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I know it was a very disappointing game. There were still some nice player performances that need to be recognized.

We stopped SMU on their initial drive with great defensive effort on their home turf. A snap over their punters head and we have the ball in scoring position. We run THREE straight running plays right up the middle and are forced to take a field goal. We all knew at that moment we were in trouble. We knew at that moment the "Uptempo" talk was talk and we were the same team with the same coaching mentality of conservative offense, put a heavy load on our defense and hope the other team makes more mistakes and turnovers. It's defeatist, and as a fan it is extremely painful to watch. Again, much like UT last year, we take an OPENING game which offers a HUGE opportunity for this college and this fan base, and treat it like it was just another ho-hum day at the office. News Flash -- this is a very important game to us. We live in the same community as SMU -- we recruit the same players. I'm sorry, I'm not buying the "we have 90% left of the season left" without emphasizing how big a lost opportunity this was. We had a chance to beat SMU twice consecutively for the first time in our history. We had a chance to capture the imagination of many potential season ticket purchasing fans. We blew it. A lot of talk about this game centers around McNulty and it really shouldn't. McNulty is the same player, the same kid he was last season and the season before. McNulty is a good kid, a good person and works his ass off. This is not his fault. He should not have been placed in this position in the first place. I blame this coaching staff for not being able to a). identify quarterback prospects and b). develop quarterback prospects. Look at our track record and it speaks for itself. I really wish we would quit blaming the players for things like turnovers and various and sundry etc after these losses. How about asking, did you put them in a position to win? Did you take advantage of opportunities? Were you aggressively trying to make things happen or did you play it safe hoping that the opponent would make mistakes? Did you evaluate and develop the right players needed to position the program going forward? These are some of the questions I would like answers to. I want to thank the defense, who again get burdened in ANOTHER game, with the sole responsibility of a win. They hung tough and played their hearts out. They were given no help. It is frankly PAINFUL to watch them on the field all game again. I also felt our special teams played well. A bright spot for me was there were a good amount of young players and new faces that played well. That gives us some semblance of hope. I want to thank our fans, student alumni for showing up in good numbers and cheering loudly for UNT. I find it remarkable that after a decade of losing and most recently a 4-8 season we can still dig deep enough in a dry well to have that type of showing and spirit. It is one of the signs that continues to give me optimism for the future. I salute SMU. The Boulevard was fun and all of the SMU fans I came in contact with were extremely hospitable. You have hired a great coach and one that will get your program going in the right direction quickly. I sincerely hope that this series will continue because I think it helps both schools. A lot of air in the balloon was let out today. The disappointment seen on the faces of the fans exiting the game in my section was evident. The sad faces of the many students who rode in busses to the game was worse. What did they talk about on the long drive home? What perception do they now have regarding UNT athletics? How motivated will they be to attend our home opener? With Morris now firmly in the drivers seat will we again have optimism heading into these games with SMU? He will only get better as time goes on and he is able to recruit his players. We have so many positive things going on at UNT, that I keep telling myself to be patient because it HAS to happen eventually. After games like tonight, it seems like it is still a long way away. GMG

Who will be the first to put points on the board against SMU?

The SMU Mustangs are a team clearly looking to reestablish their football program following a 2014 season where they finished an embarrassing 1-11 record. There is a reason for optimism this season. During week one of this season, the Mustangs seemingly made huge strides in their 56-21 loss to the highly ranked Baylor Bears. The best thing the Mustangs could have hoped for last week was to just keep the game close. That is exactly what the Mustangs offense did for the first half of the game, trading touchdowns with the powerhouse of the Big 12 Conference. It was the second half when the Mustangs offense slowed to a halt and couldn’t seem to find the end zone again. Meanwhile, the Baylor offense hit its stride, and proceeded to run up the score. Looking back a bit, the biggest question the Mustangs had entering this season was who would be their starting quarterback. Matt Davis proved that he was more than capable of running the SMU offense, and maybe even being one of the top quarterbacks in the nation if he can ever get his mistakes under control. Davis completed 69.6 percent of his passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns. Unfortunately he also had two interceptions and was sacked three times. Davis managed to finish the night as the Mustangs leading rusher with 24 carries for 115 yards. Wide receiver, Courtland Sutton, proved to be the go-to guy for Davis when the pressure was on. Sutton finished the game with three receptions for 82 yards and two touchdowns. Xavier Jones also led the team in receptions but only managed to collect 38 yards. read more: http://sportdfw.com/2015/09/11/mustangs-look-first-win-season-unt/

Just saw on Facebook that the student ticket allotment is officially sold out. Great news!

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Has anyone seen these? If so kudos to UNT for getting them out there!

SMU opened the year with a loss to Baylor but will look to bounce back in Week 2 against a rival. Here are five things SMU fans should know about North Texas. 4. Young defense — If SMU’s offense looks anything like it did in the first half against Baylor, it should be able to exploit a relatively inexperienced North Texas defense. The Mean Green bring back just two starters on a defense that gave up 30 points per game last season. Not only that, the young unit will have to adapt to a new defensive coordinator. North Texas hired Chris Cosh this offseason after John Skladany retired at the end of the 2014 season. Cosh has 30 years of experience under his belt. read more: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/09/five-things-smu-fans-should-know-about-north-texas.html/

read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/columnists/bill-nichols/20150908-nichols-how-smu-s-chad-morris-plans-to-prevent-repeat-of-embarrassment-vs.-north-texas.ece

SMU will move forward without a key piece along its offensive line. Daniel McCarty, SMU’s starting left guard, was injured in the first half against Baylor and did not return. He spent the second half on the sideline with his leg in a brace and has been ruled out for the remainder of the year. read more: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/09/smu-left-guard-daniel-mccarty-to-miss-remainder-of-season.html/

I understand that the main purpose in moving to a more "uptempo" offense this year is to get off more plays. I wonder, if in this particular game it is the best strategy. It will be an interesting chess match on Saturday. We have always had a potent running game. We have some terrific running backs and depth. It seems to me a ground attack that eats up the clock and keeps Matt Davis off the field could bode well. It also would give our defense more rest and make adjustments since they haven't yet played a real game and been in real game situations. If we get our offense going and can run the ball, I have no problem with a long drive that burns an entire quarter up leaving Davis on the sidelines. Now of course, if we were to fall behind, the uptempo would be a good strategy and could serve us well giving us more plays and opportunities to score and catch up. It just seems to me that using the uptempo has a place, I just wonder if it is in our best interests in this particular game.

On facing North Texas: “It’s their opener. I know those guys will be extremely ready to go, especially opening up the season. I’m going to challenge our guys with the embarrassment that they had up there. Watching that game from last year was very disheartening. Our guys will be excited about getting back on the field for a Saturday night game and perform in front of our fans and our crowd, which I thought was outstanding.” On if having a bye week to open the season gives North Texas an advantage: “I guess it’s a little bit of an advantage because they got to see the personnel we have on the field and watch us play. I guess that’s an advantage. If that were us, I would definitely be saying it’s an advantage. But in the same sense, as a coach, you always try to get that first game out of your system because there are a lot of things that are unknown in your first ball game, especially a first ball game on the road.” read more: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/09/smu-quotable-chad-morris-challenges-team-after-last-years-embarrassment-vs-unt.html/

I think you consider shadowing Davis this entire game. He can hurt you with his scrambling. I also agree with other who said to keep him in the pocket and make him beat you with his arm. Cosh needs to really prepare for misdirection in this one... They did a fair amount of it against Baylor but I suspect they will throw the kitchen sink at us. And yes that includes the dreaded 1st play of the game bomb. I promise you they are going to run that.

read more: http://www.ponyfans.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=78768

SMU's offense has run the Run & Shoot under former coach June Jones ever since 2008. It wasn't always consistent, but at times it worked as a great equalizer and allowed them to pull some outstanding upsets like their victory over TCU in 2011. The Mustangs had never been the elite offense that fans had hoped for when Jones was hired, but they had not been outright bad except for the last part of 2013 when Garrett Gilbert was out with an injury. The Mustangs had not had a long run of failure by any stretch under Jones, but you can easily see a plateau and steady decline as the talent coming in didn't match the talent leaving. So how did they end up ranked 127th in Total Offense last year?In 2014, SMU's recruiting laziness finally struck the team hard. The passing game could no longer mask their issues along the offensive line when SMU was faced with losing Garrett Gilbert, who had developed into a good QB by the end of 2012, and three of their top five deep threats at wideout. Their replacements were significant a drop off in production from Jeremy Johnson (112 catches, 1,112 yards) Keenan Holman (67 catches, 1,037 Yards) and Gilbert who, in only 10 games, completed 66.5 percent of his passes for 3,528 yards while adding 267 on the ground. The replacement quarterbacks were not able to consistently display accuracy and the replacements at wide receiver were decent players but really only one, Der'rik Thompson, scared people on vertical routes consistently. The Run & Shoot is an offense that can cover up some talent issues, but it can't mask the combination of an inconsistent QB and a limited offensive line. The entire offense isn't trying to confuse anyone, it's basically claiming that "no matter what you call we can find one of our receivers against any coverage". This relies on precise execution & sturdy pass protection. SMU had neither in 2014 leading to a sputtering shell of what SMU had been offensively the previous 5-6 years. Read more: http://baylor.247sports.com/Article/Baylor-Bears-S11-Game-Preview-SMU-Sept-4--39040801

Posted by Stallion: If 1/3rd of their projection of 15,000 come to the game that would be something like $300,000, 2/3 $600,000 and 3/3 $900,000 (based on $60 spent on tickets etc). Well we shall see as I have my doubts-hey if we are going to play them for 7 more years might as well spice it up a little. They used to bring huge crowds when Hayden Fry was there and games were played at Texas Stadium. 5,000+ would be great and add the atmosphere http://www.ponyfans.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=78702&sid=8c76e2e54d10bbcac604a9a8d3182a30

From everything we heard on the podcast tonight with RV, as well as other well placed sources... this may well be one of the best away game crowds we have had in a long time (perhaps ever?)... 26 student busses, the ENTIRE band, the ENTIRE drill team, cheerleaders etc... I know some were disappointed with how last year turned out (or started?) but I would ask that you reconsider your position on attending this SMU game. It will be a great game atmosphere. In a weird way, the frustration we all had about opening the college season with a bye may play into providing even more interest and support for the SMU game than we might have had otherwise. gmg