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There have been numerous debates on here for years on what the challenge is for this program: coaching, budget, recruiting, attendance, wins, etc. etc. I think the biggest challenge this program has is perception. And even though the end result in Athens, GA yesterday wasn't what we began to hope for....the program took a big step in helping with our biggest challenge. UNT already has the cards stacked against it given this location. What helps us (being in Texas, DFW, hot bed for recruiting) also hurts us (now 12 FBS programs in TX, 3 within 30 miles, old SWC focus, big 12 bias). Oh yeah and a loooong history of irrelevance in football. (apologies to the Hayden Fry fan club) We've heard the term "sleeping giant" thrown out. Some roll their eyes at it, others hold out hope that it will rise. What I noticed yesterday as we were tied 21-21 halfway through the 3rd quarter with the SEC East preseason favorite, is what I believe is a pent up ground swell of potential buzz around this program. I started looking around twitter at this time to see what was out there. Now I'm not a big twitter guy...I follow mostly sports media and probably check it once a week or so. But I saw mean green buzz like I've never seen. Corby Davidson tweeted about The Mean Green. Bill Jones. Sean Bass. Tim MacMahon. Chris Fowler. (yes ESPN Gameday Chris Fowler....and his tweet was an apology for the NTSU mess up. someone called him out) Greg Williams. Keith Whitmire. Brett McMurphy. Etc. Etc. Local media as well as national media. Harry posted several twitter snap shots as well. The Mean Green all the sudden became......"cool" with 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter of a "body bag" game. They started trending. This morning, I searched the headlines: "Georgia pulls away to avoid upset vs. North Texas" "N. Texas hangs tough, but falls to No. 9 Georgia" "Georgia defeats North Texas in a tough one" "Georgia rallies against gritty North Texas" "Georgia forced to pull away later than hoped" Now they weren't all in that vain but what headlines like that do for our program is add some relevance. Regardless of the final score, those headlines shine a positive light on the program. WE NEED A LIGHT SHINED. What this program needs is some "cool." And you become cool in college football by getting your name mentioned on twitter and on ESPN. Why is that important? That depends on your definition of "sleeping giant." Our sleeping giant is the 100K+ alumni and 36K+ students in this area. SMU doesn't have that. TCU doesn't have that. They can't. We already have that. All we need now is to improve our perception. And the sleeping giant that stirred oh so gently yesterday may just open its eyes. All around the metroplex yesterday as twitter blew up, this sleeping giant said, "man...UNT is hanging tough with GA." "Hey, what's going on with UNT?" "Hey...I went to UNT!" At 2-2 with every game left on the schedule winnable, what a tied score in the second half at #9 GA does is puts an eye slightly up I35. If we beat Tulane, it won't be, "Tulane sucks." It will be "hey, UNT's pretty good.....they went toe to toe with GA." If we take care of business in NO and come back to what will be the largest crowd of the season and beat a good MTSU team.....it will be "UNT is 4-2....headed toward a bowl." It won't be "they don't play anyone." Every win will be followed by "They went toe to toe with Georgia." That combined with the increased ease of getting the message out is the difference between our previous bowl run and this one. And make no mistake....we are in a bowl run. Get on board. I fully expect this team to beat Tulane. With these players and this staff.....we should. Monday at work....you will hear non-UNT grads congratulate you. You will hear "man ya'll looked good on Saturday, Ya'll gave them a game." And the grads you do work with, that have been cowering in the corner for years will start to pick their head up a little bit...might even read an article on their alma mater....the crazy ones might dust off that green pennant that's been in their closet. What happened halfway through the 3rd quarter is our perception improved. And the message got out quickly. We have a real D1 coaching staff. A team that believes in one another and a preemptive light shined on UNT. Now if we do what this team is capable of doing, we will continue to improve our media position (social and otherwise) People that are associated with UNT in some form or fashion heard about UNT yesterday. And they were able to be proud. What may seem like a small step was actually a big one.