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Interesting to consider this fantasy matchup. 2013 had the better D but 2017 O has put up huge numbers. 2013 did not get to the championship game but was damn close. 2013 has more seniors and vets. 2017 had better skill positions. Two of the best in modern history, perhaps all of our history.

Just reviewing the film. you can say what you want about DT, but the kid had a NICE touch on his deep ball especially last season. QB touch on a deep pass is like a fine wine -- it takes time to develop. The QB and WR need to vulcan mind meld with each other. I thought the communication between Darnell Harris and DT last season was as good as it has been around here in a long time. Let's hope whoever lines up under center is able to pick this up quickly. Completing a deep pass early in the game can really open up your running game.

The Star Tribune says the suit seeks to be certified as a class-action suit and says Derek Thompson, a member of the University of North Texas football team from 2009 to 2013, is the plaintiff." If that one gets to the discovery stage, it will be very interesting. These guys don't want injunctions. They want money. (Remember Carl's Two Rules? This is Rule 2: "No matter what they say they want, they want money.") I'm a defense lawyer, but I'm pulling for the plaintiffs on this one. Read more: http://www.bruinsnation.com/2014/8/15/6006293/new-lawsuit-against-the-ncaa

Derek Thompson is staying in the town where he developed into notable player in local football history. The former UNT quarterback, who led the Mean Green to a win over UNLV in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, is set to join the staff at Denton High. Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2014/06/thompson-joins-staff-at-denton-high.html/ This post has been promoted to an article

UNT has spent a little time celebrating its win over UNLV in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. That can mean only one thing — It’s time to turn the attention to the off-season. Over the next few weeks, we will do the same here on the blog and go over a few of the questions that UNT is facing. Today, we begin with No. 1 — Who will replace Derek Thompson at quarterback? My feelings on Thompson and his contributions are pretty well known. Thompson wasn’t an all-conference player. He had some off games, but he also came up big plenty of times for UNT throughout his career and especially in his senior season. Thompson threw for 256 yards in UNT’s win over UNLV in the Heart of Dallas Bowl and finished with 2,896 yards as a senior. He completed 64.4 percent of his passes and threw 16 touchdown passes. Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2014/01/off-season-questions-series-no-1-who-takes-over-at-quarterback.html/

When Derek Thompson got the opportunity to make school history, the senior quarterback put his passes on the money. The Glen Rose High School grad led his University of North Texas Mean Green to a 36-14 triumph over UNLV in the Heart of Dallas Bowl Jan. 1. On their way to a 9-4 record, the Mean Green grabbed their first bowl win since 2002 in their first bowl appearance since 2004. “That’s absolutely one of our best games and we put everything together in the second half,” Thompson said. “It’s only the third time in school history we’ve won a bowl game, so it’s a great highlight to end my career with. It’s special to be one of those three teams – we’ll be remembered forever. Our head coach Dan McCarney kept saying ‘be remembered – put your name in stone.’” Thompson completed 21 of 30 passes for 256 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions to garner MVP honors. “You start to notice more things you can exploit in their defense when you prepare for so long,” he said. “I wanted to go out with a bang, so I made sure in practice that I did everything I could to help prepare this team. My offensive linemen, my receivers and my running backs made my job easy. “All I had to do was get them the ball and let them work. I may have been MVP, but I had a lot of help.” The quarterback felt good about the preparation coaches and players alike invested into the Heart of Texas Bowl. “We had several weeks to prepare for UNLV, and anytime college coaches have that much time to prepare they’re going to go nuts and have a pretty good game plan going in,” Thompson said. “We have a pretty big senior class that wasn’t going to be denied and we played well to come out with the victory.” read more: http://www.yourglenrosetx.com/sports/article_a166a0b9-25b9-5531-a370-8f21fcc4d623.html

Derek Thompson exploded onto the Mean Green football scene like a cannonball fired by the Talons. With the Mean Green trailing 30-20 at Arkansas State with two minutes left in the 2009 season finale, backup quarterback Nathan Tune separated his shoulder and could not re-enter the game. Starter Riley Dodge had been lost earlier in the contest to a broken arm and the third-string quarterback hadn’t even made the trip because of the flu. This wasn’t a bowl game. No championship was on the line. It wasn’t against a hated rival. It wasn’t even a chance to get the team to a winning record. But North Texas was staring at a 10-loss season and head coach Todd Dodge needed a win to build job security and carry positive momentum into the offseason. The Mean Green had a chance to pull off a victory and Thompson was sitting there like an unopened present on Christmas morning. Thompson was being redshirted and would lose an entire season of eligibility if he played those final seconds. Knowing the full consequence of his actions, Thompson tore off that redshirt like it was Hulk Hogan’s tank top and charged into the huddle. The next possession was absolute magic. Thompson completed all three passes he attempted while driving the offense down the field and capped it off with a 19-yard touchdown pass. North Texas never got the ball back and lost the game. But the Derek Thompson era of North Texas football was underway. Since the glory days of Scott Hall, the Mean Green quarterback position had been a black hole of tragedy (Andrew Smith), ineffectiveness (Daniel Meager), quitters (Giovanni Vizza) and injury (Riley Dodge). North Texas was the Anti-USC. Not Quarterback U but Quarterback Who. The next Scott Hall was always coming but never arrived. In the early months after Thompson’s debut, an angry posse was hanging a rope over a tree and waiting outside the office of Todd Dodge. This would be the part of the hero’s journey where the helper appears. In one story he is Yoda. In another he is Gandolf. In this story he is Mike Canales, the new offensive coordinator from South Florida Canales had transformed Matt Grothe, a lightly-recruited quarterback, into the Big East’s all-time leader in total offense and had tutored Philip Rivers into a 1st round pick. Around this time it was announced that Riley Dodge, a high school legend who had chosen to play for North Texas over the most powerful institution in college football, was being moved from quarterback to receiver because of injuries. But nobody was freaking out because we knew we had Derek Thompson. For that one drive he had been on the field, he had been perfect and the Mean Green had been invincible. Mean Green fans started fantasizing about what this quarterback coach/Jedi Master could do with Thompson. We only had one drive of evidence, but we believed. In the Spring game, Thompson completed his first seven passes for 113 yards and a touchdown and the anticipation grew like the commercialization of Fry Street. “Derek Thompson was an all-district point guard in high school.” “Derek Thompson’s online bio says he runs a 4.7 40.” “Derek Thompson grew up in Glen Rose next to the nuclear power plant and has some kind of X-Men mutation in his right arm.” But the 2010 season fell apart quicker than a Tony Benford game plan. Thompson never really separated himself from Tune, a walk-on from a small high school, and only played in three games before breaking his leg and being granted a medical redshirt. North Texas finished 3-9. By the start of 2011, Thompson was the toy you opened on Christmas morning and never really wanted to play with again. Todd Dodge was fired and replaced with Dan McCarney. The ex-Iowa State coach retained Canales on his staff but brought in his own recruits to battle for the quarterback position, junior college transfer Brent Osborn and a high schooler from Iowa, Andrew McNulty. After a heated three-man battle for the spot, McCarney, in a surprise move, named Thompson the starter one day before the season opener. Thompson’s job was just to hand the ball to future Dallas Cowboy Lance Dunbar, but he had moments that season that made you believe he was a guy UNT could build an offense around. Three touchdown passes in a win over Indiana. Two touchdowns, 331 yards passing and a UNT single-game record for completion percentage in a win over Troy. Three touchdowns and 332 yards passing in a victory over Louisiana-Monroe. Thompson finished his sophomore season with 14 touchdowns and six interceptions while the Mean Green closed out McCarney’s first year with wins in five of the final nine games. There was finally stability at the quarterback position for the Mean Green. With Dunbar off to the NFL, 2012 was going to be the year Thompson really took off. Except he never really did. McCarney had won at Iowa State with a mobile quarterback. And the Canales offense was supposed to be predicated on having a quarterback who was a threat to run. Thompson just wasn’t that type of quarterback. Instead of becoming Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, Canales and Thompson seemed to have the chemistry of Queen Amidala and Anakin Skywalker. Natalie Portman and Hayden Christiansen were fine actors, there just wasn’t a spark when you put them together. North Texas started the 2012 season with a 1-2 record then Thompson completed just 12 of 28 passes in a 14-7 conference-opening loss to Troy. He had three interceptions in a loss to Middle Tennessee. He tossed two interceptions as Western Kentucky came back from 14 points down in the fourth quarter to beat the Mean Green, 25-24, in the season finale. Thompson finished his junior year with 2,629 yards passing with 14 touchdown and 14 interceptions as UNT went 4-8. It was the eighth straight season North Texas had a losing record. Though he still had his senior season in front of him, the Thompson era seemed over. Kansas-transfer Brock Berglund, who the recruiting services had once rated higher than Johnny Manziel, would be eligible and it was assumed the starting job was his. Then a funny thing happened. Spring practice rolled around and we kept hearing about Thompson. Where was Berglund? Limited by an injury. Supposedly. Summer practice got going and Berglund was quieter than Willis Library the night after final exams. But a new challenger had emerged: Dajon Williams, a raw freshman who was tempting the coaching staff and exciting the fan base with the promise of his strong arm and quick feet. Yet here comes Thompson on the season opening drive against Idaho. And he proceeded to have another Derek Thompson season. Sometimes he was great. Other times bad. Most of the time he was ok. Only this season, NORTH TEXAS WAS WINNING. Now it is almost Christmas and we have certain rules at my family gatherings, which includes a weirdly disproportionate number of North Texas alums: Talk all you want about politics or religion. Everyone in my family both hates Obama and loves Jesus. And yes, I see the irony. But no talking about Derek Thompson. That is too controversial. Even the Devil can find a Scripture to quote to support his argument. And there is plenty of Scripture to argue when discussing Thompson. “Thompson’s completion percentage is tied for second-best in school history!” “He killed our comebacks against Tulane and UTSA with game-ending picks!” “He led us back from 18 points down against Ball State!” “He’s tied for 10th in the country in interceptions!” “He’s leading us to our first bowl game in a decade! “He’s never even been all-conference!” “He’s never had an all-conference receiver either!” “That proves my point!” “I am going to capture you and hold you hostage in my sex dungeon!” Well, maybe it doesn’t get quite that weird. Or maybe I am holding a family member who disagrees with me about Derek Thompson hostage in my sex dungeon? You’re just going to have to wonder. We are all wondering how the last game Derek Thompson ever quarterbacks for North Texas is going to go. He went from being “the unknown redshirt” to “the next big thing” to “the guy who still might be good” to “the guy who is definitely not good” to “the guy who can win games but we would like to upgrade” to “the guy with one more opportunity to define his legacy”. January 1, 2014 vs. UNLV in the Heart of Dallas Bowl at the legendary Cotton Bowl. I hope Thompson finds as much success when he runs on the field for the final time as he did the first time.

I know that DT tweeted UNLV but the Heart of Dallas folks are saying our opponent won't be announced until tonight after the Big 10 Selections:

I shot a little video this week with UNT quarterback Derek Thompson. We cover the UTSA game this weekend and some of his thoughts as we head toward the end of the regular season. Thompson and a whole lot of other seniors will play their final home game on Saturday. Brelan Chancellor and Zach Orr will also look to go out on a positive note. UNT is on a heck of a roll late in the season with five straight wins. UNT will have its annual Senior Bowl this week. The Mean Green has responded really well to the concept over the years. Win and the team photo is displayed in the office all year. Lose and the team shot ends up in the trash. Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/11/derek-thompson-talks-unt-utep-notes-thoughts.html/

Derek has been the target of scrutiny throughout his career at North Texas. It was just a couple of weeks ago that someone referred to him as our "Matt Schaub." He has shown leadership and commitment to winning but is still prone to make mistakes. His relentlessness to get back after he does is truly admirable. No one, and I apologize if you did, would have thought that coming into his senior season, Derek Thompson could throw for the most passing yards in the history of North Texas football. In 1994, Mitch Maher set the bar at 3,103 passing yards for the season. Through 7 games, Derek has thrown for 1,680. He is averaging 240 pass yards per game. If he stays on that pace, he will throw for 2,880 in the regular season, needing 223 in a potential bowl game to top Maher by 1 yard. He would need to average 285 yards per game to eclipse the mark in the regular season. Hats off to Derek for persevering and best of luck in chasing a record that I think he would be happy to miss if this team accomplishes its overall goals.

http://videos.nola.com/times-picayune/2013/10/tulane_dt_julius_warmsley_talk.html

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