FireFightnJoey

Happy birthday!

The very frist one that comes up is this one... One opinion: Here's why Mike Leach to North Texas could work And a quote ... "I believe it could be a good fit."

I liked Vito's comparison to JJ's interim HC stint at Memphis and his path to get to UNT as a HC. I think it is a long shot for Canales to be our next HC. Not because I don't think he deserves it. What he accomplished this Satruday and that video of him in the locker room really peaked my interest in him as HC and I didn't think that way prior. UNT is at a crossroads. Like someone said, UNT is in a position of opportunity that comes once in most fans lifetime. I think they coined it something about opportunity of a generation. The stadium is Canales' achillies heel. This is the time to make a splash hire. SMU "ponied" up and brought in June Jones, TCU has had Patterson, and now Briles seems to be getting it done at Baylor. That is our region and we have to keep up with them. Otherwise we will remain where we are in the pecking order. Doesn't matter what happens in the rest of the country. UNT needs that big contributor. We need a Leach type hire and I think that type of hire will pay for itself. I am just using Leach as an example before too many of you get on this whole tangent why Leach is not obtainable. But that type of hire is what you need, because he will win and he will fill the stadium with many new butts in the seats. We don't have the luxury of another experimental hire. I really think the right coach will awaken the sleeping giant that is UNT. I look forward to the day that we schedule those body bag games and walk away with wins.

Somebody give him a +1 to offset my fat finger mistake. I accidentally gave him a -1.

I would imagine that Tech would attract a similar crowd. Let's hope with the recent success and confidence in our team, our fans will come out in larger numbers.

What about a Gibbs-ish kinda of slap ... is this ok? Gibbs Slap Montage

Happy birthday Rick!

Speechless...

I thought Riley played lights out last night. I'm still a Riley fan and between him and Dunbar, they carried this team. Some of those scrambles in the back field kept plays alive to make some excellent gains. You would not have had that with Tune or Thompson. Some of our receivers had some great plays too. It was refreshing to see our O march down the field like they did on that last drive. In the past I would have just started drinking early! lol

Pernalties are killing us. Almost 50 yards in the 1st quarter. That is discipline at its best.

Anyone see the A&M v OSU game last night. OSU was sporting black jerseys. Horrible.

So, $6,250 over 5 years is $1,250 a year. 1,250 500 (MGC) 700 (Tickets) === $2,450 a year for 5 years and then it drops to $1,200 a year after. That is not bad at all. I got a little business venture starting next year and reaaaaally hoping it works out so I can purchase a couple seats!

Many fire departments down here around Houston moved plans up a couple years to build new fire stations all because of the economy. Looking at savings of a 1/3 of the total cost prior to the downturn. A station we speculated to cost around 3 million plus will cost a little over 2 million since we decided to move the construction date up. Added to that were incentives to commit by the end of the year. Construction companies are hurting for revenue. I think UNT lucked out on timing and got a heckuva deal.

Texas Tech seemed to run an offense that was all short passes and they did it well. I remember them tearing us apart running that dink pass to the outside and churning up yards. A glaring problem on saturday is that the coaches were not prepared for a game plan around Riley. The coaches were down to 1 prepared QB. They had a week to get a second person some practice and be prepared for it. What was their plan for next year when Tune was gone. That should have been their number 2. It was all panic mode when Thompson went down. I'm interested to see what happens this saturday and see what Canales brings to the table this week. If they start stacking 8 in the box, you don't need long deep passes to burn a defense. The one thing we seem to have is some fast kids. We'll see if Canales was the hire we thought he would be ... can he adjust. Riley never was able to bring the deep ball and now it appears with his injuries to his arm, he won't have much zing in his mid range passes. But, the kid is an athlete and still brings some weapons. He can run and we shouldn't have to worry about INTs . Canales was excited to game plan around Riley when he got here. Now he's got his chance. I'm trying to get out of the doom and gloom that we are dead in the water with our #1 and #2 qbs out and the other injuries. With the speed and playmaking ability of Dunbar, Hamilton, and Dodge in the back field and the speed of Stradford, Jackson and the other WRs ... you can game plan around that. Plenty of ways to get redirection. I don't see how you do any of this without truly utilizing tight ends. Then again, just may have to crack open that case early this saturday ...

That is called investment. I have no doubt that the ROI for that investment would be possible sell outs every week, an overnight huge increase in MGC, plus a buzz around this program that would dwarf what we had when Dodge first came on board. I think we'd convert hundreds of Tech fans to dual UNT fans. And I think he'd win his first year with the leftovers. I would love for Leach to come here. I also know that will never happen. But we need that kind of hire. The timing of Nienas and athletic fee may be foretelling? We have to invest in a big hire or commit to being who we are today.

Dodge has 10 games left to get 7 wins. But, just based off schedule, every week becomes more of a daunting task. But, he still has that chance. I personally think this game is a make it or break it in terms of what to expect. If he loses, then at best starts 1-3 with a Sunbelt win. This is not the same Sunbelt Dickey was coaching. You have to be a good team to win 7+ games in conference which is what it is going to take because I do not see us winning against KSU as it stands today. If he does that, then he may have just turned the corner with this team, because that is going to take a well executed and disciplined team. I think the Rice game will still swing in his favor. If we finish 6-6 and we have a couple losses close like this that he can point to player mistakes, we may see him next season. A new related question: If Dodge goes 6-6 AND wins the conference, which means a NOLA bowl trip, does RV keep him? This is possible if all his wins come against Sunbelt teams. I'd say he got lucky and saved his job. Even though he didn't make his 7 wins, how do you fire a coach who won your conference and took you to a bowl?! Still early in the season and there are lots of scenarios in which he can pull things out. I personally hope he pulls it off, because I don't want the last 4 years to be a waste.

Have you seen the new pics posted by KingDL? It looks like a stadium and you can see the bowl with the stands going up on the endzone and student side. That thing is going to look awesome. You can see Fouts directly behind it and it looks so blah in comparison. No way that Ford is better.

Thank you for being the good ambassador for North Texas. A quality that stands out in you is perseverance which I hope serves you well during this time. I hope you have a speedy recovery. Don't worry about the season. The most important thing you can do now is to take care of yourself and not push it to try to get back for a few games. Like SUMG said, there is always a medical redshirt.

Stratford has some wheels!

Looks like the same team as last year. Poor ST, turnovers and big plays. Offense moving the ball some. More things change, the more they stay the same. Low yardage == big points for our opponent.

I live in Houston and haven't hardly noticed anything Houston has done. Until last season around the Tech win. So, one good season gets them all this attention? But, this season, there has been a lot of Houston commercials and promotions all over the media. They have stepped it up with their marketing. That is gonna be a nice stadium in a very very bad part of town. Maybe it will help with rejuvenating that area.

Anyone notice at the 1:46 mark the referee give the Clemson player a "butt pat". Biased refs again! After watching that first big run for the TD at the 00:50 mark, Clemson #55 looks to be holding our player who effectively couldn't finish wrapping up and making the tackle. He still should have wrapped up better to tackle the RB at the line. But the Umpire is right there scared out his butt because he knows he's about to get squashed and can't make any call? The ref then effectively blocked two of our guys, Robertson and Cook? So the more I look at this play, it looks more and more as just a bad break.

I remember reading the blog that we had quite a few defensive guys not traveling. Seemed we were thin and I remember saying before the game it might not be pretty. With that said, I give the D a little more credit if they were really that thin. But 35 points in a game that Clemson had 1/3 of the clock is not promising. Take the two BIG plays away and they're down to 21. So, I keep telling myself somewhere in between is our D! lol And that I could live with as being exceptional progress from last year. They have to keep those big plays to a minimum. I am curious if any of you guys could analyze the guys that didn't travel and how that might change the strength of our D. At the half I said Tune wasn't mobile and was maybe a little harsh on him. I keep comparing to Rodge, but Tune can get the yards when necessary and proved it. The pocket collapsed fast on him often and I give him big props for being so calm and collected. Give him a few more seconds and I think he will start eating up defenses with the pass. These guys have to execute better in the red zone and FINISH! But, Tune's TD pass to Carey was just awesome. Some of his passes that were for 10 yards plus had some zip on them. He can fling the ball. I think that TD and Canales were still playing a little conservatively with a game plan to eat clock balanced with some good strikes. They executed it well and just had some bad breaks here and there. Penalties killed us. But again, take those BIG plays away and the 14 points and I think the game plan would have gotten stepped up a little. I got all giddy last year after Ball State. So, I'm holding my breath and continuing to "wait and see".

Our D is atrocious. They've given up 35 points in less than 15 minutes of possession! Its our offense that is making us look like we belong on the field with the exception of not being able to score. If they haven't kept the clock running and controlling possession, we'd be in dire straits! I'm still not optimistic for this season. I need something to give me hope!

Hell YEAH!