down drive. What great play calling. What a great kick (twice)! GO COWBOYS!

Very witty, indeed.

The Fake Lonnie Finch is Scottie, circa 1999. SUE can correct me on the date.

Apologies for the shoddy form. Words are read differently by different people. I think UNT_PLMKR's points are very bad, which doesn't mean I think he is a bad person. Others can cite the $s better, but isn't UNT paying TD approx (edit: $200K base w/ incentives that could take it over $400K). If memory serves me correctly, DD was hired for less. I think your point is good that we should invest in our program, but the reason why Todd Dodge's first coaching job is UNT is because ... we're UNT. That's not to say where we're going, but where we have been. Sure, we were close to SWC admission circa 1980, but that fell through and we became known as a Southland team. Now we're rebuilding. Every $ we can raise, IMHO should be invested in a stadium, which all agree would have huge impact in game day experience and outsider perception. My hope is that this is TD's first D1A coaching job, because the reality is if he does as well as we all hope, then we'll eventually lose him to a big $ school. Folks, no mater what, we're never going to have the budget of a UT, LSU, et cetera. That doesn't mean we can't build a solid program. To use your words, the core of the subject as I see it whether the sky is falling. It most certainly is not.

Apologies for not making my sarcasm more obvious. I am quite certain SUE got it, what with him being a conservative and all.

I haven't read all the threads but most discussions seem to keep it civilized. Examples of Thread Locking Behavior: "Your argument is so bad I am going to beat you up next time I see you!" or "Your argument is full of @#$! #@$#ing @#%!!" Try not to use these in your retorts or assertions.

First, A man who uses "ly" on the end of "second" and "third" is most likely a hippie liberal that wears sandals and used to live in Los Angeles, or Texarkana. Second, what's tivo?

Lifer, your first mistake is using logic and/or reason with any discussion with your opponent. Logic and reason are not to be used in a time such as this, when one must run from the falling sky of UNT being on an ESPN joke poll that perhaps may recognize UNT's defense deserves us the "nation's worst ranking." For example, logic and/or reason might make one assume that direct consequences of an impending hurricane are better worried about in New Orleans than Denton. Nevertheless, when the sky is falling, Denton area residents should be evacuating to higher ground in upstate Oklahoma. HEED UNT_PMKR's WARNING The sky is falling. Repeat. The sky is falling. North Texas is 0-5. Repeat. 0-5. ... On a related note, a lower pressure system in south east New Zealand is likely to have dramatic and immediate consequences for those living in or around the conjunction of Interstates 35E and 35W in upstate Texas. All area residents are advised to immediately evacuate to Baton Rouge, where you can see LSU, the nation's #1 team. Or, drive over to New Orleans and see the Green Wave and think to yourself "North Texas ain't so bad, afterall."

The offense has exceeded the expectations of most, while the defense has performed worse than the expectations of perhaps all.

It's been unofficial that we're in the bottom 10% of the teams in D1A college football for the last several years, which is why 99% of the Mean Green nation favored firing DD and hiring TD. Here's hoping TD can get a few Ws this season so none of our pollyannas get crushed by the falling sky. The reality is that watching NT football the last several years has sucked. Now, we've got some excitement, and we have been in positions to win games three times this year. I remain confident that the ship will ultimately be righted under TD.

Wise words.

A better response than my own was stated by KingDL1: "Dickey had total of 5 wins in the last two years with nothing that looked like potential going on. He had record loses against Tulsa, Muts, and Kansas." The title of this thread is absolutely unbelievable to me, but it makes more sense coming from the poster ensuring the greater Denton area is protected from hurricanes.

Game score prediction: North Texas 56 ULaLa 45 Additional predictions: 500+ yards passing for NT 200+ yards russhing for NT Final prediction: Audio to accompany the video on the ESPN game plan showing, unlike the prefered "premium" MeanGreenSports feed. I didn't realize it until two weeks ago, but "premium" is Latin for crappy video with no sound. GO MEAN GREEN!

Re: point one, yes. Re: point two, gracias, senor. I just got Game Day daily pass for $21 and will get the UNT game on Time Warner Cable here in Austin! Unfortunately, two weeks ago I suffered through the video feed on the MeanGreenSports.com website premium feed. Evidently, premium means video with no sound.

Very good point, jperg2. We should not mock other schools' attendance woes, for the Mean Green has had its issues as we've grown. Hopefully, we'll get a few Ws on the board before the season ends, or we may draw less than 10K late in the season (dare I say a win-less or one-win Mean Green squad might draw less than 5K against Western Kentucky on November 24th?). I know, kool-aid-kids, "Blasphemy!" Nevertheless, it is a legitimate worry; one that can be remedied by scoring some wins... sooner than later. Dodge ball or not (601 freaking yards!), we need to win some games... quick... if we hope to have an average of close to 20,000 (instead of the minimum D1A requirement, which I believe is 15K). Having Navy at home definitely helps... A win this week I think would lead to us drawing 18K+ to ULaMo on 10/13. If somehow we pull off a win at Troy, I would predict our next home game on 10/27 against MTSU would draw at or above 18K. ... Now, if we lose at ULaLa this week, I suspect our attendance will be just over 15K for ULaMo (hopefully, at least that many). In any event, if our recent history is any indication, we certainly are in no position to criticize SMU for drawing only 16K at a home conference game. You resident SMU defender, Mean Green Wave p.s. None of the above should be construed as negative; I know the Mean Green can be averaging 40K+ at a new stadium with an exciting Dodge team (hopefully, in a few years.....) hopefully.

Good point. I think we all see both sides to the equation, and I appreciate the respectful tone of this thread. Re: Quinn, I loved this quote: "Dont Let Daily Routine Be Confused With Commitment". Best of luck to Quinn in the future... too bad he wasn't here for any of the Dodge years... shoot, he'd have a thousand yards receiving by now.... GO MEAN GREEN!

I've got video, but no audio... Trying to sync up thewordfm and the video is driving me crazy....

Talk Politics! This puppy will be shut down in seconds... Crebus, I always figured you for a virgo. On a serious note, happy birthday and thanks for making gmg.com available to people like me who otherwise would get no news whatsoever, other than the occasional disrespectful reference on Austin-area talk radio.... alas. My son's 2nd birthday is coming up on Sunday, so hopefully we'll also be celebrating his first Mean Green win on Saturday, though I think FAU is a tough team... GMG!

Alright, fine. I came up with it. Happy Ditto?