Legend500

This ignores, of course, that the P5s have some pretty big splits within themselves. The teams that have the most to lose from P5s splitting off are P5 teams who aren't in the special 24 that would leave. There will then be opportunities for consolidation and some departures for the remaining P5s. This will undoubtedly sweep up some G5s, but by then everything will be burning already. The last round of realignment was about inventory, but with less money to spend and with inventory assured, the next round will be about optimization and efficiency. In this, Wren is well ahead of the ball and doing a great job. You can safely assume that Texas, Oklahoma and A&M will be part of the "optimization," so building ties with the have-beens is incredibly important right now. Wren sees this efficiency trend coming, which is why adding Houston and Baylor to our schedule to make us an Texas-centered program is so important. UNT's aim should always be to be in the conference with the most Texas teams. That guarantees exposure, enhances attendance, and provides some viewership buy in which doesn't fully exist now. While we're a ways from the promised land, a certain number of programs leaving the NCAA is to our benefit. If the 24 model is what happens, for example, it leaves the XII in very precarious shape. In that case, it's up to Tech, Houston and us to get everybody wrangled into one SWC. It's a pipe dream now, but every G5's efforts in the state should be driven towards an ultimate goal of a reborn SWC with some combination of Baylor, Houston, Rice, SMU, TCU, Texas State, Texas Tech, UNT, UTEP, and UTSA, with the possible addition of LATech, NM, NMSU, OSU, Tulsa, and Louisiana.

Yeah, but he went to Jesuit which means he's one of "those" guys. No I don't know what I mean, either.

Good hire by USC, but who's gonna be their OC for the other three quarters?

There's totally not someone around here in discussions to take over while he's getting sorted.

I have confirmed through my sources that Rhule is gone and that SL is leaving to become an assistant investigator for the Special Prosecutor's Office in a complicated trade which involves bears (the animal), bears (humans), a keg of Brunch Money, Patrick Stewart, the New York Jets, the FBI, a pinecone, and lubricant. IT'S OFF-SEASON HOORAY! Other off-season news: - The AAC is breaking up, and in order to avoid being in a conference with any team they "don't like," SMU is joining the Hokkaido American Football Association. - UTSA is being split between the Texas, North Texas and San Antonio College systems, and is now NTUTSAC. - In order to add stability, the Sun Belt is adding St. Mary's University and Texas Wesleyan. - Dabo is actually the religious alt-universe Nick Saban. - Lee Corso is starting a convention that travels with Gameday named "Furry Silver Fanz" and full fursuits are required. More on these developments as they occur to me.

This says less about the entirety of FBS and much more about the fact that the P5 itself is splitting, with BiG, ACC and SEC on one side and PAC 12 and Big XII on the other. We're barely into January, and the XII has already lost coaching competitions to the AAC and CUSA. There's trouble afoot.

The xtube.com Hyper Pit.

My first time back in the Super Pit for a year. It may be lipstick on a pig, but it's damned fine lipstick. The Hyper Pit will come, but right now we've already got a fine facility. Teams couldn't buy, beg or (in UNT's case) literally steal baskets in the first 5. And it wasn't that some of the shots weren't close - plenty of of in & outs. Then the winds changed and all of a sudden THWOCK every dozen seconds. I normally cringe when teams start throwing a stack of 3s. It's nice not to have to do that for once.

Ah it's the usual everyone is out to get us worry. It hasn't been true for years - splitting the DFW and Houston markets has made more sense for ESPN and FOX than for the schools themselves. The fact that two of the teams mentioned are perfectly happy to spend a rare OOC slot to play us home and home also gives proof to the lie. If you offered an equivalent payout, you'd have every non-P5 Texas team in the same conference. Unfortunately, that'd be terrible business for ESPN back during the last GoR period. The G5 has 3 top-heavy conferences (MWC, AAC and SBC) and 2 parity conferences (CUSA and MAC). There's pluses and minuses to both approaches. Ultimately it dooms the teams in both from getting into a playoff - if UCF had played Boise, UAB or Appy their argument would be much stronger. But the AAC's design means that even undefeated teams won't have a chance because they spend half of the year beating up on children.

So should we start with realignment, uniforms, band griping, hating on SMU and UTSA, critiquing architectural drawings, or something else this year?

I'ma just frame this and send it to SMU's booster. He'll love it #CJK5H

Wait I just remembered it’s not 2004 and we’re supposed to be excited about playing Utah State. Sorry I forgot which decade.

Mountain West? They’re not gonna get into the MWC. That’d be like Utah joining the PAC10. WAC will replace UTEP with them when Big East steals from the CUSA. Of course, by then UNT will be in the Big East. Who they gonna take? They’re not desperate enough to take low end schools like Tulane, Tulsa or SMU. That’s almost as silly as saying they’d take Wichita State for basketball.

All I know is that I'm definitely taking the over. My guess, however, is that the defense shows up, but the offense forgets how to football in the 2nd half again. Utah State is one of the better teams in the Sun Belt, and they would know our offensive problems in the second half. 48-28 Utah State. Please don't hate, your words can grate. Now I must go or I'll be late.

My group of friends have been doing a ranking of all (now 20) Division 1 teams in Texas for 10 years now, and it was pretty evident - this is the worst year the state as a whole has had in quite a while. Im very aware and try to avoid homerism, but this list pretty much matches up with ours, with the exception of Houston, who we ranked significantly lower. The case for any team not Texas or A&M this year is rough, and after the first 3-4, which were easy, the next 16 were terribly difficult, Such a year favors us significantly

i like this a lot. motherfuckingeagles.com now redirects to it. very nice.

Who are they gonna hire to be the OC for the other 3 quarters?

From what I understand, in the recent past, people would go outside in the morning, cut down and skin a tree, and then hire a "news-man" to come over and write the news on the dead tree. Barbaric.

EVEN BETTER! Not only has there been no flights between Manhattan (KMHK) and Denton (KDTO)... there's an incredibly important private plane flight to Denton right now! It left from College Station, which means Jimbo to UNT CONFIRMED!!! Seriously we need to slow down. Coaching speculation usually starts in March. If we start now, we'll hit "351 reasons why the Alamodome is a party tent for a party that never happened" by February, and "Inside Sources: Big XII is going to 16 and taking UNT, Hawaii, 日体大, Buffalo, UMass-Boston and Starfleet Academy!" by June.

I like Manhattan, KS, as I like most places - but it was the sort of place that reminded me that towns like Omaha, Wichita, or Tulsa actually have tourism ad campaigns that aren't ironic. I knew I had to get out of Omaha quickly when I saw my first "Des Moines! Catch the Excitement!" TV ad.

I think we're all missing the obvious play here. Put Sean Snyder at the top of the list.

Agreed. What happened against LaTech and UAB is absolutely understandable - when the best teams in the division play, someone has to lose, and it usually comes down to mistakes or outstanding play. It's what happened at ODU, and what nearly happened against the sub-basement UTs which is a problem. UT-New Mexico and UT-Incarnate Word should not have been anywhere near close.

I was there for 1-11. I sat through 7 overtimes against FIU because both teams were so terrible and it got funny. I remember beating Baylor and SMU at Fouts for the first time, and losing to Portland State. Everything is great and there is much to be proud of. As my husband went to nutsack, I will absolutely be there. Caw and such, and yes, there is a word between "U-N-T" and "Eagleeees."

Less absorbing, more shuffling. Right now, some G5s can justify what they're doing because of the paycheck. But what happens when the paychecks for the Mountain and the American go down? The easiest way to balance the loss is to get more butts in seats, and lower travel costs. Both of those augur towards regionalization of the conferences. Mountain West is already in good shape, but needs to do something about Hawaii and equalizing Boise's share. But the American, CUSA and SBC are going to have a come to Jesus moment when a school like Houston, which is already running a massive deficit, has the option of sending the soccer team to UConn for $10,000 or to UTSA for $1500, and the TV deal only pays $300000 more. Plus, there's the specter for a team like SMU of getting the gate to a 10,000 butts-in-seats game against ECU versus 25,000 for us. AAC, CUSA and SBC will soon face a stark choice - regionalize, or start having schools drop out. And you didn't even have to mention the ESPN-Fox merger, or that all of Fox's RSNs are going... somewhere? This means that for cable, the next round will probably have 1 bidder. That's not good for any conference.

Both Sonny Dykes and Dana Dimel deserve a lot of credit for being able to turn things around during the season.