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Good article on The Runners (their nickname still makes me laugh, makes me think of someone having the runs...) http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/college_sports/utsa/article/Roadrunners-make-another-statement-with-a-crowd-2187532.php

I wonder who will be next... surely they won't stay at 13...

Completely agree. I have been adamently against UTSA going FBS and being considered for Sun Belt membership - for all the reasons stated in this thread and others... but they are surprising me. There is very little competition for the sports entertainment dollar in San Antonio - they have the Spurs and that is it. I didn't think that the city would rally around them because UTSA has always been kind of a joke down there. But they are developing a pride in that program. My post included a statement that they should continue to move up in the WAC until they see success and then get consideration. The needle has moved from "absolutely not" to "maybe someday" for me. And Rudy - not sure if you have been following their progress; but this is literally their first year of football (at any level) so they naturally have NAIA and Div III, II, and FCS on their schedule to build up the team. They are making a quick transition (partially at the WAC's request) and will be playing FBS and FCS games next year - with a regular FBS schedule in 2013.

It is very hard to explain the San Antonio culture. When the city buys in, they lock onto the team and do not let go. There is a large latino population that has chosen to support the team. They are getting the support from the city - not from the alumni. They have sold 10K season tickets and since they play in the Alamo Bowl, they have beer sold at the concession stands - just like a pro game. This is their NFL team now - that was what the school set out to build and somehow they have pulled it off. The one thing that student fees and higher athletic budgets cannot buy is support. SMU spends millions and millions each year trying to give away tickets to get people in the games - they still don't come. UTSA has somehow rallied the city of San Antonio behind the program. I think their attendance will level out at 30K and go up with success. Just do a search for some game pics - it is one hell of a party down there on game day.

My post was not about their win yesterday over Bacone - it was their attendance and the atmosphere. Look, any school can spend enough money to get a winning team on the field. We have seen that time and time again. The most difficult part of playing big time college football is getting butts into the seats to watch the game (as was evident in our 21K attendance yesterday against a Big 10 team). If UTSA can get 32K for an NAIA school named "Bacone" - how many will show up when a real opponent comes to town? I have been adament that those guys would fail because of how bad the city has supported UTSA over the years in terms of basketball support... and the general attitude about UTSA down in SA. But the perception is changing. Football is bringing credibility to that campus. Look up some pictures of their games - they are all wearing UTSA gear, painted up, tailgating - their fans are acting like a fan base that has been around for decades. I was talking to NM Green before the game yesterday and we both agreed that it is sometimes better to have no history than bad history... those guys do not have decades of apathy to overcome because their was nothing to be mad about. And the city is supporting them just like El Paso supports UTEP.

UTSA is doing much better (in terms of support) than I thought they would. They have leveled out at about 30K for attendance with the city supplying a good portion of those fans. My girlfriend is from San Antonio and when I first told her about the start up football program down there, she dismissed it. Yesterday some of her old friends went to the game and they were won over. It looks like the city will support it - as opposed to the UTSA basketball team - because they are playing in the Alamo Dome, so the city is treating it like a pro team. And if they start winning and playing name teams, that attendance will go up.... So I can't believe that I am going to say this but the Belt should really consider UTSA for membership. If we don't, they will find a home somewhere. The WAC is not going to make it through this mess so UTSA will need a home when they transition. Let them make the move up with the WAC and when they start to move up the rankings, invite them to the Belt. They would jump all over that invite (just like La Tech will) - the WAC will be dessimated with no tv, no BCS membership, and no bowl opportunities after this year. That would give us the 12 teams: East: FIU FAU Troy MT WKU USA (divisional play would open up opportunities to increase rivalries) West: ASU La Tech ULM Louisiana North Texas UTSA (three Louisiana schools, two in Texas, and one Arkansas school that is an easy drive up the Interstate) This is an old map - from when UNO and Denver were still in the league - but you can see how both La Tech and UTSA would fall nicely into our footprint. Any money that we would lose be splitting the pie into more pieces will be more than saved by the geography of this regional play. Of course, La Tech might demand to be in the West or East specifically to stay away from ULM - but I would take a hard stance against any concessions to them. They will need us much more than we will need them. If they won't play ball, we bring in Texas State-San Marcos instead. NMSU is just too freaking far away (but I would love to schedule them for an OOC series). This post has been promoted to an article

The band is freaking HUGE this year. Anyone know how many members are playing on game day? Seems to be the largest I have ever seen them.

Slight correction.... We are a BCS school. Our conference does not get an automatic bid to a BCS bowl game, but all FBS teams are in the BCS. That changed a fee years ago... but none the less, it was our first win against an auto bid BCS school since 2003 (when we destroyed Baylor)

Especially since they are playing North Dakota State on the road... so they will play a FCS school on the road, but not NT? I guess this is about money. We still need revenue and replacing a road game with a road game with Iowa increases the chances for a win. At least a little bit.... if they give us a return game, we likely lose the guarantees for the other 2 games. I am going to guess that this is about the Benjamin's. Iowa will open the 2015 season at home against Illinois State, then play at Iowa State, at home against Pittsburgh and host North Texas. In 2016, Iowa opens at Kinnick Stadium against North Dakota State, then hosts both Iowa State and Central Michigan. In 2017, Iowa plays at Iowa State and hosts North Texas again. Iowa still is looking for an opponent in 2016 (likely on the road) and 2017 (a home game).

Its not like the LHN gets first or even second choice. If the conference doesn't like it, they just put all Texas games on the tube, it would be a challenge and they would ask for more money, but that money would be shared and there would be nothing left but UTSA games for the LHN. NT has had TV agreements that got all games on TV before. It was a local contract and the station could not override the Big West contract if ESPN wanted to have first rights at a game. But the LHN is no different other than the pay. Whereas UNT got a negligible kickback from advertisements, UT will get a guarantee. The LHN doesn't have a guarantee of anything. They still have to get people to watch and advertisers to pay and cable outlets to pick it up. Honestly, this is much adeui about nothing. It will probably go belly up as the business plan does not seek sustainable. Texas has not disagreed to share their first tier content or even the second tier. The LHN would only show games that had not been picked up by the conference's TV contract. So the conference contract gets first picks. The regional carrier gets to pick second. Anything left over, the LHN can air. All schools have this same right and this is really an experiment. If it works, there will be plenty of copycats that choose this method of third tier, picked through content delivery over the current method of online streaming. Do you guys think that Belt schools should get a kick back from Mean Green Premium revenue?

FIU got 11 votes in the coaches poll and 4 in the AP. A win next week would get them close to top 25 material. A win against Duke in week 5 (at home) will get them in the top 25. Just goes to show you that the conference isn't holding any of our teams back...our brutal OOC schedules are. I am going to be cheering for FIU all year. This might sound crazy but they could be a BCS buster with a little luck and a Boise loss.

Sprint was working great but they share towers with Verizon. No problems at all with texts or calls, data was a little slow. In the AA center, Sprint works great and ATT sucks. At the Ballpark in Arlington its the exact opposite, Sprint is spotty in the actual park ..OK in the concourse and ATT works good inside but not out. Its the placement of the towers, the frequency, and the carrier. Metro piggybacks on the old iDen network i think (Nextel and other pre paid) and is sometimes strong but not in crowded places.

The funny thing about Bleacher Report is that people discredit it when they don't like the article and play it up when they do. Our school's administration published this huge piece in our alumni newsletter and later in The North Texan that our band had been named the "top marching band in the nation" by the "prestigious sports authority - Bleacher Report" - I almost fell out of my chair when I read that.

The small touches were probably the most impressive to me on Saturday. There were bathroom attendants in every restroom. I expected this type of level at the club and suite level but there were attendants in the endzone bathrooms, ready to sweep up any crumb that might fall on the ground. As I walked into the stadium, the ticket scanners greeted me with "Welcome to Apogee Stadium" and they were so polite and courteous. The "seat nazis" were probably the best ambassadors of the day - and they were completely cool with letting me wander around and take pictures. I joked with the concierge up at the suite level that even small restaurants get to do a "soft open" to work out the kinks - but they were so attentive and so happy to listen to feedback. I told the suite attendant that I could offer only one suggestion to improve the experience and that would be to pipe the radio broadcast into the restrooms like the Mavs and Cowboys do... she thanked me for the idea, took out a pen and wrote it down. First class all the way around - from the big things right down to the little things. What a great day it was.

And matching hats... they were pretty coordinated yesterday!

Thank you!

I tried to "embed" this video - does anyone know how to pull that off?

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Those were all full paying ticket holders last night. I noticed that it was on 3/4 full well into the 1st quarter. Guess where those fans were? Standing in line for 'walk up tix' I think our fans will know to buy tickets in advance from now on. There were some grumblings about only have end zone seats available. Those upper decks in the expanded Houston section were unsold Houston tix. Yes we sent them 4k tix but they did not sell them all (at least it didn't look like they sold them). Personally I would rather break the attendance record with momentum. The crowd was solid and gives us room to grow.

That is actually a valid statement... here is the real question, would the Mean Green go for putting a couple of games on the Longhorn Network? It certainly could be done along with the Sun Belt Network - much like the BIG 10 Network shows their games on various regional sports stations. Personally, I don't really care if we are on a "Longhorn Network" - I wouldn't choose it over any of the ESPN channels... but I would choose it over the internet options currently available.

That is silly, for the sq footage that was closed down, there have been more sq footage opened back up and/or converted to bar space. Yes, Cool Beans lost the extension - but Joe's Cleaners turned into a bar. Yes, the Tomato went away - but Eagle Book and Supply became a bar. Yes, Bagari's was demolished and so was Mr Chopsticks - but Riprocks and Lou's both added huge beer gardens out front - Rick's Place opened back up after a decade shutdown, the old First State Bank became Crooked Crust Pizza, Muthers added a huge side beer garden and became the Garage, The Tavern expanded, and State Club became Jimmy Johns. There are more options down on Fry now then there were 10-15 years ago - and they are all bigger and better than the memories in your heads. Plus the construction is finally underway and the empty lots where the Tomato once stood will soon be filled with new college hangouts, this time with condos on the second and third floors and more parking for the area. I would say that Fry Street has gotten better, not worse - just my opinion. I don't miss the run down comic book stores or empty barber shops THAT much :>).

Denny, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Steve

TEMPLE got kicked out of a BCS conference and have been relegated to the MAC... but they basically kicked themselves out. They were asked for a plan to increase commitment and attendance and they said to hell with ya!