Texas A&M Paying UNT $1.25 Million for 2020 Game

UNTexas · September 1, 2015

Maybe it's just me, but I don't view this as good news. I'm not opposed to playing A&M, I just want a return game from them.
Last season, the week after getting embarrassed at Apogee, SMU hosted A&M for another butt whipping. Why is it that SMU can sign A&M and get a return game and we can't?.
If we ever hope to be taken seriously by the college football community, we must move past these body bag/opportunity games, and become a program that can command return games. Can't we let the students vote on a $4 dollar athletic fee hike so we don't have to whore our program out anymore? MAC and RV have done a wonderful job of engaging students over the last few seasons. I think it is worth a shot.

I guess RV just loves his annual body bag game followed by some pathetic FCS game. We could get much better programs to come but it doesn't appear he cares to do so.

DeepGreen · September 1, 2015

Maybe it's just me, but RV "negotiated" a game that's five years off for $1.2 million? Personally I think he left money on the table. These games are going to be worth a whole lot more than that by 2020.

DallasGreen · September 1, 2015

That means no home-and-home, right?

Yeah the Aggies will just waltz into Apogee after they buy all the season tickets and throw them all away except for that one game just like they do when they play at Ford Stadium!

Army of Dad · September 1, 2015

Yeah the Aggies will just waltz into Apogee after they buy all the season tickets and throw them all away except for that one game just like they do when they play at Ford Stadium!

So we could finally hit the season ticket goal RV set more than a decade ago.

Brilliant!

UNT90 · September 1, 2015

Wisconsin in 2019. aTm in 2020. We're doing a good job of scheduling venues I want to cross off my NCAA stadium bucket list. I wonder what it will take to get (the) Ohio State. I'll need to see about saving up for a trip to the swamp next year?
Already got Oklahoma (via NT), OK State (via Nebraska), and Nebraska (via TCU).

So, getting our ass beat is fine if it's done in someone else's stadium that you want to scratch off your bucket list? But you want nothing to do with playing a P5 at home?

Got it.

And high class whorin' is still whorin', and still the only way this AD knows to balance a budget.

I feel terrible for our 2020 players, who will yet again be put in an impossible, unwinnable position because our 19 year AD just can't figured out how to move out of the 1990s.

The gap between the P5 and G5 has just widened too much---and it'll be even wider by 2020 once the "playoff" has had over half a decade to continue the separation. I don't want to play Texas, OU or Texas A&M in their stadiums EVER AGAIN in non-conference regular season games. We have nothing to gain other than the paycheck. Go play Arizona, Utah, northern Big 10, far east coast, etc if we have to go collect a check.

but see, the expenses for those games would be more due to airfare over taking a bus.

When we whore, we try as hard as possible to whore on the cheap.

Edited September 1, 2015 by UNT90

TIgreen01 · September 1, 2015

but see, the expenses for those games would be more due to airfare over taking a bus.

I made the mistake of not treating this as a business. My bad. Point taken.

UNTFan23 · September 1, 2015

So, getting our ass beat is fine if it's done in someone else's stadium that you want to scratch off your bucket list? But you want nothing to do with playing a P5 at home?

Got it.

I'm more interested in going for the gameday experience than to see the team at this point in time. What I'm not interested in is watching us getting thumped at home by some really good P5 team.

We must consistently we need to be putting 25k+ in Apogee for each game in order to eliminate money games. We can't rely on P5 teams teams to do that for us as we still can't consistently get good numbers even for conference opponents. We get to hear excuses from our fan base of "There's a Rangers/Cowboys game at the same time as our game" or "We have a home game the same weekend as the Texas/OU game" or "We have a NASCAR race the same weekend as our game this weekend" we will never get this program off the launch pad.

Aldo · September 1, 2015

Has anyone mentioned that maybe, just maybe, teams like A&M, UT, or OU have zero interest in playing in Apogee? It's not fear about an upset, but there's no money in it for them.

UNTDoubleAlum · September 1, 2015

Well, having degrees from both UNT and A&M, I think it's going to be fun to see both my teams play, even if the one I like more has little chance in winning. Good excuse to hang out with my Aggie little sister, too.

Eagle1855 · September 1, 2015

Who knows what this game will look like. Both programs will likely have entirely different coaching staffs. C-USA may not even exist in its current incarnation.

People complained about the lack of regional rivalries. Then they complained when we set up long-term series against a regional rival. Now they're complaining about playing a non-conference road game against decent in-state opponent. Everyone seems to forget just a few years ago we'd be lucky to play a single Texas program in a season. This year we play four. Last year we played FIVE. 2020 we're also poised to play five Texas FBS programs. That's almost half of our games. We're in a better situation now than we've been in a long, long time.

Let's take the check -- and it's a hell of a check -- and enjoy the game day atmosphere.

untjim1995 · September 1, 2015

I'm more interested in going for the gameday experience than to see the team at this point in time. What I'm not interested in is watching us getting thumped at home by some really good P5 team.
We must consistently we need to be putting 25k+ in Apogee for each game in order to eliminate money games. We can't rely on P5 teams teams to do that for us as we still can't consistently get good numbers even for conference opponents. We get to hear excuses from our fan base of "There's a Rangers/Cowboys game at the same time as our game" or "We have a home game the same weekend as the Texas/OU game" or "We have a NASCAR race the same weekend as our game this weekend" we will never get this program off the launch pad.

I don't think that you're gonna have to worry about this bolded statement anytime soon...as in probably the next decade, if not forever.

Has anyone mentioned that maybe, just maybe, teams like A&M, UT, or OU have zero interest in playing in Apogee? It's not fear about an upset, but there's no money in it for them.

They don't because the venue is too small and they already play a game here in the Metroplex every year, sometimes even two because of TCU being here.

SMU got A&M as part of a deal because of two things: they needed games in Texas to play since the SEC moved them away, and the Ponies and Aggies are still SWC connected. The Aggies never play Rice in Houston because of proximity to their school, but UT does because that's there only game to play in Houston every other year.

Back when a P5 game could've been scheduled home-and-home here, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Kansas, Colorado, Mizzou, and even Nebraska could have been great targets, especially Mizzou, Nebraska, and Colorado, which all gave up their Texas ties for other conferences. And you cannot tell me that OSU wouldn't love having a game every year in DFW to recruit to and get their large alumni base out to watch when they play at TCU and then here, if it got scheduled. But we got SMU and Army and that was it--game over, schedule work is done, except for the easy part of choosing which bodybag to bend over for and which small-time FCS opponent to bend over every year. And tha's how you get to be #UNTADforlife...

UNTFan23 · September 1, 2015

I don't think that you're gonna have to worry about this bolded statement anytime soon...as in probably the next decade, if not forever.
They don't because the venue is too small and they already play a game here in the Metroplex every year, sometimes even two because of TCU being here.
SMU got A&M as part of a deal because of two things: they needed games in Texas to play since the SEC moved them away, and the Ponies and Aggies are still SWC connected. The Aggies never play Rice in Houston because of proximity to their school, but UT does because that's there only game to play in Houston every other year.
Back when a P5 game could've been scheduled home-and-home here, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Kansas, Colorado, Mizzou, and even Nebraska could have been great targets, especially Mizzou, Nebraska, and Colorado, which all gave up their Texas ties for other conferences. And you cannot tell me that OSU wouldn't love having a game every year in DFW to recruit to and get their large alumni base out to watch when they play at TCU and then here, if it got scheduled. But we got SMU and Army and that was it--game over, schedule work is done, except for the easy part of choosing which bodybag to bend over for and which small-time FCS opponent to bend over every year. And tha's how you get to be #UNTADforlife...

Anymore, Nebraska doesn't play G5 schools at their place except for very, very rare occasions. The only school I think Nebraska might play away that is a G5 school is Wyoming due to a previous playing history with that school. Short of playing the game in the Death Star or a low level bowl game, there is absolutely no way The Mean Green will ever play the Huskers in Texas.

Edited September 1, 2015 by UNTFan23

UNT90 · September 1, 2015

Excuses for everything RV.

untjim1995 · September 1, 2015

Oh I agree--but back a few years ago when Nebraska was in the Big XII, they did play twice at Southern Miss. Nowadays, they won't play anyone that is G5 outside of Lincoln, which is becoming an almost unwritten rule for a lot of P5s. About a year ago, Nebraska and Northern Illinois signed a 4-for-1 series, with 1 game in Chicago against NIU and the other 4 in Lincoln. But after the B1G Ten went to their plan of scheduling at least one P5 in OOC play, that NIU "home" game got bought out, meaning the series became NIU traveling to Lincoln 4 times between 2017 and 2023 with no return game. Nebraska just makes too much from a home game and need at least two, if not three, home games to pay their bills .Going forward, Nebraska's road games in the future are at Miami this season, at Oregon in 2017, at Colorado in 2019, at Oklahoma in 2021, at Colorado in 2023, and at Tennessee in 2027. The funny thing is that they do have a "series" with Cincy, playing them at home in 2020 and returning to Cincy in 2025. But that game may have two possibilities to why it was scheduled--recruiting purposes in the middle of your new conference in a big market, as well as the very real probability that Cincy will be a P5 at some point. There is no doubt that the Cincy game could easy get bought out if they aren't an opponent that helps them by 2025. Otherwise, Nebraska's home OOC games are the following:

2015 BYU, South Alabama, Southern Miss, 2016 Fresno State, Wyoming, and Oregon, 2017 Arkansas State and NIU, 2018 Akron, Colorado, and Troy, 2019 South Alabama & NIU.

My point is that Nebraska is the type of big name that could've been offered something in return for a game at Jerry World or The Cotton Bowl, with games against a bodybag that might actually be more competitive than against Southern P5 giants. Now, that cat is out of the bag. Just to give you a few future schedules to realize that we cannot schedule any of these current or former Big XII teams now, Colorado plays at Hawaii this year and at Air Force in 2022 but they always play Colorado State in a series every year. Mizzou plays @‌ Arky State this year, @‌ UConn in 2017, at Memphis in 2021, and at MUTS in 2022 KU is booked to go to Memphis in 2016, Ohio in 2017, Central Michigan in 2018, and Houston in 2019. KSU plays at UTSA in 2015, but no other games at G5s after this. And OSU plays at Central Michigan this week, @‌ South Alabama in 2017, at Tulsa in 2019, and at Boise State in 2021. And, just for grins, Iowa State plays at Toledo this year, @‌ Akron in 2017, @‌ UNLV in 2021, and @‌ Arkansas State in 2025.

At this point, I just want to see solid G5s get scheduled here--that includes BYU, who I actually think is a P5 name, but I don't believe that a P5 will come here for many reasons. They include the reality of a future P5 complete split, conferences mandating non-road games against G5s, and the AD that wants no part of scheduling anyone beyond the SMU and Army series at home, beyond an FCS game. I believe that Army series will either get extended or we will replace them with a series against Air Force, which will guarantee a lot of butts-in-seats...

Side Show Joe · September 2, 2015

Has anyone mentioned that maybe, just maybe, teams like A&M, UT, or OU have zero interest in playing in Apogee? It's not fear about an upset, but there's no money in it for them.

You could be right. Those programs may have no interest in playing at Apogee. If that is the case, then we need to X them off our list and focus on P5 programs that will take the field at Apogee. Lets be honest. K State, Baylor, Oregon State, and Texas Tech... all played us at Fouts when it was already a dump.

Since opening in 2011, North Texas has only hosted 1 P5 program (Indiana) at Apogee... and we won that game. Maybe I just see it differently, but to me, hosting P5 programs are better "opportunity games".

Side Show Joe · September 2, 2015

Who knows what this game will look like. Both programs will likely have entirely different coaching staffs. C-USA may not even exist in its current incarnation.
People complained about the lack of regional rivalries. Then they complained when we set up long-term series against a regional rival. Now they're complaining about playing a non-conference road game against decent in-state opponent. Everyone seems to forget just a few years ago we'd be lucky to play a single Texas program in a season. This year we play four. Last year we played FIVE. 2020 we're also poised to play five Texas FBS programs. That's almost half of our games. We're in a better situation now than we've been in a long, long time.
Let's take the check -- and it's a hell of a check -- and enjoy the game day atmosphere.

This isn't a few years ago, and we have to move beyond accepting scraps. As you have stated, we now have Texas programs in our conference. Playing another Texas program in OOC is nice, but not if we can't get a return home game.

I believe some of our issues in regards to selling our program to recruits over the years stems from our willingness to bend over and take these money games every single year, and not receive return games. I can see how our current scheduling philosophy would diminish a recruit's opinion of where UNT stands in the pecking order of college football. Until we stand up and end our current policy and only sign home and home OOC series, we will continue to struggle with our image among recruits and in the media. I wish someone in the administration would step up and focus on improving our current scheduling practice.

Ben Gooding · September 2, 2015

Oh I agree--but back a few years ago when Nebraska was in the Big XII, they did play twice at Southern Miss. Nowadays, they won't play anyone that is G5 outside of Lincoln, which is becoming an almost unwritten rule for a lot of P5s. About a year ago, Nebraska and Northern Illinois signed a 4-for-1 series, with 1 game in Chicago against NIU and the other 4 in Lincoln. But after the B1G Ten went to their plan of scheduling at least one P5 in OOC play, that NIU "home" game got bought out, meaning the series became NIU traveling to Lincoln 4 times between 2017 and 2023 with no return game. Nebraska just makes too much from a home game and need at least two, if not three, home games to pay their bills .Going forward, Nebraska's road games in the future are at Miami this season, at Oregon in 2017, at Colorado in 2019, at Oklahoma in 2021, at Colorado in 2023, and at Tennessee in 2027. The funny thing is that they do have a "series" with Cincy, playing them at home in 2020 and returning to Cincy in 2025. But that game may have two possibilities to why it was scheduled--recruiting purposes in the middle of your new conference in a big market, as well as the very real probability that Cincy will be a P5 at some point. There is no doubt that the Cincy game could easy get bought out if they aren't an opponent that helps them by 2025. Otherwise, Nebraska's home OOC games are the following:
2015 BYU, South Alabama, Southern Miss, 2016 Fresno State, Wyoming, and Oregon, 2017 Arkansas State and NIU, 2018 Akron, Colorado, and Troy, 2019 South Alabama & NIU.
My point is that Nebraska is the type of big name that could've been offered something in return for a game at Jerry World or The Cotton Bowl, with games against a bodybag that might actually be more competitive than against Southern P5 giants. Now, that cat is out of the bag. Just to give you a few future schedules to realize that we cannot schedule any of these current or former Big XII teams now, Colorado plays at Hawaii this year and at Air Force in 2022 but they always play Colorado State in a series every year. Mizzou plays @‌ Arky State this year, @‌ UConn in 2017, at Memphis in 2021, and at MUTS in 2022 KU is booked to go to Memphis in 2016, Ohio in 2017, Central Michigan in 2018, and Houston in 2019. KSU plays at UTSA in 2015, but no other games at G5s after this. And OSU plays at Central Michigan this week, @‌ South Alabama in 2017, at Tulsa in 2019, and at Boise State in 2021. And, just for grins, Iowa State plays at Toledo this year, @‌ Akron in 2017, @‌ UNLV in 2021, and @‌ Arkansas State in 2025.
At this point, I just want to see solid G5s get scheduled here--that includes BYU, who I actually think is a P5 name, but I don't believe that a P5 will come here for many reasons. They include the reality of a future P5 complete split, conferences mandating non-road games against G5s, and the AD that wants no part of scheduling anyone beyond the SMU and Army series at home, beyond an FCS game. I believe that Army series will either get extended or we will replace them with a series against Air Force, which will guarantee a lot of butts-in-seats...

Unwritten rule for P5's huh? Go look at the schedule the first 5 weeks of the season. I guess top5 Michigan State traveling over to play AT Western Michigan is just an outlier? No, no its not. There are several P5's playing at G5 campuses this season, next season and several seasons to come already scheduled years in advance. It's nauseating listening to the same shit over n over. Other programs are getting it done. We aren't. That falls on no one else except for Rick Villarreal.

GM1998 · September 2, 2015

I would rather us play a bodybag game against USC than this game. The Aggies don't need anymore T-shirt fandom from our students and alumni, nor do the UNT alumni need yet another regional bodybag opponent's fans to laugh at us for years. This game, albeit for $1.25 million, does just that. Can't we just play Nebraska or Oregon and have the same effect?

I already had a-hole Aggies at work clowning our beloved Mean Green. The last thing we need are these fools who play they are in the military for 4 years and don't ever serve after graduation kicking us around. Sure it would be great to beat them, epic even, but here on planet earth that just isn't likely. No reason to take a beatdown in the state where you recruit. Sorry if I am being logical!

Ben Gooding · September 2, 2015

I already had a-hole Aggies at work clowning our beloved Mean Green. The last thing we need are these fools who play they are in the military for 4 years and don't ever serve after graduation kicking us around. Sure it would be great to beat them, epic even, but here on planet earth that just isn't likely. No reason to take a beatdown in the state where you recruit. Sorry if I am being logical!

No, you're being logical. Playing UT or ATM is bad for business. Currently so is playing Baylor or TCU. 65 P5's to whore us to and our clown of an AD goes either local higher tier powerhouses or slightly further away top tier powers in Bama, LSU, Oklahoma, Georgia, etc. As bad as this sounds, it's refreshing playing Iowa this season. But oh wait, that wasn't good enough so we have to go to one of the largest and hostile stadiums in the country in Knoxville. After having played 9 straight games no less.

As far as ATM doing all that military shenanigans down there, it's pretty comical.

greenit · September 2, 2015

What RV needs to do is quit covering for his monocled buddies and tax them the same way he just taxed the students. If he would just raise the fees for the rich up in the suites and generate another $500k, we wouldn't even need the money game.

RV and all his apologists up in the suites that he keeps protecting need to step up to the plate and increase their giving just like the students. Otherwise, they are just a bunch of apologists that are ok with selling the team out just so they can save a few bucks.

UNT90 · September 2, 2015

^^^^^^^

RV's favorite negotiating strategy.

(There wasn't an emocon of someone laying on their back with both legs spread and in the air).

FirefightnRick · September 2, 2015

It's sad that this is seen as an ass kicking by our fanbase. I'm sorry so many of you never knew Corky Nelson and Up-Chuck Mills. These games used to be viewed as "opportunity" games. Those days are long gone.

Rick

GM1998 · September 2, 2015

It's sad that this is seen as an ass kicking by our fanbase. I'm sorry so many of you never knew Corky Nelson and Up-Chuck Mills. These games used to be viewed as "opportunity" games. Those days are long gone.

Rick

Most on here are diehard fans. We bleed green. I cannot speak for everyone, but these posts seem to be a reflection of our dissatisification with the AD not the fight in our football team. The pairity between the P-5 conferences and all others continues to grow. Everyone loves a david verses goliath story, but I just don't see that happening in our OOC games versus P-5 teams. However on game day I will believe in my heart that we can win any game we play. Our team deserves no less!

untjim1995 · September 2, 2015

It's sad that this is seen as an ass kicking by our fanbase. I'm sorry so many of you never knew Corky Nelson and Up-Chuck Mills. These games used to be viewed as "opportunity" games. Those days are long gone.

Rick

I wasn't around for those days--they were literally just before I got here. All I've seen from the P5 giants are games like this:

Nebraska--1994--76-14

Anyone from 1995

Texas A&M in 1996--55-0

LSU--in 2005 -- 56-3

Texas in 2004 -- 65-0

Oklahoma in 2007--79-10

The only thing I've seen us successfully use these "opportunity" games since 1990 is pad the budget...

Cr1028 · September 3, 2015

I wasn't around for those days--they were literally just before I got here. All I've seen from the P5 giants are games like this:
Nebraska--1994--76-14
Anyone from 1995
Texas A&M in 1996--55-0
LSU--in 2005 -- 56-3
Texas in 2004 -- 65-0
Oklahoma in 2007--79-10
The only thing I've seen us successfully use these "opportunity" games since 1990 is pad the budget...

K-State in 2010 at Fouts - 49-41