Gators know better than to look past cupcake foes

Harry · September 16, 2016

GAINESVILLE — For No. 23 Florida, nothing seems menacing about this week's toothless trap game against the Mean Green.

North Texas is a directional school without a big name and a first-time head coach (Seth Littrell) working through his first few games. It's coming off of a one-win season and holds an offense ranked No. 119 in passing efficiency and a defense ranked No. 105 against the run.

All of that is enough to scare Gators coach Jim McElwain about a program with a recent history of slipping against lackluster teams, especially with a big-time matchup looming like next week's game at rival Tennessee.

"It's not something you coach them to do," McElwain said, "but let's face (the) facts."

And the facts are on McElwain's side.

Since the start of 2012, the Gators have played six teams from Group of Five conferences, excluding season openers. One of them was a 26-20 home loss to Division I-AA Georgia Southern in 2013, maybe the worst defeat in school history. Of the five wins, three were decided by only one score, including last year's overtime victory over Florida Atlantic and a last-second 27-20 win over Louisiana-Lafayette in 2012.

"Kind of the MO of this program has been, you know, you play high and you play low, and not consistently," McElwain said.

read more: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/college/gators-know-better-than-to-look-past-cupcake-foes/2293436

MeanGreen_MBA · September 16, 2016

16 minutes ago, Harry said:

GAINESVILLE — For No. 23 Florida, nothing seems menacing about this week's toothless trap game against the Mean Green.

North Texas is a directional school without a big name and a first-time head coach (Seth Littrell) working through his first few games. It's coming off of a one-win season and holds an offense ranked No. 119 in passing efficiency and a defense ranked No. 105 against the run.

All of that is enough to scare Gators coach Jim McElwain about a program with a recent history of slipping against lackluster teams, especially with a big-time matchup looming like next week's game at rival Tennessee.

"It's not something you coach them to do," McElwain said, "but let's face (the) facts."

And the facts are on McElwain's side.

Since the start of 2012, the Gators have played six teams from Group of Five conferences, excluding season openers. One of them was a 26-20 home loss to Division I-AA Georgia Southern in 2013, maybe the worst defeat in school history. Of the five wins, three were decided by only one score, including last year's overtime victory over Florida Atlantic and a last-second 27-20 win over Louisiana-Lafayette in 2012.

"Kind of the MO of this program has been, you know, you play high and you play low, and not consistently," McElwain said.

read more: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/college/gators-know-better-than-to-look-past-cupcake-foes/2293436

interesting....

cwb · September 16, 2016

Cupcake with a bitter aftertaste

DeepGreen · September 16, 2016

Will we ever get past being label a "cupcake", or "directional school"? What the hell does directional have to do with anything?

MeanGreenTexan · September 16, 2016

5 minutes ago, DeepGreen said:

Will we ever get past being label a "cupcake", or "directional school"? What the hell does directional have to do with anything?

Directional schools like "North Texas" or "South Florida" are traditionally not very good. The only school I can think of that bucks this trend is USC, but they're a private institution.
They're perceived as 'lesser' because they're not, "The University of <State>", or "<State> State". It's a put-down, generalization, whatever-you-want-to-call-it, but it's not too far off from being true. Certainly true in our case.

man-up UNT · September 16, 2016

We are referred to as a cupcake because we are; RV did everything from hiring the wrong coaches to establishing a lousy schedule year in and year out. Until we have a coaching staff that can go out and sell the UNT program we'll still be a cupcake. BTW, there is absolutely no reason we can't compete with the likes of U of H, SMU, TCU and others for 3 and 4 star athletes. We have a lot sell here in Denton, you just have to be convincing and know who to contact; coaches get off your ass and go recruit!!!

DeepGreen · September 16, 2016

Don't misunderstand me. We are a cupcake. We need to get past that label by winning championships, year in and year out. We need a few more years of recruiting FBS type players out of high school. I believe Littrell and Company will do that. In the meantime, we are known as cupcakes. And I don't like that label!

Censored by Laurie · September 16, 2016

54 minutes ago, man-up UNT said:

coaches get off your ass and go recruit!!!

why have coaches been on your ass rather than recruiting?

oldguystudent · September 16, 2016

1 hour ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

The only school I can think of that bucks this trend is USC, but they're a private institution.

USC isn't a directional school at all. Like you said, they're a private institution that happens to have Southern in their name. They are not a satellite campus of a greater state university.

North Texas isn't a satellite campus of a greater state university either, but it sounds like it is, and the football has been dreadful, so it gets lumped in.

MeanGreen13 · September 16, 2016

2 hours ago, man-up UNT said:

We are referred to as a cupcake because we are; RV did everything from hiring the wrong coaches to establishing a lousy schedule year in and year out. Until we have a coaching staff that can go out and sell the UNT program we'll still be a cupcake. BTW, there is absolutely no reason we can't compete with the likes of U of H, SMU, TCU and others for 3 and 4 star athletes. We have a lot sell here in Denton, you just have to be convincing and know who to contact; coaches get off your ass and go recruit!!!

We don't have a hope of competing with TCU and UH because of their success and they are way ahead of us as far as facilitiesand what they offer to student athletes overall because of their success. Now SMU we can compete with because they don't have recent success. They are way ahead of us in facilities as well and only getting further with their new indoor facility and training center being built now. That sentiment would have been true 20 years ago... but not now... we are very very far behind and it will take 15 years of consistent winning and spending to catch up.

James E · September 17, 2016

13 hours ago, MeanGreen13 said:

We don't have a hope of competing with TCU and UH because of their success and they are way ahead of us as far as facilitiesand what they offer to student athletes overall because of their success. Now SMU we can compete with because they don't have recent success. They are way ahead of us in facilities as well and only getting further with their new indoor facility and training center being built now. That sentiment would have been true 20 years ago... but not now... we are very very far behind and it will take 15 years of consistent winning and spending to catch up.

I disagree about the UH having better facilities statement. I can understand the TCU one because ..well they're in a power 5 conference and we're not. UH is G5 just like us. They're just now announcing all these plans for their facilities mainly because they're trying to show the BIg 12 they're willing to renovate to join the power conference. Their basketball arena is outdated just like ours. They haven't even built an indoor football facility yet while most teams in the power 5 have as much as 2. Their new stadium in my opinion is not even as good as ours. We don't need 15 years to catch up to these schools. That's pessimistic thinking. I say 5 at most to catch up facilities wise for the likes of SMU, TCU... Football success aspect, we can catch up to Houston by year 2.

UNT 90 Grad · September 17, 2016

Mmmm. I like cupcakes.

risinggreen · September 17, 2016

Directional? Our direction is bigger or roughly as big as all but around a dozen states. Ridiculous put down. Especially since city schools are often much smaller "directionally."

ohyeah · September 17, 2016

7 hours ago, James E said:

I disagree about the UH having better facilities statement. I can understand the TCU one because ..well they're in a power 5 conference and we're not. UH is G5 just like us. They're just now announcing all these plans for their facilities mainly because they're trying to show the BIg 12 they're willing to renovate to join the power conference. Their basketball arena is outdated just like ours. They haven't even built an indoor football facility yet while most teams in the power 5 have as much as 2. Their new stadium in my opinion is not even as good as ours. We don't need 15 years to catch up to these schools. That's pessimistic thinking. I say 5 at most to catch up facilities wise for the likes of SMU, TCU... Football success aspect, we can catch up to Houston by year 2.

Not annoucning, they are moving forward with the plans. They break ground on the IPF at the end of the football season and begin renovations of the basketball arena in 2017. They already have an indoor practice facility inside their athletic alumni center. Which P5 teams have two indoor practice facilities?

So you are telling me UNT will have won a NY6 bowl game and have a top ten ranking in 2 years?

IPF

renovated arena

James E · September 17, 2016

1 minute ago, ohyeah said:

Not annoucning, they are moving forward with the plans. They break ground on the IPF at the end of the football season and begin renovations of the basketball arena in 2017. They already have an indoor practice facility inside their athletic alumni center. Which P5 teams have two indoor practice facilities?

So you are telling me UNT will have won a NY6 bowl game and have a top ten ranking in 2 years?

IPF

renovated arena

UNT could build all those things and more.

NY6 bowl game....good point ill retract the we could catch up by next year statement

GangGreen · September 22, 2016

On 9/17/2016 at 5:31 AM, UNT 90 Grad said:

Mmmm. I like cupcakes.

Wouldn't work in Austin.

http://austin.eater.com/2016/8/29/12694474/longhorn-doughnut-trademark-violation-ut-donut-taco-palace

UNTLifer · September 22, 2016

What is an NY6 bowl game? I get New Year's but what does the 6 represent?

On ‎9‎/‎16‎/‎2016 at 11:22 AM, man-up UNT said:

We are referred to as a cupcake because we are; RV did everything from hiring the wrong coaches to establishing a lousy schedule year in and year out. Until we have a coaching staff that can go out and sell the UNT program we'll still be a cupcake. BTW, there is absolutely no reason we can't compete with the likes of U of H, SMU, TCU and others for 3 and 4 star athletes. We have a lot sell here in Denton, you just have to be convincing and know who to contact; coaches get off your ass and go recruit!!!

I agree with everything except the last sentence. This coaching staff isn't lazy.

Aldo · September 22, 2016

26 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

What is an NY6 bowl game? I get New Year's but what does the 6 represent?

without any info, I'll guess that there are 6 bowl games that day?

UNTLifer · September 22, 2016

Well, I was just thinking that we were in a NY Bowl game just a couple of years ago. Being on the same level of Houston shouldn't be difficult, once we start winning. TCU will be more difficult just from the amount of $$$$ pouring in based on conference affiliation.

UNT Mean Green · September 22, 2016

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Well, I was just thinking that we were in a NY Bowl game just a couple of years ago. Being on the same level of Houston shouldn't be difficult, once we start winning. TCU will be more difficult just from the amount of $$$$ pouring in based on conference affiliation.

Agreed. It would be great to get to a point where the momentum is along the lines of what UH has going on currently. That's realistically probably 5-10 years away. TCU does get the conference money, and let's face it, they have Fort Worth fully engaged in their support of the program and university.