stebo

We have kinda played FCS teams over the last few years. When the F_U's were moving up they were not quite Div IA, not quite IAA... WKY was kinda FBS and kinda FCS... South Alabama will be on the schedule soon, they will be a IAA (FCS) team. The schedules are pretty much filled out and I don't see any spaces to add anyone. Good in theory but let's wait until someone breaks their contract (like last year with UF) and instead of scheduling LSU and making $900K from the two contracts, use that money to play a pansy at home. Two pansies beating the crap out of one another would be funny

1 SOUTHEASTERN (A) = 79.76 80.15 ( 1) 12 2 PAC-10 (A) = 78.30 78.50 ( 2) 10 3 BIG 12 (A) = 78.25 78.30 ( 3) 12 4 ATLANTIC COAST (A) = 77.64 77.42 ( 4) 12 5 BIG EAST (A) = 76.34 75.89 ( 6) 8 6 BIG TEN (A) = 75.93 76.23 ( 5) 11 7 MOUNTAIN WEST (A) = 71.28 71.79 ( 7) 9 8 I-A INDEPENDENTS (A) = 69.48 68.35 ( 8) 3 9 CONFERENCE USA (A) = 64.56 64.63 ( 9) 12 10 WESTERN ATHLETIC (A) = 63.59 64.02 ( 10) 9 11 MID-AMERICAN (A) = 61.23 61.29 ( 11) 13 12 COLONIAL (AA)= 60.08 59.71 ( 12) 12 13 SUN BELT (A) = 58.88 59.02 ( 13) 9 13 SUN BELT (A) = 58.88 59.02 ( 13) TEAMS= 9 College Football 2009 Starting Ratings the BCS uses the ELO_CHESS from here HOME ADVANTAGE= 3.14 RATING W L SCHEDL(RANK) VS top 10 | VS top 30 | ELO_CHESS | PREDICTOR 119 Arkansas State A = 59.54 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 59.54 119 | 59.54 119 112 Florida Atlantic A = 60.96 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 60.96 112 | 60.96 112 147 Fla. International A = 53.84 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 53.84 147 | 53.84 147 123 Louisiana-Lafayette A = 59.12 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 59.12 123 | 59.12 123 127 Louisiana-Monroe A = 58.28 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 58.28 127 | 58.28 127 106 Middle Tennessee A = 62.22 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 62.22 106 | 62.22 106 165 North Texas A = 50.73 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 50.73 165 | 50.73 165 70 Troy A = 70.04 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 70.04 70 | 70.04 70 133 Western Kentucky A = 56.48 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 56.48 133 | 56.48 133 10 WESTERN ATHLETIC (A) = 63.59 64.02 ( 10) TEAMS= 9 College Football 2009 Starting Ratings the BCS uses the ELO_CHESS from here HOME ADVANTAGE= 3.14 RATING W L SCHEDL(RANK) VS top 10 | VS top 30 | ELO_CHESS | PREDICTOR 19 Boise State A = 82.93 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 82.93 19 | 82.93 19 71 Fresno State A = 69.95 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 69.95 71 | 69.95 71 67 Hawaii A = 70.38 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 70.38 67 | 70.38 67 164 Idaho A = 50.77 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 50.77 164 | 50.77 164 107 Louisiana Tech A = 61.90 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 61.90 107 | 61.90 107 77 Nevada A = 67.83 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 67.83 77 | 67.83 77 144 New Mexico State A = 54.14 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 54.14 144 | 54.14 144 109 San Jose State A = 61.38 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 61.38 109 | 61.38 109 131 Utah State A = 56.92 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 56.92 131 | 56.92 131 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 11 MID-AMERICAN (A) = 61.23 61.29 ( 11) TEAMS= 13 College Football 2009 Starting Ratings the BCS uses the ELO_CHESS from here HOME ADVANTAGE= 3.14 RATING W L SCHEDL(RANK) VS top 10 | VS top 30 | ELO_CHESS | PREDICTOR 111 Akron A = 61.01 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 61.01 111 | 61.01 111 81 Ball State A = 67.29 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 67.29 81 | 67.29 81 92 Bowling Green A = 64.90 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 64.90 92 | 64.90 92 115 Buffalo A = 60.31 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 60.31 115 | 60.31 115 87 Central Michigan A = 65.24 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 65.24 87 | 65.24 87 141 Eastern Michigan A = 55.04 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 55.04 141 | 55.04 141 132 Kent State A = 56.69 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 56.69 132 | 56.69 132 126 Miami-Ohio A = 58.44 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 58.44 126 | 58.44 126 99 Northern Illinois A = 63.21 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 63.21 99 | 63.21 99 114 Ohio University A = 60.33 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 60.33 114 | 60.33 114 125 Temple A = 58.67 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 58.67 125 | 58.67 125 113 Toledo A = 60.47 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 60.47 113 | 60.47 113 88 Western Michigan A = 65.11 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 65.11 88 | 65.11 88 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 9 CONFERENCE USA (A) = 64.56 64.63 ( 9) TEAMS= 12 College Football 2009 Starting Ratings the BCS uses the ELO_CHESS from here HOME ADVANTAGE= 3.14 RATING W L SCHEDL(RANK) VS top 10 | VS top 30 | ELO_CHESS | PREDICTOR 93 Central Florida A = 64.83 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 64.83 93 | 64.83 93 73 East Carolina A = 69.87 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 69.87 73 | 69.87 73 66 Houston A = 70.69 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 70.69 66 | 70.69 66 103 Marshall A = 62.73 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 62.73 103 | 62.73 103 100 Memphis A = 62.96 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 62.96 100 | 62.96 100 91 Rice A = 65.00 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 65.00 91 | 65.00 91 135 SMU A = 56.03 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 56.03 135 | 56.03 135 65 Southern Miss A = 71.21 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 71.21 65 | 71.21 65 101 UTEP A = 62.92 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 62.92 101 | 62.92 101 134 Tulane A = 56.04 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 56.04 134 | 56.04 134 53 Tulsa A = 73.69 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 73.69 53 | 73.69 53 118 UAB A = 59.56 0 0 0.00( 0) 0 0 | 0 0 | 59.56 118 | 59.56 118

Just curious, does that mean he is still under contract and being paid - just not on the roster this season? Sucks either way but hopefully he still has a job.

Alex/Playmaker, If you think that RV is going anywhere - hand over that pipe you are toking on. Sure, let's fire the AD that finally got a stadium built (the largest athletic project in the school's history) - and fire him while construction is going on to boot. I mean - come on man, football wins and losses are important, but what RV has done here is beyond greatness. I wouldn't be surprised if they named the damn thing after him by the time it is all said and done. And contrary to popular belief - Dodge was WANTED by the fans. Just go back on THIS BOARD and read the comments. He was also all that we could afford as we were buying out Dickey's contract. Dodge came in at a lower salary than Dickey left at. Why all the high school coaches? Part Dodge - part BUDGET. We had a certain amount to pay and Dodge (given that he had about 2 weeks to get an entire staff together for recruiting season) could either choose men that he had worked with for 10+ years or roll the dice on strangers from interviews. Hell, on paper - some coaches look "ok" - but when you really get to know him you wouldn't hire them or want to work with them. Dodge put them all on one year contracts and a couple worked out while most didn't. He has had time to get in some more experienced coaches now. It was a mistake - but do you not remember the press conference when Coach Dodge was hired? This fan base (and this message board) was Pumped Up! I had never watched a down of SLC football so I didn't have an opinion. I was just happy that Dickey was gone. Maybe the jubilation was half a sigh of relief that Dickey was finally gone and another group was happy to get Dodge after Rice and Tulsa had chased him for positions as well. I get where you are coming from as far as this is the year being make it or break it - either show improvement or get canned. That might mean wins, it might mean not getting beat by 45 points, whatever.. but improvement (expecially with this schedule) is EXPECTED. If the improvement is not there, it is time for Dodge to go somewhere else. But RV is not going anywhere for a long time unless HE decides to leave. And honestly, Dodge should have that improvement this year. It will probably be to the tune of 4 or 5 wins, tops... but it will be there. We won't beat an athletic budget of $80 million like you hope for, but we might be able to squeak one out against Army. Our fan base seems to have champagne tastes on a beer budget. If we would all give more than we could expect those wins against big time auto bid schools. Until then... we just have to remember our wins over Baylor, SMU, etc... those are our "big" wins for our generation. Fans from the 70's get to remember the Fry wins over Tennessee and Okie State and the like... but those were different times. Peace out, Steve

It is a silly idea, but it wouldn't be Bowl subdivision football. Here is a basic rundown. UNO plays 9 sports and still need to add 7 more just to get back to NCAA Div I requirements (they have a waiver from the NCAA until 2012). Now - keep in mind that they also have to meet the Sun Belt requirements of 16 sports in which the Belt offers a championship (so they can't just add women's bowling and stuff to get there). Going into this summer - they were going to shut down thier entire athletic program. There are major cutbacks going on all through the state of LA and UNO was having all subsidies pulled from their athletic dept. A vote by the students for a very modest athletic fee (that would generate the $2 million needed to operate the 9 sports they currently have) failed by a vote of 57 to 43. I think that it would have been $100 bucks per student per semester. Ayway - it failed. So the AD was basically letting the kids know that he would let them out of their ships - the department was going to fold... Along comes the owner of the Hornets and he gets together a group of business people in New Orleans to raise $2 million to keep them afloat for the next year (basically - their fans say that the vote was poorly worded and poorly executed and they wanted a re-vote with more research/time/effort). Those businessman came up with the cash and that is enough for the BARE minimum. Along comes this inheritance out of nowhere. Some dude that was worth $150 million passed away and divided his estate equally between the LSU, UNO, and Tulane athletic programs. He didn't go to school at those schools - was just very proud of his New Orleans heritage and didn't have family that he wanted to give it to. So the will has not been combed through yet... but initial figure are $45 million to UNO before any taxes. Athletic donations are not 100% tax deductible - but the guy is no longer with us... so I guess it would be taken out of the estate. I have no idea if there will be estate taxes by the time this gets sorted through as it is on temp restriction but expires soon (and doesn't expect to be renewed in its current state). Conservative estimates have said that the school might come out of it with $35 million (which would be only about 20-25% taxes).. So how far will $35 million take you? Honestly - not that far. They can get up to the required 16 sports to stay as a Div I program but there will be travel to go along with these new players, new equipment, new uniforms, new coaches, new scholarships, etc, etc.. They might be solvent for 3 or 4 years with the cash - but if the vote fails again - they will not have a plan for after... here is where football comes in... Students would vote for the fee if it involved football. UNO has talked about adding football for years. They have a club team and play at Tad Gumley park (seats about 24K), about 10 minutes away from campus... the problem is - they don't have enough money to go all the way with it (straight to FBS) so they will need to go the Lamar route through IAA. I don't know where that puts them with the Belt. I really think that this would be a good time to part ways with UNO. If they get their act together and add football (at the real Div I level) then we should look at them down the road - but for now, it is time to shake hands and thank them for the memories. They have been trying to cut corners in every way possible. Their swim team has been campaigining for "virtual" meets where they swim at UNO being timed by a ref. Those scores get faxed to another school who also would swin and have a ref time their scores and that would be the swim meet - pieces of faxed paper competing. That is how bad of shape they are in - they can't afford any type of travel - even to local schools in the area for things like swim meets. Their basketball attendance is poor. I dunno - when the announcement came out that they were dropping the program - their alumni didn't rally to save it like the Tulane alumni did, it took the owner of the local NBA franchise to save them with $2 million bucks from him and his friends. When Tulane faced these same problems a few years ago, their alumni came through and saved the day and students voted in a fee to keep it solvent. What UNO has is a bandaid on a broken leg right now. The will money made sure that they would have bandaids for the next few years and get their sports up to code - but it will take all the money to run the program and add the sports during that time. After... how do you pay for 16 sports when you can't pay for 9? Anyway - I know this was a long post but I have been following this on the Belt board. Football is being talked about because the school knows that they still need the fee (and another vote) and there is no way that they get the students to tax themselves even more without at least getting a football team out of it.

I bet that those SMU ticket takers will be busy counting those unused but "purchased" tickets, lol. And I hope that the 18K that does show up watch the Lumberjacks take it to them.

Kind of - all 11 Div I FBS conferences are BCS conferences and all members are BCS schools. There are 6 conferences that receieve auto-bids to the BCS bowls and the other 5 have to play their way in with a ranking of 12 or above (16 or above if an autobid conference does not have someone ranked in the top 16). So you are all right and wrong, lol. The Belt is a member of the BCS. North Texas is a BCS school. The Belt does not qualifiy for an auto-bid to a BCS bowl at this time. North Texas is not an auto-bid BCS school. The same statements can be made for any school in the MWC, the MAC, CUSA, and the WACky. We are all BCS schools and we all have a chance to be invited to a BCS bowl game if we finish with a ranking of 12 or above. That may seem like a reach for the Belt but it is possible with the right schedule and some upsets in OOC. Boise did it and the WAC did not have much of a higher power ranking than the Belt. They had struggling teams like NMSU, Idaho, San Jose, La Tech, USU at the time... but Boise won a couple of solid OOC games, and swept their conference (including beating Nevada, Fresno, and Hawaii) so they got in. Without being a BCS school, they would not have been given the BCS bid. It was not an auto-bid as a result of winning their conference like the big 6 - but it was a BCS bid because like the Belt, the WAC is a BCS conference.

No seat backs at the new stadium but we could always paint the benches

Looked for this post or link and didn't see it, sorry if it has been posted already but this is the highest pre-season ranking that I have seen so far. http://cfn.scout.com/2/883926.html

More info: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/con...720fauball.html Quote FAU football stadium closer to kick off under new development proposal Click-2-Listen By KIMBERLY MILLER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Monday, July 20, 2009 A football stadium for Florida Atlantic University is one step closer to kick off under a development proposal with the Boca Raton firm Crocker Partners. The plan, which will be discussed Wednesday by FAU trustees, begins with the construction of a $69 million, 1,226-bed residence hall that is part of the school's "Innovation Village." How Florida Atlantic University may pay for its football stadium. $12 million would go to FAU at the closing of a bond transaction for new residence halls to be built and managed by Crocker. The village includes a proposal for a long-sought 30,000-seat football stadium as well as retail space that so far FAU has been unable to finance. While some details for the new residence hall must still be hammered out, construction would be paid for with the sale of tax exempt bonds or taxable Build America Bonds through an independent direct support organization of the university. Most of the proceeds from the bond sale would go to Crocker Partners to finance the residence hall construction. An estimated payment of $12 million would be made to FAU up front from the bond sale proceeds. That money would then be used to help pay for the development of other facilities within Innovation Village. Crocker Partners would operate, maintain, and collect a portion of the proceeds from rent and fees of the new residence hall as well as FAU's current residence halls. Crocker Partners is responsible for many well known Palm Beach County developments, including Mizner Park in Boca Raton and the new 18-story CityPlace Tower in West Palm Beach. No one from Crocker Partners returned calls for comment. "The $12 million as well as any additional revenues can be applied to any component of Innovation Village, including the stadium," said FAU General Counsel David Kian, who is overseeing the plan. "It will provide a very important infusion of up-front cash that can be applied to the stadium's own financing plan." Kian said the plan giving Crocker management rights to FAU's residence halls will include termination provisions. The FAU Board of Trustees has said no public money can be used to pay for the estimated $62 million football stadium, leaving school officials scrambling in the current economy for private fund-raising dollars. The Crocker deal is an alternative that will provide the initial capital needed to go to the bond market. As originally proposed, concession and novelty item sales, parking fees, ticket sales and leasing of premium seats would help the stadium pay for itself over the life of a 30-year bond. Private fund-raising dollars would also be necessary, consultants warned in 2007 when trustees gave the go-ahead to pursue financing for the stadium. "As we are presenting information to banks, we are going to need hard evidence of community support," said FAU's Vice President for Finance Ken Jessell at the time. "I'm speaking from the heart: We need the corporate and business support, the support of alumni, of students, faculty, staff; we are going to need the support of this community. If we don't get that, then this will not happen." With the funding plan for the stadium still in its very early stages, the promised fall 2010 opening date isn't likely. According to Wednesday's proposal, the residence hall won't be ready until August 2011, and that's if construction begins between this November and February 2010. A second residence hall, also built by Crocker, will be constructed at a later date as needs merit. Both are expected to market exclusively to upper-division undergraduates and professional students.

I want to preamble this by saying that I am not a homophobe and have tons of friends that are gay. That being said - I had forgotten about the infamous boy on boy kiss cam crowd shot - live on ESPN from Murf. Anyway - enjoy. To each his own. http://sports.gay.com/2009/07/top-gay-foot...e-colleges.html

Ok, so FAU just sold all future dorms and curent dorms to a firm for $12 million bucks. This will be the money to start the bond process. They currently have 1200 beds and this proposal will increase that to 3600 or so. Worth it? Thoughts?

In the article, Coker says that they hope to be in the Southland conference by 2013. Like I said before - I believe that they are a decade away from being a serious contender for any Div I FBS conference. The SLC isn't going to help them get a program up and going and just let them leave - there will be stipulations on letting them join the conference for football. Maybe they will try to move up as a group?

Justin - check your FB account - I have the old script one and some douchebag in Austin ran into my truck, thus totalling it so it is just sitting in my garage. Rick made them and they look great. You can have it - its yours.

Don't really miss Idaho or USU. Both were expensive as hell to get to - minimum of a grand for one person to travel to either away game. Boring opponent at home. NMSU - good games. Nice little stadium and great fans. Wouldn't mind scheduling a home and home with them to see how we both measure up against one another. I would guess that we are both equally as bad. They are starting over yet again this year with yet another coach.

Another fun fact, we are a BCS team. Every team in the Belt is. We played 12 BCS teams last year, just like the year before. Now 6 BCS conferences have auto-bids to the BCS bowls but we are all BCS teams

From what I understand - Mr Goldfield is just sick of things being dragged out. Why aren't the suites being offered every weekend to anyone willing to listen? Why aren't donations being solicited in mass mailouts? Businessmen do not have patience for the wheels of bureaucracy and I don't blame them (us). I am sure that he would run this project like a business - fire anyone that is playing like it is business as usual (there are certain members of the staff that have chased off donors over the years that probably shouldn't be on the payroll anymore). This should be THE only priority for the department right now. Way too much money has been spent out of his pocket only to see people not pushing this harder. Imagine that you had put up $10,000 grand for this project and then told to wait. Well, you wait until the bill gets passed. You are told about the silent phase... and then you enter the non-silent phase... but it is just as silent as any other time. I know that the economy is in the crapper right now but businessmen think outside the box and figure out a way. Put together a group of 100 effective fans and tell them to start banging on doors and working phone banks. I will give you an example of how I would "think outside the box" with this project - We have about 3500 season ticket holders. About 500 of them donate at the $500 level to the MGC to sit in Section C, other donate at levels of $250 and $100 to sit in the surrounding sections. How about personally calling those 3500 people and asking them to make a 5 year commitment to their seats and donations. As a thank you - you "comp" their tickets for the first 5 years of the new stadium. The loss of income will not matter at that point because AFTER the stadiumis completed, the fee kicks in and the revenue can be subsidized by the student fee. So let's say that you talk 2500 people into a 5 year commitment of 1000 a year ($5,000 each). That's $12.5 million bucks with no single person donating more than a grand a year. I dunno - I just do not understand where all the options are. Where are the bricks for sale? Maybe you sell bricks for $200 bucks each ($100 bucks for a student). Let's say that you start selling them now and continue through the season. Could you sell 5,000 bricks? I think so. I would buy one. FFRick would probably buy one for each member of his family, so would Harry, so would pretty much every poster on this board. Why isn't this board being asked for money? Why are we out of the silent phase but still silent? The bill is passed, all excuses are gone now - what the heck is going on in Denton? I don't blame RV for this - but his loyalty to staff his impeding our progress. I know that one of our most loyal donors from the Dickey days will not give money because he as personally offended by a member of the staff. She has personally offended myself as well. Why is she still on the payroll? I have heard countless stories about her pissing off the little guys. The department doesn't have a whole lot of fire power and I expect hard decisions to be made in order for this to move forward. We all expected Dodge to fire his long term friend Mendoza when his Defense was not effective and I expect RV to fire any member of the staff that is not working 24/7 to make this happen NOW. If the economy is bad than you have to work that much harder. You have to make things affordable for people which means that you need a lot more donors to achieve the same result. There is no magic donor. Companies buy naming rights after the project is completed normally. UCF built their stadium on their own, Brighthouse came later. Troy rebuilt their stadium and Movie Gallery came later. I can't think of one stadium that secured the rights to a sponsor before the thing was actually built except maybe Louisville with Papa Johns. I know that there is a menu and prices available but unless people are out there selling those items, you have to look for it to know about it. It is time to rally the troops and get this sucker going. RV cannot do it alone, he certainly has gotten more done at NT than ANY OTHER AD IN NT's HISTORY - but he needs help. And accountability. Having Goldfield step away speaks volumes to me and I am not a "Sky is falling" type of guy. I know that it will get built but I just don't think that anyone has enough sincere passion for the product sans RV to get it going NOW - which is what we need.

Another one...

http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/ww...comments_anchor

That's harsh bro... people screw up. I am going to bet he was celebrating making it to a Superbowl... and had too much to drink. Got pulled over... career over. Any one of us would pay a hefty price but not be knocked down from the NFL to a start-up football league, you know? I will support him and hope for the best. God knows that I am not a perfect person, must be nice Love

Couldn't this be an opportunity for NT much like the one that Boise had when the Big West lost the Las Vegas Bowl? The Big West needed a bowl game, Boise stepped up to the plate and created one, and their program has taken off as a result. We would regularly beat Boise back in the Big West days... they were nothing more than a mediocre low rung FBS back then. In fact, Idaho was the stronger football program for most of the Big West days. Boise made some significant changes, including adding the Human Bowl... and they became an attractive candidate for the WAC. The Boise Bowl is not the signature bowl game for the WAC and their program has advanced itself to national prominence. TCU did the same thing with the Ft Worth Bowl and became attractive to the MWC. Hawaii controls their local game... etc etc.. We have a historic bowl in our backyard asking for new teams/conferences to carry on their tradition. Why not sponsor the bowl (like Boise, TCU, Hawaii) - broker a deal with CUSA and the Belt. CUSA is located in Dallas and has SMU, Rice, Houston, Tulsa - all would be good draws for the game. Belt has Arkie State, NT, both Louisiana schools... Troy would make the trip if invited, so would the MUTS. Why not help the Cotton Bowl folks get this off the ground and secure a spot for SBC #2 in the process? Heck, move SBC #1 into this new game and have SBC #2 go to New Orleans.

Good lord. Ok - I am wrong, you are right. Feel better? Go blog about it.

LOL.. you crack me up Quoner. Aztex - it always amazes me when someone takes one word out of a long post and gets offended. It sounds like you actually agree with me. The topic was - will UTSA have immediate success and be embraced by the city and be embraced by CUSA and are they a THREAT to NT's will to be in CUSA. My opinion is "no"... NCAA football is not the NFL. There is too much competition and UT-SA is not in the shape to snap their fingers and create a fan base overnight especially when they are already Div I and cannot draw diddly squat for their current teams. San Antonio has not embraced UT-SA, even though they love basketball and love the Spurs. San Antonio is a BEAUTIFUL city and when people come in from out of town that is the place everyone wants to go. I live in Dallas and I would bet that the demographic breakdown is similar. I will add to that - I don't live in Anglo-Saxon Dallas to the North.. I live down South with the brown people... and am pretty darn brown myself. This thread was not about any of that - it was about "Is UTSA and Coker going to pass NT" - I say not for decades. They may prove me wrong. I certainly am not a perfect person but I do not like your insinuations in any way. And yes - if a professional soccer team were to set up shop in San Antonio, I would say that it would be very successful and quickly. Not because San Antonio is inferior but because there is no competition. People aren't clammoring to become Dallas Whatever fans (I don't even know the name of the team) in Frisco. San Antonio has many UT fans as well as Tech, Houston, NT, Rice, A&M, even Texas State... that entire population doesn't just toss aside their allegiances to support yet another mediocre FBS wannabe.

I asked the g/f's mom where she heard that San Antonio was ranked the most dangerous city in the country... she said that she heard it on the radio on the drive to work... anyway - she said it was a list by the FBI. After looking around the internet - she was kind of right... but there are lots of lists. The FBI named the 5 "least safe" cities in the country (which is different than their most dangerous).. Again - most people flip it and call it most dangerous - from the SA paper's blog: And today comes out another list put out by the FBI. Top five most dangerous cities: 1. Memphis, Tennessee 2. Atlanta 3. San Antonio 4. Detroit 5. Milwaukee After reading a bit on the net - it looks like there are lots of list and I don't know what the criteria is. Sounds like it was just some radio mouths yapping. I still don't think that UTSA can suddenly develop "pride" and "new tradition" overnight. It's gonna take a LONG time IMHO. Decades.

That is laughable to say that SMU has a winning attitude. SMU has a lot in common with SLC in that a lot of kids drive expensive Euro cars and rich people like to network with other rich people. I am glad that we have cut off that pipeline... those kids can't hack it at NT, too spoiled. Soon we will have nicer facilities than SMU but this won't change - little rich kids want to be around other little rich kids.