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Repping in Paris !

I was using the WATCH ESPN app to check on the UTSA/UH game last night and it turns out that the Longhorn Network is on there. I could stream it, on my iPad, my phone, and through my Roku or Apple TV. Dish let's You add a plus package for like $5 bucks that adds on some regional sports channels and it is one of them, too.

I know that I don't post a whole lot on GMG these days, but I read as much as I can and have not missed a home game in years. Even got to take in some away games this year thanks to our new conference. And at work - like many of you - I am 'that Mean Green guy' - the one that constantly defends the program and it's legitimacy. Throughout this season the snickers have slowly turned into respectful comments from coworkers. And I am talking about coworkers that went to NT and are T-Shirt fans for schools like UT and OU. Today I am getting comments such as - NT has arrived. They could not believe the crowd. They could not believe the score. They could not believe that I was not alone. Folks, the sleeping giant woke the heck up yesterday. UNLV was the perfect opponent for us, they were from the Mountain West rather than the MAC or Belt - they are a known school - and we matched up well with them. There is a girl that I work with that graduated around the same time as me. She has always been a UT fan and I have (for 3 years) tried to get her to a game. She walked up to me today and said 'I have to get my son out to a game next year'. This girl would NEVER have said that prior to this bowl win and turnout. I showed her the pics from the game and her mouth just opened wide with disbelief. I imagine there are conversations taking place all over the DFW area today like this one. The giant is waking up - finally.

A little birdie told me that Harbaugh was in Austin this week meeting with Regents. Not sure how true it is, but this birdie would definitely know. Maybe a backup plan? The same birdie also told me that in the pages of donors, the first three pages were filled with million dollar and more gifts (just for this year). It's pro football. UT's athletic budget is higher than the payroll for the Patriots.

Agreed, which is combined with all the Grants of Media Rights contracts (that every major conference except SEC has), and you have a very small expansion field now. Even Notre Dame is in on the ACC GOR agreement. Unless the candidate is BYU, a gang of five school (like Houston or SMU) or an Indy military school - the field is pretty small. Florida state can't hop to big 12, their media money stays behind with ACC for 14 years. So they can't add value and that makes me think this is all coming to a close. The most recent BCS iterations are contracted with the NCAA through 2024. Any break away will be fifteen years from now (if ever)

Haven't all those conference schools signed GOR contracts? If they leave, their media/TV money stay with current conference until 2024 or something? Only big conference without that is SEC and none of them are leaving. Big 12 Commish was on ESPN last week while I was at Sport Clips getting a cut. He likes 10 teams and argued that there was no school that could bring enough value to expand. When asked about conference championship game and being the only big conference without it - he said that you could argue that the Big 12 champ will be the only Tru conference champion because everyone will play everyone. Other bigger conferences will have situations where schools don't play each other in regular season or in the conference championship game. Perfect situation would allow a conference championship for a conference with 10 or 11 teams rather than 12.

So there are about a handful of people at big time football schools that say it. Mostly it's media and fans calling for this so that they can have something to talk about. So Duke and Kentucky and Syracuse and UCLA would want to break away from the NCAA and play basketball among only the top 70 football schools? I started my response by saying that I know I am in the minority - I just don't know why I am. It makes zero sense for that group of schools to set up an entire infrastructure to support the 20ish NCAA sports. And I truly believe that the NCAA would not allow them to pick and choose to only participate in other sports. Then the NCAA gets cut out of the money and that just not going to happen. The big schools want 7, 8, 9 home games each year. They make an obscene amount of money from these home games. Are they going to limit their home games to just 6 so that a handful of football powers can be in the upper echelon alignment? Money talks and BS walks. They need us and we need them. I absolutely think all Div I FBS schools should only play other FBS schools. Cut out the FCS exceptions for bowl eligibility. Also, bring back some serious rules for maintaining FBS status - budget minimums to start. Maybe add a budget maximum as well for parity and as a compromise. The arms race needs to tap the breaks and at the same time the legitimacy of being a Div I FBS school needs to return.

I guess that I am in the minority in that I don't think the NCAA would let it happen. If the Big 5 tried to break away, they would be required to break away for all sports. They are still governed by the NCAA and that would mean they would break away from all the other NCAA championships for all other sports as well. Why would the NCAA let them keep their non revenue sports in its org and allow them to take the most marketable sport for TV (in terms of live entertainment - commercial time) to its own new group? I just don't think these coaches are being realistic. They are thinking about this from a football only view and not looking at student athletes as equal. Who would measure Title IX compliance? Lawsuit. Where does everyone else go? Lawsuit. Can I see DIV I - FBS getting a revamp of rules, including budget requirements? Yes, that I do see. The rules have actually been relaxed since we moved up and the stadium requirement has completely gone away. Any school can move up now if they have an admin that is willing to commit to the scholarships, or a student body willing to tax themselves, that should not be the benchmark. But there are schools in those big 5 conferences that do not compete with schools in the Gang of 5, or the Independents. So revamp of rules? Yes. Overhaul and flush out the ULM's of the country? Yes. Break away from the NCAA and have the Big 5 sponsor their own women's volleyball? Nah. Won't happen. They need us and we need them. They will continue to toss crumbs at us and we will take it like we love the abuse. Either that or the Big 5 better start building an infrastructure for various rowing teams, gymnastics, and other non revenue sports. Most of these quotes come from southern athletic directors or coaches. The teams in the north and west know the power of NCAA basketball and don't want to mess with it. They want competitive football and TV dollars but they want to be in the NCAA.

Um, no. Our team name is the Mean Green and our mascot is the Eagle. I love both parts of our heritage and think that the AD has done a great job of embracing both - and still emphasizing our unique moniker that no other Div I FBS University shares. It looks like another poster has suggested some sort of Eagle sanctuary and the comments in that thread seem to be pretty positive. I really don't care how we do it - it would just be nice to have this tradition brought back. Learn from all the past mistakes that were made (don't put it in the hands of the students or a student organization) - and perhaps develop a relationship with the Dallas or Ft Worth Zoo for some cross-promotional benefit. They could house the Eagle during the off season in an area with signs that say Home of the Mean Green Mascot - "Scrappy" - and have a handler bring the Eagle to the game for our 5 or 6 home games each year. Zoos are looking for ways to get people involved and doing inexpensive marketing - we could offer them all sorts of cross promotional marketing and fans could take their children to see Scrappy (along with all the other wildlife) at the zoo year round. This is a tough room. Time to go back into hibernation .

That is really disappointing. Any reason why? They had a strong presence on this board and then kind of disappeared.

After reading about the terrible situation at La Tech, it reminded me of a past tradition that I have always wanted to see return. There seems to be a real fondness on this board for keeping and resurrecting the traditions at North Texas. One thing that I have always wanted to see was a live Eagle fly to the 50 yard line to start the game. I can just picture the Eagle flying from the Wing Zone down to the 50 yard line before kickoff to get everyone pumped up. It is my understanding that the University used to have a live Eagle that was tended to by the students or the athletic dept at one time but the Texas heat made it an expensive ordeal. The Eagle would be brought out during the games and had an official handler. I also seem to recall someone mentioning that there was an agreement with a local zoo for a cross-promotional deal later on but I am not sure if that was just an idea or something that actually happened (where the zoo took care of the Eagle during the year and NT provided a donation for helping out with the costs with both parties providing marketing for the other). I would think that this would be a great way to bring back an established tradition and kids would probably love to see the Eagle before, during, and after the games. Anyone think this is a good idea? I love the traditions of college football and have always hoped that this would be brought back at NT. What are your thoughts?

You might want to check to see if there are any watching parties at The PourHouse this season. They used to have the games in the theater room and you really can't beat watching a game in that place. Things might have changed (I am out of the loop in Dallas) but it used to be that if the game is available online - they will stream it and put in on the big screen. At least that was what they did a couple of years ago, I don't think that I went to any of those watching parties last year. Anyone know if they still do this?

I don't think that they would do that. The big boys need the little guys. Plus all the "big boys" are not as big as the real big boys. Not all Big 5 budgets are $100 million, there are quite a few teams with $40 million dollar budgets and they can maintain themselves as bigger than most boys in the current alignment. Plus if it was going to happen, it would have happened before this 12 year deal was struck. Breaking away from the NCAA isn't just about football. They would be leaving basketball as well. And the NCAA would not allow them to have their own separate league and then have the NCAA handle all the non-revenue sports. Do the big boys want to set up an infrastructure to handle women's golf and bowling? Because if they break away - they would have to manage all sports, not just football. Finally, a school like Vandy that is middle of the pack FBS would become bottom of the bottom. Every school, no matter the level wants to be perceived as higher than a group of others. We need them to show we are with the big leagues and they need us to maintain separation from "someone"

I don't see that happening. The examples that you are using are the crazy far flung ones. Most of the ACC schools have budgets in the $40-$50 range while the CUSA schools range from $20-$30 mil. The new system is more about wins and losses. They need us just as much as we need them. It will become nearly impossible to move up (from FCS) in the future - as an invite from a conference needs to take place and the conferences are about tapped out. With the WAC dropping football next year, we should see some stabilization. There is no overnight success - but if you spend the money and have the commitment - a school can change it's destiny. Several schools have been able to move up the ladder over the last few years and with the new point system - all that a school has to do is win and a conference will want to bring them in to get their points that travel with the program. The only way they could pull it off would be to break away from the NCAA completely and if that was going to happen - it would have happened during the last round of negotiations. All of the conference commissioners signed off on the playoff (basically it is a plus one). If a monetary commitment was set up to weed schools out, we would find a way. We just spent over $100 million on facilities and we would up our budget in some way to stay with the have's rather than by pushed back down to the have not's. There are already a ton of requirements for FBS schools regarding minimum number of sports played, scholarships, etc... we have met them every time they have adjusted. About the only other thing the big boys could roll out would be the budget requirements and they couldn't go too much higher than $30-$35 million/year because there are big schools with budgets just above our's. When it comes to budgets - accounting can go a long way.