Monkeypox

Combination of play calling, QBs, OL, and WR. Morris is back in. Missed a WR open on a crossing route and the pass was tipped for an INT. Our WR can't seem to get open, TBH.

I don't think we've looked good throwing the ball, no matter who was back there. Either WR can't get open or our QBs can't get them the ball. It's VERY reminiscent of Dodge offense. We can run or throw it from -1 to 7 yards. Of course as soon as I say that, Morris makes a good throw downfield.

Wilson looks good. Mason can move. Not thrilled with the OL or passing game.

I don't really know how to read this. I think the answer will come with conference play. We all knew the competition was close and the coaching staff was high on Fine. But they might just be letting the QB competition play out into the season. Excited to see the kid play, for sure.

("Fly Like an Eagle" ends) PA: "Tee it high and let it fly, like an eagle, you know, the bird, the one that's our mascot, Scrappy, that was Eppy before that, but was Scrappy before that, it's technically a bald eagle, but not really bald, just white head feathers, comes from the English 'piebald,' which comes from magpies, which is another bird, which are related to crows, and not eagles." ("Fly Like an Eagle" begins) End of Game

My bold prediction: Mason Fine transfers in 2017 after creepy season of strange dudes walking up to him and standing back-to-back with him to take photos and soliciting high-fives only to pull out measuring tape to measure the width of his palms and wingspan.

UNT follows the Wesley Snipes Rule for parking passes.

Hell.

All that said, I can only guess at a player's height based on a photo like that, and I think the margin of error would be probably within about the two inch range that everyone's arguing about. (2 inches from 5'8"-5'10"). Either way, at any height from 5'8"-5'11", his height will be a factor. But he's got time to learn how to deal with it in this offense. He's a baby right now. Getting him real game experience is only going to help (as long as he stays healthy), and the situation on Saturday was a fine opportunity (no pun intended). Hopefully we can put ourselves in a better position this weekend to do it again, by being UP a couple of touchdowns, instead of down. Although, I'm totally mentally prepared for either situation, unfortunately. Speed of the game. It's a big jump from high school to college, college to NFL. Get used to the game speed.

Combine listed Harrell at 74" on the dot.

Yeah, I got it now. Now it's worse. It's like making people work really hard to EARN their rotten food.

You'd have a hard time giving away free steaks if the restaurant they came from had given people diarrhea for 20 years.

Stalling out in the Red Zone has killed them. 21-20 Arkansas, 6min left in the game.

La Tech up on Arkansas 20-14. 5 min to go in the 3rd.

La Tech even with Arkansas. 14-14 with 1:32 to go in the half.

Houston is giving OU everything they got. 10-6 OU in the 2nd. Houston ball.

You can get more excited for some games than others. I can't control people's emotions. Geography matters, but so does conference affiliation, big games, and history. Using your logic, we should be rivals with everyone from TCU to Abilene Christian. There's plenty of schools located close to each other that don't give a damn. Because there's never been a reason. You can ignore all those other reasons why rivalries exist, and what makes them rivalries. If your only argument is "look how close they are" and a handful of games, you just don't have much to go on. No. Not all games are equal. Our conference games matter significantly more to our team and school than our non-conference game with SMU. It's possible our non-conference games might some day be meaningful, but not until we separate ourselves from the rest of our conference. In the meantime, UTSA, La Tech, Rice, and even UTEP make more sense for us as rivals. They have geography going for them AND we're in the same conference. Also, we recruit against those schools quite a bit as well. Next step is playing for something meaningful, and putting together a history. Yes, to me there is no rival for us. We could establish one, but it's going to take a while. And then we'd have to maintain it. For us, at this point, there's really not much of an option for a non-conference rival, because that ship has sailed. So we're going to have to establish one in conference, and then we'll have to KEEP PLAYING against them. Part of our problem, dating back to Sun Belt days, is that neither we nor any of our conference mates were consistently good enough that we were always playing for something. Now, it's certainly possible, given the length of this series that IF both Morris and Littrell do what they came to their respective schools AND the series continues to 2025, that it will form a solid rivalry. But that's a lot of "ifs" to me. And if nothing's ever at stake for either team, it's going to fizzle out like it always has. A 101-yr-old series with 90+ games in it, played every year since 1946 except for 2001 and 2003. They've also played like 200 times in basketball.

So 25 years of being in the same conference isn't a factor, including the last 20 years? And that's not considering all the other factors I listed that make it different from the "SMU-UNT Rivalry." If the "fanbase" is 100 people across a couple of message boards, then I don't think that's representative of a rivalry with a school as large as ours. And, as I've already pointed out, all those other rivalries include conference factors AS WELL AS long histories and meaningful games. Something we just don't have with SMU. SMU's fanbase still lives in the glory days of the SWC. Our fanbase worries that if the game is on TV, nobody will be in the stands. That's not a rivalry.

I'm looking forward to "The Unauthorized Mason Fine Story" on Lifetime in 2032.

Well, most of those actually pre-date the modern conferences. But still, every rivalry on your list except for UNT-SMU has conference affiliation being a factor in it.... there are few that exist outside of that. So apparently, conference affiliation matters. UT-OU Rivalry - Since 1900. Played 100+ times. Known as Red River Rivalry. Multiple trophies awarded. Started back when Oklahoma was known as Oklahoma Territory. UT-A&M Rivalry - First meeting in 1894. Played every year from 1915-2011. The schools actually have lines about each other in their fight songs. 3rd longest rivalry in history. Bonfire, Hex, Wheaties box... UT-Arkansas Rivalry - Played 78 times since 1894. Their 1969 meeting called the "Game of the Century" (you'll note there were more than one on this list). Texas Tech-UT Rivalry - First played in 1928. Played annually since 1960. Played 65 times. Trophy known as Chancellor's Spurs. OU-OSU Rivalry - First played in 1904. Played over 100 times. Known as Bedlam series and across multiple sports. TCU-Baylor - First played in 1899. Called The Revivalry. Played 111 times. Series currently tied. History of closely contested games. Both schools formed in same city. TCU-SMU - Played all but 6 years since 1915. Iron Skillet trophy. The New York Sun referred to their 1935 meeting for the Rose Bowl the "Game of the Century." .................................................................... UNT-SMU "Rivalry" - Played 35 times since 1922, but only 6 times since 1990. No trophy awarded. Never in same conference. Nobody cares about either school. And it's not just asking fans of those schools. It's asking people who are fans of other schools or uninvested. If you ask my mom, who knows nothing of college football, who OU's rival is, she'll tell you Texas. If you ask a casual college football fan, they'll tell you Texas or OSU. It is known. With former SWC schools, you might get a variety of answers, but they'll just about all be SWC schools. If you ask anybody at all, with the exception of a handful of people on this board, who UNT's rival is, they'll shrug. You ask here, you get an annual debate. Because we've been in 3 different conferences in our 20+ year history since moving back up, and we've only been competitive in a handful of seasons. Few meaningful games even in our own conferences, and none of the rivalries have been particularly regional or with big enough schools to move the needle. We actually have a real chance of forming a long-standing rivalry with UTSA, much to the chagrin of many here, including myself. Hell, perhaps over the next 50 years or so, we might form one with SMU, too. But you need a long, consistent history. And two teams in the low rungs have a hard chance of forming a rivalry if there's nothing at stake. So for UNT-UTSA, they have to separate themselves from the rest. When you look at the history of these things, it's usually 1) the two biggest schools in the state and/or 2) competing against each other in a conference. Well, we're not one of the two biggest schools in the state, and, even if we were, we weren't at the time to establish ourselves a state "representative" in that way. And we've never been in a conference with SMU or competed for anything meaningful with them. That's really what's happened with TCU-Baylor. Their rivalry wasn't as strong TCU-SMU or even TCU-Rice back in the SWC days for whatever reason. Both of them being contenders ramped it up in recent years.

Yep. Being on TV all the time is what's kept us from having good attendance all these years.

Texas Tech had SWC rivalries with Texas and A&M that carried into the Big 12. With A&M leaving and UT and Tech faltering, its weaker now, but still real. Like SMU, those rivalries are more dormant these days, for a variety of reasons. But they're still actual rivals, with a solid historical foundation that still carries through for current students and alumni. Baylor's is TCU. All the SWC privates hated each other, and then sort of collectively hated the big publics. But they're still strong rivals with TCU now. Probably the strongest rivalry going right now in the Big 12. They've played each other 100+ times going back to the 1800s and they're about even in record.

We're not rivals in any sense except that we both have sucked for so long, we'll do anything for attention. SMU at least has some historic rivals with TCU, Baylor, Rice... they've just done such a bad job SINCE the death penalty that those have gone dormant. This is purely coach speak. There's no clearer proof that SMU isn't our rival than the fact that we have to debate it every year on this board, and this board only represents the handful of hardcore fans that still give a damn. If they were our rival, there'd be no debate.

All I got was a punch in the stomach and a pack of cigarettes.