Texas State ASG wants I-A football

NT80 · March 25, 2006

Not Annoyed Pink, but maybe Fierce Fascia!
Right now a number of folk here are convinced that everything is bad and has been since Hayden Fry left. Anyone who doesn’t think everything is bad and had been since Hayden left is just an idiot wearing green colored glasses.
Bowl games don’t count since we’ve lost more than we’ve won. Any basketball coach that doesn’t get to the Sweet 16 must be fired.
Almost forgot, SMU is to blame for all of it.
←

No, just expecting better than glorified high school ball. But be happy and satisfied if that's all what you want, you've got it.

Edited March 25, 2006 by NT80

tux · March 25, 2006

I am for it. We need more in-state and regional opponents. Another thread was comparing attendence over the years and claiming we aren't making progress. One thing to consider is that some of those years we were a SouthLand member and that we had in-state opponents that would bring fans, at least more than most Sunbelt teams will bring. At present almost all fans that attend are UNT fans. Rival fans present also increase interest in the games. ULL (who has a pretty good sports history) is really our only nearby conference opponent at the moment, La- Monroe is fairly close but doesn't generate much fan interest and they don't even play us in basketball..
UT could care less if Tx-State becomes I-A. They are so big and successful that Tx-State being I-A will have no effect on them..... unlike SMU (jerks) who thinks we are a distraction from them especially if we compete against them.
I don't see any down-side to us, better attendence for us by playing them and more interest inside of the State and region because of closeness and close alumi contact. The only possible downside could be competiton for athletes but that could be offset by more interest which could pull some from other Texas I-A schools.
Unrelated but anyone get the College Data Warehouse website to load... I can't-- to check how many times we have played each other... I think Tex-State is our "most played opponent" in football.
←

I'm also for it. Like many Texans, I don't have much interest in playing out of state teams I know little about from places I don't know and have never been to. Texas rivalries are big draws here and could only help us with attendence. I also like the idea of the "new" SWC, but that doesn't seem very likely to happen.

meangreendork · March 25, 2006

No opposition here. I just want our coaches to be able to mop them up every time they play. An in-state rivalry is just what the doctor ordered, and aside from SMU, I can't think of a school I'd like to have that kind of hate-hate relationship with.

Baby Arm! · March 25, 2006

Im all for playing in-state rivals, but I think we can see from past attendance how much the average joe thinks about a North Texas vs SW Texas/Texas St. game.

We've never excactly packed em in whenever we played the Bobcats. Like it or not but when you are talking about garnering attendance numbers for "in-state rivals", the average sports fan/UNT student/alumni only gets excited and shows up when we play an ex-Southwest Conference schools.

Just look at the attendance for Baylor and SMU the last times they played in Denton. Granted you'll never get Texas or A&M to Denton but we need to schedule TCU, SMU, Baylor etc. You want to pack Fouts when playing in-state schools? You're not going to do it with the Texas State's and SFA's of this world (even if they make the jumpt to 1-A )

Edited March 25, 2006 by Baby Arm!

March 26, 2006

I was flying from El Paso last week. The lady next to me asked were my school ring was from. I told her North Texas. She had a blank look on her face. I then told her it's in Denton. She responed ..oh I went to TWU. We were NTSC when she was at TWU.
←

She was trying for a little oneupmanship. Except for a very narrow window, TWU was TSCW (Texas State College for Women) when we were NTSC. We operated as a university for more than five years before TSCW decided to change. The problem is, they got their namechange in far less time than it took us due to the haggling over a name.

Eagle1855 · March 26, 2006

We've never excactly packed em in whenever we played the Bobcats. Like it or not but when you are talking about garnering attendance numbers for "in-state rivals", the average sports fan/UNT student/alumni only gets excited and shows up when we play an ex-Southwest Conference schools.
←

Well Texas State is very different than the last time we played them. they have over 27k students now, and I think even NT has more interest in athletics now than it did in the early 90s, of course I was in junior high then so I may be wrong

BobcatKing · March 26, 2006

Im all for playing in-state rivals, but I think we can see from past attendance how much the average joe thinks about a North Texas vs SW Texas/Texas St. game.
We've never excactly packed em in whenever we played the Bobcats. Like it or not but when you are talking about garnering attendance numbers for "in-state rivals", the average sports fan/UNT student/alumni only gets excited and shows up when we play an ex-Southwest Conference schools.
Just look at the attendance for Baylor and SMU the last times they played in Denton. Granted you'll never get Texas or A&M to Denton but we need to schedule TCU, SMU, Baylor etc. You want to pack Fouts when playing in-state schools? You're not going to do it with the Texas State's and SFA's of this world (even if they make the jumpt to 1-A )
←

I would be willing to bet you that Texas State vrs. UNT averages better than any Sunbelt Conference game in attendance. Ready to take the bet?

Baby Arm! · March 26, 2006

I would be willing to bet you that Texas State vrs. UNT averages better than any Sunbelt Conference game in attendance. Ready to take the bet?
←

Well it would be a stupid bet as we'd never know since the schools aren't on each others schedules.

HOWEVER, attendance stats don't back up your theory. Texas State, a team that was in contention for the I-AA national championship, only averaged a home attendance of 12,875 for 2005. And thats with 10 home games including playoffs to boost the average.

Whereas, a bad 2-9 North Texas team, not playing for anything, and playing against that Sunbelt Conference managed to average 16,446 per game.

So if the Bobcats were on the schedule....yeah I'd take that bet. They wouldn't add appreciable amount of buts in seats. But they're not on the schedule, so its a moot point. But it goes back to my original point-- Just because they are an in-state school doesn't make them in instant rival that the average fan is clamouring to see. Hell, Division II West Texas A&M managed to average more fans than Texas St. (13,089). Anybody want to start scheduling the Buffaloes thinking it will create the in-state rivalry?

FirefightnRick · March 26, 2006

I disagree a bit. As I recall while in school during the 1-AA years we always had a decent crowd when SWT and SFA came to town because you damn sure knew others who went to those two other schools and could just about guarantee they would be in Denton that weekend. Plumm and SilverEagle have mentioned it several times in the past that prior to the '00 Baylor game our largest crowd ever was homecoming against SFA in (I'm guessing here) '88, '89? And that was near or over 20,000.

I'm willing to take the bet, any day, especially if the circumstances were right. The circumstances?

Place TxSt and NT undefeated in conference, both with a decent win or a good showing over a known OOC oppenent and Fouts will be close to capacity.

Just look at the previous few years. NT beat the hell out of Baylor in '03. TxSt came this close to beating Baylor in '04 in Waco and A&M in '05 in college station. Take that same scenario with two undefeated teams in conference and insert TxSt for NMSU for that final home game in '02 and you have a near sell out.

Rick

March 28, 2006

TxSt rivalry sounds great... bring em on... I don't think its a stupid idea to have them on our schedule. Heck, roll out a red carpet and welcome them into the "sunbelt". As fo UTSA, don't see it happening, but there really should be another Texas school in the conference. However...

As I said suggested in another post... Why dont they just get it over with and merge CUSA and Sunbelt (i always hated that name!) and form a nice big fat conference with two divisions (EAST vs WEST). As an added bonus, we'd have some former SWC teams to play...

Imagine the possibilities... power to negotiate TV, print, etc... possibly more bowls... a worthy championship... maybe even respect...

Please, just leave out SMU...as I said before, let them languish in whatever football purgatory their headed for....