Side Show Joe

I kind of agree. I really liked seeing Air Force yesterday, but I didn't like it so much when Navy ran all over us in '07. I don't think everyone needs to go out and start running the triple option, but teams need to be more balanced in their formations. Especially ours. I think the spread is fine, but I would love to see a larger variety of offensive sets within our offensive scheme. At lest a few times a game, I would love to see us line up in a power I. I think we need to be able to run the ball with power. I totally agree that a team that can cram it down your throat, combined with a dominating defense, will win most games.

Don't forget Utah-Pitt.

When Stoops took over OU they were in "shambles", at lest be their standards. John Blake had 3 straight losing seasons (3-8,4-8, and 5-6). It was OU's first time in like 80 years OU had 3 straight losing seasons. In stoops first season, OU went 7-5, with a trip to the Independence Bowl. They lost to Ol' Miss 25-27. In 2000, we all know they went 13-0 and won the National Title. Stoops won with Blake's players in his first year, and won the National Title in year 2. To be honest, I think our 97 team could have beat OU's 97 team. They were only 4-8.

The guy took a 2-10 Idaho team and went 8-5 . They just beat Bowling Green in the Humanitarian Bowl, by going for a two point conversion with 4 seconds left in the game. He only makes $258,187 a year. If we tank next year, like many on this board feel we will, who thinks this guy should get an interview?

I'm looking forward to seeing if a full off season with a full time strength coach will result in lines that are stronger and more explosive. I do think our o-line is good, but I feel we should always be working to improve in every area of the game.

I like this class, but I'd like it more with some quality DTs, DEs, and OL. Games are won and lost at the line. I've always felt the lines are the most important areas to address in recruiting.

This article says UTEP's current athletic budget is $19,200,000, because CUSA asked them to make cut-backs. Or budget is not that high, but with the athletic fee kicking in after our new stadium is done, we should out grow their budget. http://www.elpasotimes.com/minersmania/ci_12839281

If RV has a design for a baseball stadium in place when the next expansion happens, and told the interested conference we were going to build it, I'd like to believe they would take him at his word. I think everyone would agree, he has the credibility at this point. One thing everyone seems to be overlooking when it comes to expansion, is that UNT is in a very unique situation. At a time when most schools are retracting, in an effort to save money, North Texas is expanding in almost every area. When I walk around campus and see new buildings going up, see trees being moved for our new stadium, and see UNT named one of the ten up and coming universities in the country, I have to feel that makes us a more attractive school then we realize. Our athletic budget will increase at a rate few other mid-majors will be able to keep up with. I would think conferences would want to expand with universities that are rising in stature, rather then ones that are retracting, or stagnant. I don't know where we end up, but I truly believe that we can't stay in the Sun Belt. As long as the Sun Belt continues to expand by adding FCS schools, it will always be the "bottom of the barrel" in the FBS. The good coaches in the Belt will get hired away by bigger programs with more money to hand out, and the better teams in better markets will get picked up by more established conferences with better bowl ties, when expansion does happen. At this point there are only three things I feel we need to be doing a better job of; winning, donating, and attending games. Of course winning makes it easier to get the other two done. I honestly feel we would have averaged around 24K if we just could have played .500 ball.

I don't have a link to the story, espn is reporting Leach put the kid in an electrical closet after he got a concussion. Very weird stuff. Can someone add a link to the story?

I see no need to insult any member of our team. These students choose to be at North Texas, and deserve our support. It is one thing to comment on the play of a player, but we shouldn't promote personal attacks that insult any of our players with mean comments. These are our players. They all play for the University of North Texas, and I believe they play to the best of their abilities.

I wouldn't compare our program to a wal-mart. I don't have a problem with wal-mart. Its some of the people that shop there that I have a problem with ( Just check out peopleofwalmart.com ). I think our program is more like a cheap used car lot. You can't get too mad when you get stuck with a lemon, because you knew you were not willing to spend much money, and I think in most situations, you get what you pay for. Having said that, I still think changes should have been made after finishing 2-10, again, because not making changes is like, pushing a broken car to work. I rather walk.

He has really turned mtsu around. Is a bigger program going to raid the belt and snatch him up?

I wouldn't go so far as to say its all JJ's fault, but certainly he deserves a share of the blame. When a team stinks up the home court this bad, there is alot of blame to go around. fiu played alot of zone, and we were standing around, with bad spacing too. For most of the first half, there were just no lanes to get into the paint. In the second half, we stopped standing around, improved our rebounding, and forced overtime. I don't know if the team was out of gas in OT, or if they just quite. It was the worst effort I've seen from a Mean Green basket ball team in a long time. Watching us shoot freethrows was like watching a team of Shaq impersonators at the line. If we lower our expectations to football standards, we played a decent second half, and White hit a miracle 3 to force overtime.

I hope we pack the place. I've been telling everyone I know about it. Does anyone know if it got picked up for TV?

People who claim the Belt is better then the WAC are crazy. Personally I don't want to be in either one, but I prefer to focus on the facts in this debate. Boise, Nevada, Fresno, and Hawaii have been strong teams in the past decade. Over that span of time the Belt has us and Troy, and we haven't done much in quite a while. The Belt has the New Orleans Bowl and a few vage tie-ins, in case other conferences don't qualify enough teams. How many tie-ins does the WAC have? When our new stadium opens and that dedicated athletic fee kicks in, if a better conference hasn't come knockin', we need to bolt to the WAC as fast as we can. And do it without utsa or Texas state. Houston, Cincy, Okhahoma State, Tulsa, UTEP, or Boise didn't carry our butts out of the Lone Star, Missouri Valley, or Big West conferences. Why should we help utsa or tsu? I don't see how we could really benefit. We gain nothing by giving their teams opportunities. We need to make our moves before they grow and make theirs. If we sit here in the belt for another 10 years, we'll be watching one or both of them move up to a better conference, and crying about how we got left out, again.

I think any conference looking to expand to create a championship game, is going to want to see about expanding into the DFW market, if they can stretch their footprint this far. We all know the size of the TV market here, and football is king in Texas, but you have to think, wouldn't every conference want Cowboys Stadium in their region as a site for its championship game. If Notre Dame passes on the Big 10, TCU might get the invite. Remember the Big 10 wanted Texas back in the day. If TCU is too small, and the Big 10 cares more about gaining the region, then the current state of the football program, then maybe we have a shot. Nah, never happen. Sorry if I got anyones hopes up.

Where did you hear CUSA wanted to expand to 16? If that happened, I think it would be great for us, but I can't see how or why they would want to try and juggle 16 teams. I can't even think of 4 teams in their footprint that are worth bothering with, except us of course.

A very honest report. Last spring I said Riley had a big time arm. I was wrong. This report pretty much sums up what I saw on the field, and reminds me of why I think next season will be more of the same. The comments about the coaching were very telling.

Thanks for the inside info. He looks like a great addition. He doesn't kick low field goals does he? I know alot of people argue about the source of our problems on special teams, but I feel many field goal atempts were low kicks. Thanks

The "better teams" won't give Boise a home and home, and most won't play them at all. A playoff would have it all settled on the field.

Totally agree with you on Boise. They've been getting the shaft for too long. How many unbeaten seasons do these guys have to have before they get their shot at the title game?

Cincinnati is a BCS school. They are in the Big East. I'm all for a non bcs team playing for the national title, as long as tcu and smu are not one of the teams. I want North Texas to become one of the great programs in the country, but first we need to work on being the best in the metroplex. Some on the board might say, lets start with Denton. I am happy for Texas.

I totally agree.

I don't feel the apathy is directed at fans not wanting to support the team. I think the apathy is directed at the coaching, and the choices being made about the coaching. Our attendence will take a hit if we don't win next year. Many on this board believe its going to be very difficult. But I don't think Mean Green Club memberships will be down.

As a fan I was very pleased with our attendence at the start of the season. I think qe were averaging around 20,000 for the first 3 games. Then we decided to run an option from 4 yards deep in our end zone. After that game against Troy, I feel many of our fans decided that the play calling would keep the team from succeeding on the field, and we started drawing about 12 grand a game. Then Army rolled into town, and some fans came back, plus Army's following. Die hard fans like us on the blog, will yell and complain about the things we feel are wrong, but only because we care. The more casual fans didn't show up in great numbers in the second half of the season. But telling them they are bad fans isn't the way to get their butts in the stadium either. The dude at the Gang Green blog needs to think about that before he attacks.