DRC Sunday column: UNT fans may hate the idea of it, but UTSA is the rival the Mean Green have long needed and now have

Brett Vito · October 16, 2022

El Paso Eagle · October 16, 2022

@Brett Vito Yep, some of the same ones who get upset if SMU fans say we are not their rivals.

Cr1028 · October 17, 2022

Yep, we have a habit of messing up each other’s seasons.

greenminer · October 17, 2022

UTSA is just the next MUTS, which was just the next NMSU.

Another in-conference foe with implications towards the top of the standings.

I would say SMU has always had the makings of something much much better/bigger, but lacked the conference affiliation.

This all changes next year.

MeanGreen_MBA · October 17, 2022

I love having UTSA as a rival. A great city to go to. Easy travel. Battle of the BIRDS

make it around T-giving a every year.

Cr1028 · October 17, 2022

11 minutes ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

I love having UTSA as a rival. A great city to go to. Easy travel. Battle of the BIRDS

make it around T-giving a every year.

Not only that, the birds seem to care.

El Paso Eagle · October 17, 2022

19 minutes ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

I love having UTSA as a rival. A great city to go to. Easy travel. Battle of the BIRDS

make it around T-giving a every year.

We should play SMU T-giving weekend every year!! Best chance to get a decent crowd and it might actually start a tradition

Cr1028 · October 17, 2022

16 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

We should play SMU T-giving weekend every year!! Best chance to get a decent crowd and it might actually start a tradition

It is hard to manufacture a rivalry when only one half wants it. I’ve hated SMU as long as I’ve been following the Mean Green and most of them only care about TCU. The UTSA rivalry has developed naturally through competition.

emmitt01 · October 17, 2022

43 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

We should play SMU T-giving weekend every year!! Best chance to get a decent crowd and it might actually start a tradition

Fetch Mean Girls GIF by Paramount Movies

NorthTexasWeLove · October 17, 2022

42 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

It is hard to manufacture a rivalry when only one half wants it. I’ve hated SMU as long as I’ve been following the Mean Green and most of them only care about TCU. The UTSA rivalry has developed naturally through competition.

Start beating SMU consistently and see how fast and how much they start hating us. Until then, they have no reason but to view us as the red headed stepchild.

Cr1028 · October 17, 2022

26 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Start beating SMU consistently and see how fast and how much they start hating us. Until then, they have no reason but to view us as the red headed stepchild.

Exactly

untjim1995 · October 17, 2022

1 hour ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Start beating SMU consistently and see how fast and how much they start hating us. Until then, they have no reason but to view us as the red headed stepchild.

Can we start with actually competing with them? I mean these games are almost always over by halftime.

greenminer · October 17, 2022

The last time we didn't play SMU, we won the bowl game.

UNT86 · October 17, 2022

My issue isn't their success. It is that they are insufferable when they win.

They have not learned how to win with class.

And the fact that The Drive nearly tanked their season and we kept them from being undefeated last year only relieves the pain a little that they kept us from winning the conference the first year they came to Denton.

TIgreen01 · October 17, 2022

15 hours ago, greenminer said:

UTSA is just the next MUTS, which was just the next NMSU.

Another in-conference foe with implications towards the top of the standings.

I would say SMU has always had the makings of something much much better/bigger, but lacked the conference affiliation.

This all changes next year.

This is correct.

Brett is trolling us. I wish we were bringing LaTech with us to the AAC instead of utsa. THAT is more of a rivalry across all sports. Basketball games have been ridiculous since we've been conference mates. Football games usually are great, as well.

keith · October 17, 2022

Vito still pimping for UTSA...some things never change. If we were not in a conference with them or somehow moved to another conference, I doubt we'd be looking to schedule them for an annual matchup.

Edited October 17, 2022 by keith

Matt from A700 · October 17, 2022

I'm not sure if the AAC acknowledges "Rivalry Week" that usually occurs the weekend after Thanksgiving, but it will be interesting to see who we draw between SMU or UTSA. Of course, our students don't care about UNT football that weekend, so maybe we should offer to play that weekend on the road every year.

TripleGrad · October 18, 2022

UTSA is not a rival. It's just a conference member. If we weren't both moving to the AAC would anyone -want- to continue to schedule the game? No. And that's the difference between competition and rivalry.

meangreenfaninno · October 18, 2022

Leave it to Vito to poke the fans with this crap. UTSA is NOT our rival and they never will be. They are a glorified junior college with a CarMax salesman head coach. Our rival has and always will be SMU and you know it @Brett Vito

Cr1028 · October 18, 2022

30 minutes ago, TripleGrad said:

UTSA is not a rival. It's just a conference member. If we weren't both moving to the AAC would anyone -want- to continue to schedule the game? No. And that's the difference between competition and rivalry.

“UNT is not a rival. It’s just a game to get attendance up. If we were able to fill Ford Stadium on our own would anyone -want- to continue to schedule the game? No. And that’s the difference between convenience and rivalry.”
- SMU

UNT 90 Grad · October 18, 2022

31 minutes ago, TripleGrad said:

UTSA is not a rival. It's just a conference member. If we weren't both moving to the AAC would anyone -want- to continue to schedule the game? No. And that's the difference between competition and rivalry.

While I agree with this currently, I think potential is there. If UTSA continues to get national recognition and remains competitive, their proximity and competition for recruiting could make them a good natural rival. The same reasons hold with SMU. In both cases, teams need to be consistently competitive with each other. We currently lack that consistency.

Cr1028 · October 18, 2022

5 minutes ago, meangreenfaninno said:

Leave it to Vito to poke the fans with this crap. UTSA is NOT our rival and they never will be. They are a glorified junior college with a CarMax salesman head coach. Our rival has and always will be SMU and you know it @Brett Vito

Yes, our rival is SMU, and SMU’s rival is TCU, and TCU’s rival is Texas and so on.

Edited October 18, 2022 by Cr1028

VideoEagle · October 18, 2022

3 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

Yes, our rival is SMU, and SMU’s rival is TCU, and TCU’s rival is Texas and so on.

From the reaction of UTSA fans, their rival is us.

Rowdy · October 18, 2022

15 minutes ago, VideoEagle said:

From the reaction of UTSA fans, their rival is us.

Whats funny is the talk from both sides saying the other is not our Rival, yet when the game comes up both sides start getting bad blood. RowdyTalk often has UNT threads, and the same for this site. Any time I come here there are mentions and talk about UTSA. For me, I dont care as long as the game gets the fans and team motivated and most years this game seems to do it. Lately UAB has been doing it as well. Either way, great game coming up on Saturday. Safe travels for those going to San Antonio, wish I could be there.

UNTcrazy727 · October 18, 2022

Some of y'all are in serious denial about UTSA being a rival. And I struggle to find a reason why. I guess its just jealousy that they've built up a solid program in such a short time?