Side Show Joe

Uh... this better be a lie. Brett needs to investigate this claim. I won't fork over good money to travel to New Orleans and watch the Mean Green play a Belt team. Sorry, count me out. After this season, our team and fans deserve better.

That seems a little misleading. Yes, Patterson started at TCU in 1998, but TCU did not make their move to the Big 12 until 2011. Even though we now have a playoff, I don't think football has changed that much in 6 years. Patterson spent 13 years at TCU before they got a Big 12 invitation. He could have left TCU for a much better job, but he didn't. Patterson could leave TCU now for a better job, but he doesn't want to. At some point TCU made their job his dream job. Yes, the landscape of college football is changing, but the fundamental truth has not. College football is still all about money. If North Texas were to finish undefeated and win the Rose Bowl, like TCU did, we would certainly become more valuable. We are not like most G5 universities. There are a handful of G5's that have the right combination of size, location, and funding to grow into P5 caliber programs. Are AD's in the P5 taking notice of what Littrell is doing at North Texas? Of course. But, I have to believe they are also taking notice of what the University of North Texas is doing within their athletic department too.

Can't say for certain. I'm not in the athletic department. Baker might start by asking Littrell what North Texas could do in order to make the UNT head coaching position his dream job. Vito mentioned TCU's Patterson in his article. I doubt Gary Patterson viewed TCU as his dream job when he first got into coaching. At some point TCU turned it into his dream job.

If we are to truly move up the college football food chain, then we must develop into an athletic department that successful coaches don't want to leave. I'm sure there are factors that could be adjusted which might entice Littrell to stay when a P5 does come sniffing around.

Our defense is a huge concern for me. I know we can't do much about it at this point in the season. For now, it is what it is. But, changes certainly need to be make before next season. We are in the Championship Game because we have an outstanding offense. Rice and UTEP are the only defenses in C-USA that have given up more points this season. In conference play, no one has given up more points then our defense. I know Army has a really good run attack, but no team should be able to roll up 534 yards and 7 touchdowns of rushing against our defense. I refuse to believe our defense is that untalented. Our coaches on the defensive side of the ball either have a bad scheme, or are not very good at their jobs. Possibly both. Whatever the reason, changes need to be made in the off season.

*Updated With one game left in the regular season, Mason Fine has thrown for 3,190 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Personally, I think Fine is in a dogfight with Mike White for 1st team All-Conference honors. White has a lead in total passing yards, but Fine has more TD's and the best QB rating in C-USA. Also factoring in that Mason has guided the Mean Green offense to the title game by orchestrating a few amazing 4th quarter drives, and I think right now he is certainly deserving.

I love and respect our service academies, and I respect and appreciate this guys choice to defend our country, but last season his style of play really rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't care much for the way he played when we beat them at West Point, and I didn't like his style of play in the HOD either. I hope our receivers catch 7 touchdowns on this guy today.

No to Army in the Armed Forces- It would be the second time we played in a month. I'd be okay with the Armed Forces Bowl if Army wasn't tied to it. Army should take the AAC's spot in the Hawaii Bowl and the Armed Forces should fill their spot with an AAC west team like Houston, Navy, or even SMU. That would be better for everyone. If Army stays tied to the Armed Forces and we can't fill a spot in the HOD verses a P5, then I hope we are able to fill in a spot at the Independence Bowl.

Last night we had a great crowd and they were eager to get noisy. And, our team did an outstanding job of giving the fans something to cheer about. Why did we only do the North Texas chant once? And, why did wait until the 3rd quarter to do it? The one time we did the chant, our fans were so in to it that they kept doing it after the ball was snapped. We should do that chant before the opening kickoff and at every timeout (except injury timeouts). I know people from the athletic department read this board.Someone needs to get with the video board operator and the cheerleaders and fix this before next Saturday. We should video guest alums to lead it, like Mason Fine does. How great would it be to have a video of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Zack Orr, or Kathy Ireland pop up and start the chant? Apogee as built to create noise. Athletic Department personnel and cheerleaders, let's do a better job of getting the North Texas chant going when we have opportunities. Rant over.

If a lower P5 program came looking to hire away Littrell and our administration really wanted to keep him, I think they could pay him enough to pass on those offers. When a major P5 program comes calling then we would be powerless. Right now lets focus on Army and look at Littrell's contract after the C-USA Title Game. FAU should be hosting it, and we owe them a beating.

Thanks Harry. I talked to him.

If anyone on here knows Ole Green Guts, please ask him to check his PM's. I need to speak with him before I head down for Homecoming. Thanks guys.

My adopted player Jeffery Wilson came up big today when the Mean Green needed him most. 165 yards and 2 TD's. In the post game interview, Littrell said Wilson as less then 100% healthy. Outstanding Wilson. Thank you for your tough selfless style of play.

Here is a link to the C-USA page with links to all the conference's streamed games. http://www.conferenceusa.com/documents/2017/11/2//2017_C_USA_FB_on_TV_Week_1083.pdf?id=8655

Brother, I was out in that cold with two broken ribs, and I yelled much more then I should have. After staying until the end of the game, I got to drive home for over 2 hours. Oh, I'm paying for it today, but it was the choice I made. And, it was worth it. You have no idea what some on that alumni side are going through, or what they have done for our university. We all want more rowdy fans on the alumni side. Once you and the majority of the student section start graduating, and joining the Mean Green Club and buying season tickets on the alumni side, things should change.

Yes, drawing fans has long been an issue at UNT. And the overall success of this team should be drawing more fans to the stadium. But, many fans are walking away in the third quarter of our home games as they watch the defense continue to struggle with the same issues (3rd down stops & discipline) they have had all season. Watching the special teams cough up two TDs on kickoffs didn't help either. We scored 0 points in the third quarter on Saturday and lost the lead to a now 2-6 ODU team. Thankfully, the team did enough in the 4th to sneak out with a win. But, because of the habitual problems that have plagued out team all season, many of the few cold fans we had Saturday, walked right out of Apogee before the comeback. Lets also work on keeping the ones that showed up, while we figure out how to draw new ones.

What Vito didn't write in this article... We got severely out coached last night Kiffin came in with a game plan to shut down our "high powered" offense, and did it. Our staff was not able to make the adjustments and get points on the board. The FAU defense took Guyton out of the game and bottled up Wilson, and our coaches couldn't adjust. Mason Fine was left in the game far too long. We had no chance of catching up in the 4th, but again our coaches left him in the game. We are very fortunate he didn't suffer a bad injury. FAU had more talent FAU's offensive and defensive lines man-handled us all night. The speed and talent of the FAU secondary took our top receiving targets completely out of the game. Yes, how Kiffin acquires his talent is up for speculation (although Kiffin was acquitted recently), but watching that game last night it was quite apparent that FAU had recruited the better talent. Overall, they were bigger, faster, and stronger. North Texas got out-worked Littrell said the team had a good week of preparation, but it certainly didn't show on the field. A bowl team should not get their teeth kicked in by another possible bowl team in their conference. Last night, North Texas lacked focus and effort. People on here can debate the reasons for that lack of focus and effort all they want, but neither side will probably ever be able to convince the other to change their mind. In the end we should at least all agree that we lacked focus and effort. The Defensive problems are probably not going away We have already played over half of our games this season, and our defensive issues have not been addressed. This defense gives up too much yardage and too many points. The fact that Littrell has yet to make any serious changes to the defense, tells me meaningful changes probably won't be made. The current level of defensive play is apparently acceptable to Littrell. These issues were all very important to the outcome of last night's game. I wish they would have been part of this article.

Did the coaches and staff take their wives to Hattiesberg? If not, then this is a big problem for me. Now I see why the players were at the pool. You can't tell the players to focus on the game when your coaches aren't.

We will still make it to a bowl, and we may still win the Western Division, but our defense will keep us from competing for the conference title. That is just sad. We have all watched this defense struggle throughout this season. Something has to change.

I fair and honest analysis of a real concern that everyone is talking about. We need more in depth articles like this. I also enjoyed your less serious article about our coaches various quirks. Please keep posting your work.

Jeffery Wilson Career high 30 carries for 148 yards and 3 TDs. I don't believe Wilson had any fumbles either. Wilson is currently on pace to easily finish as the conferences top rusher, and 1st team All-Conference RB. If I were in charge at C-USA, Guyton, Fine, and Wilson would have all split the offensive player of the week honor.

It's not much, and it's in North and South Carolina but it's ours.

I hope they consider sending more than a 3 man rush this week too. UAB had too much time to hit those deep routes on our corners last week.

1/3 of the way through this season Fine has thrown for over 1,000 yards, 9 touchdowns, and 3 INTs. If he can keep up this pace, Fine would finish with over 3,000 yards and post 27 touchdowns, with only 9 INTs. I didn't get the SMU prediction right, but Fine is off to a great start this season.

Sadly, I heard nothing in Littrell's press conference that makes me feel our defensive issues will be fixed by this weekend. Jenkins came in Saturday and it helped, but Southern Miss isn't UAB, and we are on the road. I still find it bewildering that we were only rushing three men against a UAB QB that couldn't throw on the run, giving him all day to throw touchdowns. I hope we don't stick with that same strategy on Saturday. Until we make some changes to the overall defensive philosophy of our defense, we will not beat a team like USM. It's sad too, because our offense is good enough to win this game. North Texas 28 Southern Miss 32 Side note: We play UTSA after Southern Miss. I will not be a fun person to be around if our defense is still under preforming when that game rolls around.